"Allen Murrell" <ovrsteer@fastband.com> wrote:
> The SM class is very important to me because several of my friends race
in
> this class. Because of these classes, attendance numbers at our
regionals
> have increased dramatically and our region has many new members this year
> that are very enthused about autocrossing and are always helping with the
> events.
Excellent! Could I ask you to perhaps send a letter to this effect Howard's
way? He doesn't get as much feedback about how SM is doing on the local
scale, and is starving for more.
> I believe Howard has said that the whole intention of these classes
> was to entice young people that modify their cheap little cars into high
> performance machines to try autocrossing.
It's part of the plan, yes, but not the be-all and end-all.
SM's goals are somewhat schizoid, hell, we could be "Sybil Modified". :)
One important function of SM is to serve to grow the base of the pyramid,
but one other important goal is to build the capstone too; you need
examples to follow.
The average Import Drag participant has a Civic, and a couple of hundred
dollars in mods (half of which do do affect performance) runs 16s in the
quarter, and only races at his local track (may spectate at larger events)
But then there are the guys (and gals!) running 9s in the quarter, and
touring the country. These folks - Viet Lam, Lisa Kulbo, Steph
Papaunspellable, and so on - serve as examples to the "lower" guys,
inspiring them to keep working on their cars, their driving skills, and so
on.
You need both types. You need the grassroots folks to serve as the base,
but you need the high-end folks to act as the attractant - both for
participants, and sponsors/media.
Anyone going to a Pro, a Tour, or Nationals is running with the big boys.
It *should* be hard to win Nationals. It should be *very* hard to win
Nationals. (It should be a LOT harder than it is now to win Nationals) -
because an easy National Championship is meaningless.
But as long as a grassroots competitor can look at the current Championship
car and think "Yeah, if I do the work I can beat that" then the class is
fair.
> I looked over at
> these two guys that had towed all the way to Kansas with us and they both
> said they felt like they had brought a knife to a gun fight. They both
> thought these classes were supposed to be for inexpensive but heavily
> modified cars, not cars that start at $40,000.
The point that they should be getting though is that their Integra can be
made to run with both cars, given sufficient effort. The Supra and M3 start
with the bar pretty high, but the lighter, cheaper cars can reach the same
levels of performance.
I'm SO looking forward to the day when a well-prepped Integra or Civic
starts running with us; he'll dispell all the myths some have built up
about what's needed to win in SM and garner a ton of publicity in the
process. Just as long as he doesn't beat the Mustangs and Camaros too
badly..... *sigh*
Anyway, I sympathize, and I consider the Supra and M3 *right on the line* -
and I see no need to add further borderline cars (*cough* 944 *cough*) to
make the situation worse.
Managing SM is a tightrope walk over sharks and alligators; I wish more
folks understood that.
DG
|