Okay, Hugh, I gotta step in here.
The MINI guys didn't belong there? Nonsense. I met Sho Tagawa
(STS at Nationals) at a Drop Zone Event (West Point parachute
site, home to the 93/94 Northeast Divisionals and countless local
events) in the late eighties. Both he and I ran Toyota Corolla
GT-Ss. He ran competitively. He has since gone on to road racing
in the Corolla and now in a BMW 2002 (hey, he was running so long
ago that he's been at Bridgehampton). And you could not find a
nicer competitor, either. And the other MINI guy was extremely
nice when a certain BMW product took a little wind out of the
MINIs' debut at the Solo 2 Nationals last year. Nice enough to
sponsor part of the DC National Tour this year.
Since I am on a white wine soaked rant (hey, day off, I'm
entitled), when I started attending Nationals, I was in 20th
something place for a few years (E Stock?). Hugh, should I have
backed off since I wasn't qualified due to placement? I kept
plugging away. Finally had a bunch of trophies for bride's maids
positions (I can't remember the first trophy I won, but it made
the trip back home easier).
So you have to crawl before you walk. That's what makes
autocross/Solo2 fun. Guess what, you can attend, too. We'll all
embrace you and the other new folks, just starting out. That is
the sport.
Now, back to my glass of French wine. :^)
Matt Murray
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hugh Barber" <tr6nut@sbcglobal.net>
> Just for the record, I did not say "win", I said compete. That
means
> anybody can enter and take up run time and resources from
someone who
> deserves to be there and is a contender. There was no intent
to belittle
> the folks who are (or have been) National Champs. There are
just a lot of
> folks there who belong there about as much as you or I belong
on the
> starting grid of a Formula One race. For instance, last year,
Tim Suddard
> brought out their "Project Mini" with a bunch of guys from BMW
to the
> National Championships. Those guys from BMW didn't belong at
the Nationals.
> As for me,I actively ran SoloII and autocrossing in the early
to mid 80's in
> the San Francisco region and won a couple of regional
championships in
> class. While I no longer actively autocross (due to work and
home), I
> actively follow the sport and have the advantage of knowing
some of the
> history of it (since I was there). If you feel that since I'm
not actively
> competing that my opinion is less valid, then so be it. That's
just your
> opinion
/// unsubscribe/change address requests to majordomo@autox.team.net or try
/// http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo
/// Partial archives at http://www.team.net/archive
|