> Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 00:10:08 -0400
> From: "Paul Zahornasky" <p.zahornasky@att.net>
> Subject: RE: Foolish Rules
>
> Having read Josh's post, I'd like to offer a different viewpoint from the
> same part of the country (New England.)
>
> First, I want to point out that Josh drives primarily with Cumberland
Motor
> Club (CMC)
And I'd like to use the same opportunity to point out that PZ drives
primarily with NER-SCCA, which is I believe the second-largest of the SCCA
regions. I don't know the exact number, because I couldnt find it on the
SCCA website, but there must be well over 100 SCCA regions, and all but one
or a few of them are smaller than NER. An NER viewpoint doesn't necessarily
reflect the view of the average region. The NER program is easily one of the
most nationals-oriented in the country. Which is fine. The problem is that
the SCCA, intentionally or not, largely determines what autocross is for the
majority of competitors in the country. My issue is that most of the input
and reasoning behind these rules comes out of one event a year, that maybe
1% of the people who autocross actually attend. I understand that the rules
serve national events, and regions like NER with their just-like-nationals
philosophy. But it doesn't translate well going down to the smaller clubs. I
really think there are a lot more people out there that feel the same way,
but the vast majority won't even get to say it because they're not on this
list, given that the list caters more to the die-hard nationals-every-year
types.
I wasn't speaking on behalf the club that I happen to run a few events with.
I hope I was speaking for a lot of the smaller clubs that get shortchanged
by some of the rules decisions. The responses I've recieved show me that I'm
not the only one who feels that way. You only prove my point when you
mention our club's smaller lots and less-than-national-caliber drivers,
apparently to discredit my opinions. I already knew you don't happen to like
the club I run with. Hell, there are a lot of things they do that I would
change (like the damn stop cone, and courses that are too long in duration
for their lot size). No, CMC is not an SCCA club. I have run a fair number
of SCCA regional events though. I find it less desirable to do so every
year. I think the prevailing feeling with clubs like ours is that the SCCA
has no use for us. So be it. It just means that the SCCA is in the business
of writing rules for National competition, but not for a sport that is
enjoyed every weekend by people in every part of the country. Maybe someone
needs to step up and write a set of rules that all of those clubs deemed
unnecessary by the SCCA can use.
> If it concerns your club that much, combine
> the classes locally into one class.
> Cars, that by the way,
> are pretty damn affordable to the novice autocrosser that has decided to
buy
> a car more suited for autocross.
This is exactly the attitude toward smaller clubs and more casual drivers
that has me soured on the SCCA in the first place. If the rules don't work,
T.S., write your own. If your car is classed foolishly, T.S., buy a new one.
I wish I had the time to write my own rules or the money to buy the hot car
of the moment. I don't. But that shouldn't mean my opinions, or ones like
mine, don't matter.
> RESPONSE:
> This is flat untrue. Locally, New England Region SCCA has a very strong
CP
> and EP turnout and AP, DP, and FP usually have a driver or two.
Like I said, NER is one of the largest SCCA regions - if anyone can fill out
all the classes at an event, it would be a region like yours. To apply that
to all the regions, the majority of which are much smaller, is fallacious.
> I don't see where non-SCCA
> clubs have any reason or right to complain. Don't like a particular rule,
> write up supplementals that change it (for example, NER allows street
driven
> Caterhams drive in ASP instead of EM.)
It's not the club that's complaining, Paul. It's just me. I have been an NER
member in the past as well, though I've let it lapse because I don't have
the time to travel down to your events as much as I used to. And you know
that asking all the local regions to either write their own rules, or take
what the nationals crowd gives them and like it isn't going to work.
Especially in the day of the internet, people want standardized rules. It's
nice to be able to talk setup with someone 2000 miles away who runs the same
class in the same car. People don't want to lose that. They also want to be
in the same class when they travel out of region. People want uniformity, in
the form of standardized rules, and the SCCA *is* the defacto standard. All
I am saying is that they should realize that they are, and consider the
impact on *all* aspects of and competitors in the sport when they make a
rule or classing change, rather than just the impact on one event out of the
year.
Josh
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