Well, unfortunately, there are a couple of problems with doing this.
With the growth of vintage racing in recent years, most racing groups
are not hard pressed for entries. What they are hard pressed for is
entries of extremely rare and early cars. Most race groups have had
to combine the pre-war and early 50's cars simply because there aren't
enough entries in the pre-war category. Adding a group just for the
replicas makes it harder to justify separate groups for the cars that
are pretty scarce. It boils down to less track time for the genuine
vintage race cars, or larger run groups, which can then lead to more
incidents. Either way, the genuine cars get scared into hiding.
Of course, it all depends on the organization and its membership. In
some clubs, there is a place for these cars, so have at it. In some
groups there is usually a slot in the schedule for an "invitaional"
group. This could be used to defray the rising costs of renting the
track, but hopefully, not at the expense of track time for everybody
else.
This is kind of how CSRG handles the invitational NASCAR group. They
guarantee a certain number of entries, they practice with other big-
bore cars (I think), and they get their own feature race. As an
invitational group, they have worked out very well. In spite of what
people may think about a 1985 NASCAR Lumina, how else will these cars
get preserved for the distant future? It's a miracle ANY of the cars
wer now enjoy survived, especially the purpose-built ones. You can't
get valet parking for THAT Lumina...
tgrau wrote:
>
> I am a dealer for both original and replica Cobras (House of Cobras,
> Midwest), and original and replica British cars (British Auto Shoppe). I
> don't feel that the replicas should be racing with the "real thing", but is
> it possible to have special class (ie exhibition class) that the replicas
> could run in? Just an idea.
|