I know I am going to regret replying....
In the grand scheme, try this. Combine SM classes, ST classes, and SP
classes. Yup some might even favor making the current stock classes a "steet
tire" class with this scenario. I wouldn't want to be on any committe when
this happens.
But since ST classes are offered, why pull the R tires from stock? I thought
ST was to meet the current (okay now five or six years ago) new drivers
coming to the sport who had done a few tweaks to their cars, AND not force
them to buy R tires. That wish was granted. Imagine: a place to play.
Ironically, the tires used for the ST classes are treated with the same care
and feeding as R tires by those that compete on a more serious level
(separate rims, etc.). Yes, the cost per tire is cheaper. I'll grant you
that. But I use two sets of tires per season. One for the start of the year
and one primed for Nationals. If I ran an ST class, I would do the same
thing.
And no offense picking on my posts (or me).
There is a healthy amount of folks out there who *like* R tires. Market
forces drive the demand. If people didn't like 'em, they wouldn't buy 'em.
Matt Murray
As I was advised a few years ago, discussing things with BT is like
wrestling with a pig in mud: you both get dirty and the pig likes it. :^)
----- Original Message -----
From: Ben Thatcher
Matt, forgive me for picking your post out. But you (among many others who
have also said this) totally miss the point. ST was originally developed to
give small sedans with beyond stock modifications a place to play without
getting thrown into SP. They also had STS for street tires AND STR for the
same prep allowances but run on RComps.
Most critics on this forum were positive that STS would die and STR would
survive. But, just the opposite happened.
The argument you give sounds, to me, like the perception is that ST only
survives because some people prefer running on street tires and if the Stock
category (or SP and SM for that matter) were forced to run street tires that
those ST drivers would just go back to stock. But, it looks to me, like lots
of people like the prep allowances in ST so they run there. Now, I
understand that lots of time at the regional level that people who show up
in a stock category car with street tires opt to run in ST since they would
be more competitive but that is a whole different argument.
I don't follow your reasoning that doing away with RComps in Stock (or
SP/SM) would create a "mess." It would simply mean that everyone would need
to start over on their setups for the different tires. Is this a hassle and
potentially expensive for some competitors? The answer is YES. And some cars
that are quite competitive on RComps might not do so well in the transition.
If you call that a "mess" I guess you have a point.
However, the SEB creates similar messes every year when they sit down and
reclassify cars and create new "cars de jour" at the stroke of a pen.
I believe that ST has shown that allowing only street tires is viable in any
category, not just in ST. Of course the drivers with tire contracts won't be
happy.
Incidentally, several marque clubs have classes that only run on street
tires and those classes have the largest fields. I've seen regions develop
street tire classes that mirror regular classes and they are popular too.
Now, Matt, I'll disclose that I run a SP car. And I wouldn't care if we had
to run on Street tires, also. Tires wear out every year anyway. The
transition would only be painful for one year then everything goes back to
normal.
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