Mike Cobine wrote:
>The question is: do you race old race car or do you race old cars? Are
you
>there to drive an old warhorse for another lap of glory, or there to drive
>an old car? Are spectators there to see cars build last year, or cars
raced
>in the Glory Days of Racing? Are they there to see John Greenwood's Stars
>and Stripes Corvette, or one that Bubba built last week? (Granted, most
>don't have a clue, but if they figured out you were selling them a ticket
to
>watch 2000 built race cars, instead of '60s built ones, I bet you'd see a
>difference.)
The more this "eligibility", "what-is-vintage?", "who-can-play?" topic is
beaten, the more I hear this stuff about the SPECTATORS and TICKET SELLING.
VSCDA and Midwestern Council, where my membership dues go, are still not-
for-profit clubs. Interested spectators are always welcome for a modest
fee but filled grandstands are not the goal. VSCDA "sanctions" the Brian
Redmond International Challenge at Road America, which is very definitely
a huge, for-profit, spectator event. But it is also very definitely Road
America's event, not VSCDA's and the only such event on our schedule.
I can see why elitism and exclusivity flourish in vintage racing "business
ventures". If a like minded group of persons choose to view vintage racing
as a rolling extension of the historic collector car market, then
maintaining
the integrity of that environment is paramount.....to them. If having the
stands filled with discriminating spectators, and not cheating them with
look-alike and replica race cars is the goal, then go for it.
To those that embrace these "businesses", I say good for you, keep it up!
Just please don't suggest or worry that I'll be putting my recently race
prepared MGB on the auction block some day as an ex-LeMans entry. And
don't assume just because I have ten grand at stake instead of two hundred
grand that somehow I'll tolerate scraped paint and bent metal more than you
will. I BUILT this thing with my hands, not just my wallet!
Apparently, the problem really is that we can't cope with all of us calling
what we do "Vintage Racing". Personally, I think the big buck collector
types would do better for themselves calling it "Corporate Big Bucks
Pedigreed Collector Car Racing". (CBBPCCR)
So if you guys change to that we'll be happy to change to "Mostly Reasonable
Bucks Old Sports Car Racing for Fun Club". (MRBOSCRFC)
>From then on we'll all know exactly who we're dealing with and can
peacefully coexist happily ever after. (Of course we'll have to have
separate
Email lists.)
Kelvin Palmer
Riverwoods, IL
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