Re-sending (original too large)...
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rocky Entriken" <rocky@spitfire4.com>
To: <autox@autox.team.net>; "Clemens Burger" <burgerc@iquest.net>
Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 6:22 AM
Subject: Re: [Autox] Class Participation (Part 3)
> I'm planning a letter. I visited briefly with Tina Reeves a few weeks ago,
> and she recommended I wait until around first of the year to send it, when
> it would get into the next "rules season." Too late (even as of Nationals)
> to do anything for 2010. We're looking at a 2011 change.
>
> Since then, some may have noticed, the BoD has passed rules in Club Racing
> that almost exactly match what we want to do in Solo. Including:
> * All National classes (there are 29 now) will race in the Runoffs. Until
> now only the top 24 or 25 got in.
> * The 2.5 rule which specifies Runoffs eligibility and whether a class
> will even survive is eliminated -- this parallels Solo's Rule 4.9.
> * Instead of determining what constitutes a viable class, they will now
> determine what constitutes a National Champion -- the class must have at
> least 10 entries.
> * Classes that fall below 10 entries will be labeled "supplemental." They
> still get to race, they still have a winner, but not a champion.
>
> My planned letter to the SEB -- and I had this plan before the BoD action
> in Club Racing -- is that we quit trying to define what constitutes a
> class and instead define what constitutes a champion. If a small class
> shows up, so what? In Club Racing you can only do so many races in a day
> (and now some of the small classes will be combined with others in a
> single race). Solo's limiting factor is how many cars we can push through
> a course in a day and we have yet to get within about 100 of that limit.
> And now with the Lincoln site there is a new option -- a 3-course
> Nationals (a given class runs two of the three), which raises the
> potential entry limit from 1250 to something over 1800, and we may never
> even get close to that one.
>
> My suggestion will be to eliminate Rule 4.9 and replace it with a
> definition of a National Champion -- the winner of any class with at least
> seven competitors. Seven, because that is the number at which we have a
> full podium, three trophy winners.
>
> This puts it even within reach of Ladies classes, which should also go to
> eliminating the perennial discussion of whether they should even exist
> (let 'em run, but winners of 1-car classes are not champions). AND, any
> class meeting that number, including "supplemental classes," would crown a
> champion that year. It would also serve as incentive for competitors in
> light classes to build their classes, without having to fear being
> eliminated altogether.
>
> The change in Club Racing, and a similar change in Solo if enacted,
> eliminates the "bubble" altogether. It eliminates the fear factor that
> becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy and instead becomes a security blanket
> that allows members to compete without paranoia and greater hope of
> boosting their numbers -- to work toward positive goals rather than
> working to ward off negative goals.
>
> The BoD's approval of the Club Racing change demonstrates they would
> perhaps be of a mind to address the same issue in solo the same way. If
> you write a letter to the SEB (seb@scca.com), copy it to bod@scca.com.
> Don't expect the BoD to initiate action -- their action would be to refer
> it to the SEB -- but you copy them to let them know there is an issue
> pending and if at such time as the item is sent up to them the BoD would
> already have some idea of member sentiment.
>
> --Rocky Entriken
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