"msmith2" <msmith2@columbus.rr.com> wrote:
> Paul Foster wrote:
>> I think you are mistaken. Take the people who showed up for SM this year
at
>> Topeka. I bet they ALL competed with the SCCA in other classes before SM
>> was created. What _evidence_ do you have to the contrary?
> Since I don't know the personal data of the SM entrants at nationals, I
> can't say. I CAN say that over 75% of the SM contingent here has 'N' next
to
> their name for Novice. It's also ranking in the top 5 classes for the
number
> of entries.
> However, I'm pretty sure Dennis has the nationals 'newbie' count compiled
> already......
Actually, he doesn't. But it doesn't take long to do. Of the 22 people who
competed in SM this year, myself, Kent, Karl, Jocelyn, the Shotz Twins, and
Doug had prior Nationals experience. To the best of my knowlege, that
leaves 15 Nationals newbies. Give me a margin of 4 people for error, and
that still means that HALF of SM at Nationals had never competed at
Nationals before.
Of those people, I know at least 4 who were in their first year of
autocrossing. As SM gets a longer and longer history, it won't take long
for the class to be primarily filled with people for whom SM is the only
class in which they have ever competed.
So contrary to Paul's "intuition", SM IS bringing new people into the
sport, and based on some of the things I've seen on some of the Honda BBSes
out there, that's going to become very clear next season.
DG
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