Yes Peggy and Dennis tried to put on a solo1, well
actually solo trials, event at Thunderhill a year and
a half ago. We spent two years setting it up. Actually
we spent over 5 years on this idea, anyone remember
Byron Short's 'tude with us over the first WRITTEN
proposal that we submitted? We got it tucked into a
streetschool to control the costs, had it on Labor
Day, seemingly a good time. Promoted it to the solo2
community thinking as you that it would be a fun
extension of the sport.
No one showed up.
Not one single autocrosser from the lot of over 1000.
Boy was I wrong about something! We now have zero
credibility on this subject and will not be allowed to
try again.
It would seem with 25 autocrosses a year the average
SFR autocrosser quite has their plate full and will
not support new activities. The same goes for a
roadracer. Call it too successful if you want but
folks are happy with their program and do not want
more. If you want a solo1 or solo trials or even a
monthly autocross school program here you will have to
grow it from new stock, do the hard work, be patient.
Crossovers, yuppies, and malcontents will not do the
deed. Never have. Solo1 died because it had too small
of a dedicated solo1 group and tried to cater to
roadracer crossovers who did not care to keep the
program going. SCCA rules requiring 500 dollar
'jammies didn't help much either. I don't think this
is entirely the doing of the RE.
This reality is exactly what has led to the emergence
and success of NASA, Green Flag, et al. These guys
just wanted to do something different and went off and
made it happen. Life is better for it. It is in no way
a bad thing. Neither SCCA nor any other group "needs"
to do things differently. If they are impractical they
will go away, ala solo1. If they are in touch, they
will grow until they have no time for new things.
I think this is where we began this discussion.
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Dennis Hale
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