Steve had some points near the end of his post that limitless growth may not
be the best goal for SCCA but there is one idea that he missed badly. If
all of the top drivers in the country spend 100% of their autocrossing time
smacking each other around at National events, they get better. Cool. If
the novices or not-so-great drivers, however, never get a chance to run with
the big guys (remember, the best drivers are playing at NT's and such) then
the new guys or slower guys will never have the chance to learn from the
fast guys. I've been autocrossing for 2 years now, and am getting slightly
faster each event. I know I would be no where near as fast as I am now if I
didn't have the chance to run against Mike McClure, Todd Farris, Wally
Strzelec, Chris Ramey, Casey Weiss and some of those other really fast Texas
racers at monthly local events. Those guys are, almost without fail, at
every one of our local autocrosses. Yes, they travel to the NT's and such
as well, but if they spent all of their autocrossing time at NT's and such
events, myself and many of the young drivers in our club would not have
learned nearly as much as we have so far. Yes, we'd have more trophies, but
we'd be slower. I'm sure Mike doesn't really enjoy kicking my @$$ every
month (I could be wrong though ;-), but he and those other guys are always
willing to make suggestions and offer advice on everything from how to take
a section of the course to car setup. If all of the fastest guys were
willing to do the same, there'd be more fast drivers to run against, and
then the local events start to become more challenging. They would not be
as challenging as NT's or Nationals, but they wouldn't be the worthless
menial blowouts that Steve was indicating. I guess all I'm saying is that
if the fast drivers who don't spend all their time at NT's are willing to
put something back into the sport, we all would benefit. Also, that the
"glorified local events" that Steve referred to are opportunities to help
teach people what you've learned so that you DO have competition.
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