Doug:
Bravo! Well said! I have raced my ' 67 MG Midget since 1990 with SVRA for
the first two years and HSR for all ten. My initial primary concern was to
be able to race close to home (Road Atlanta) and with the two groups, was
able to get three races there and one or two at Roebling. I, too, have seen
the movement of the equipment, speeds, and attitudes away from what most of
us consider to be the "vintage spirit" as it applies to both car
preparation and driver attitude. I see it more like racing vintage sports
cars, as opposed to vintage racing sports cars. To me SCCA is racing
vintage sports cars. I fully understand the reasons for this since HSR and
most of the other sanctioning bodies are not non-profit organizations. The
creation of the Thundersports Cup, "vintage" NASCAR class, B.O.S.S.
series, etc all attest to this movement. I also fear that the closing of
many of the Production Classes in SCCA will cause the cars and drivers to
infiltrate the ranks of vintage racing. We have already seen Fiberglas body
panels, air dams, wide wheels, flares, coil overs, etc in Group 2. What
concerns me even more is the SCCA driver attitude. I will continue to race
with HSR because I like the people in the organization and the people in
the small bore class. I also like racing at Road Atlanta.
The prospect of getting to race more as well as reasonably close to home is
a very positive incentive to embrace VDCA. I was at the inaugural event at
Roebling in December (missed you there!) and was very impressed with the
direction and the attitude of the founders and the competitors. We had lots
of track time and lots of fun on and off the track. The founders seem to
know what they (and we) want and are determined to provide a more
"vintage" opportunity to do it. Sure, there were some growing pains and
some things weren't made clear or fully planned for, but the overall
experience was very positive. One of the competitors I talked with felt the
group was looking for "old ladies racing slow cars". This was somewhat sour
grapes since he had a car that would not be invited back because of
violating the period preparation rules. Sure he is fast and a great guy,
but this group may just not be for him. In my opinion, VDCA looks like it
will provide what I am looking for in a race group. All my car apparently
needs according to Peter Krause is tires other than Hoosiers. (Bob Woodman
is working on this). I plan to have a car that can run in HSR and VDCA with
only wheel/tire changes. I may not be up front in either group, but I will
be racing and will be doing it more times per year than I was able to
before. To me, that's what I enjoy.
Hope to see you there!
At 11:17 AM 01/17/2000 -0500, S800Racer@aol.com wrote:
>
>In a message dated 1/17/00 10:25:42 AM, acace@juno.com writes:
>
><<Last year attendance was down at the festival
>and although that may have prompted the decision, it should be noted that
>the weather was a major factor.>>
>
> In fact, the last two years. Labor day 1998 was miserable with strong
>thunderstorms. I was there competing in 1998 and my race group was decimated
>by no-shows -- I moved from 17th on the grid to 7th due to no-shows. Two
>consecutive years of bad weather is very hard for an event to recover from.
> I have to say that I very much enjoyed the event and the style in which
>it was run. I don't know how HSR plans to handle the event but their
>involvement will tend to discourage me from returning because I'd rather not
>race against heavily modified cars covered in vintage bodies. I would also
>be a bit leery of racing on the tight confines of Lime Rock when the 13/13
>rule will be given much less (if any) emphasis by the new sanctioning body.
> That being said, we may be a bit premature to say that HSR taking over
>the Fall Festival is bad for the sport of vintage racing. The clear
>downside, to me, is that the primier vintage racing event on the East coast
>will become much more 'racing' than 'vintage'. Personally, I would prefer to
>have the vintage aspect glorified rather than the racing aspect. But I think
>that this development is an inevitable byproduct of the growth of vintage
>racing.
> The increasing popularity of vintage racing over the last 5-10 years has
>resulted in a general shift toward looser rules and faster cars that are less
>and less vintage. The racing has become more intense with more 'incidents'.
>Sanctioning bodies and sponsors have become more concerned with increased
>entry lists and paying spectators than the desires of the average entrant.
>For the average guy on the couch in front of his TV or sitting in the stands,
>these may all be improvements. Like it or not, I believe that this psuedo
>vintage type of racing is here to stay. It might even produce a pretty good
>show for the fans.
> While these changes have altered the nature of vintage racing, there
>remains a great number of fans and competitors alike that want to see and
>drive real vintage cars just the way they were seen and driven in their day.
>This kind of "backlash" to the changes in vintage racing is just now
>beginning to really gather some momentum and take some recognizeable form. A
>prime example is the formation of the Vintage Drivers Club of America (VDCA).
> VDCA provides the East coast with a new venue for period authentic vintage
>racing. VDCA will demand that the cars be prepared in a form true to their
>original specification as they were raced.
> VDCA will also demand that competitors participate in the 'proper vintage
>spirit'. While defining that term is not easy, cooperation with your fellow
>racers is an important key to 'proper vintage spirit'. Two or more closely
>matched cars dicing together is a cooperative excercise and sometimes your
>part is the passer and other times it is the passee. If you are racing in
>the 'proper vintage spirit', successfully executing the part of being the
>passee is just as satisfying as being the passer.
> The 'proper vintage spirit', both in terms of car preparation and driver
>behaviour is something that has become all too rare in vintage racing today.
>I am clearly not the only one that feels that way and I believe that others
>who share that view will drive the resurgence of vintage racing that
>emphasizes 'vintage' more than 'racing'. I don't expect this movement will
>displace the competitive, modernized form of vintage racing that HSR seems to
>represent. Again, I don't see that form of racing as either good or bad.
>What I do see is that vintage racing seems to be evolving with these two
>polar opposites. I think there is room for both forms of vintage racing and
>I expect that the sport will continue to 'polarize' with these two distinct
>forms: vintage based but heavily modified and updated racing on one side and
>tightly regulated period authentic vintage racing on the other.
> Currently the form of vintage racing represented by HSR is the juggernaut
>with all the momentum and consequently has taken over one of the primier
>events on the East coast. But I think the form of vintage racing represented
>by VDCA has a bright future and will continue to gain popularity.
>
> If you have read this far, I thank you for your patience.
>
> Doug Meis
> 1967 Honda S800 Coupe
>
Bob Spruck
Sharpsburg, GA
' 67 Midget Vintage Racer
' '72 Midget Weekend Car
4 parts cars in the woods
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