Yes and no. I think SCCA has become business-like, and that's nothing
but good IMNSHO. As far as supersession is concerned, that's driven by
US not them. When I bought my Radical and went DSR racing it was the
hot ticket. Within a month there were five of them to compete against
in the Northwest, and if you didn't have a Radical in DSR the best you
could hope for was fifth--unless a Radical broke or didn't show. I won
the Northwest championship in 2003. DSR was suddenly a hot class and
people started paying attention to it. The Stohr hit the track. A guy
who was lucky to get third in his Radical bought one and took three
seconds off my best PIR time-- 1:17:something. Hot shoes in Stohr DSRs
can do under 1:10, which is Formula Atlantic territory and mid-pack
for the CART racers.
I like wings and slicks racing, but not as much as racing Peyote. I
damned sure wasn't going to circulate behind a pack of Stohrs, and I
didn't care to spend 60K every two years in a "budget" race class so I
sold my Radical and concentrated on Vintage. Lost the requisite $20K
-- hmmm, more like 30.
So the question is, how is this the SCCA's fault? If the SCCA didn't
pay attention to this and other racing phenomena, car concentrations,
costs, and trends then I wouldn't consider them family. I'd consider
them too dumb to live.
On Jun 2, 2008, at 9:33 AM, Steven Groh wrote:
>>
>>> I think we're all in agreement that the squeeze-out of the smaller
>>> classes
>>> at SCCA is heavily influenced by their current big business
>>> infrastructure, pro racing media contracts and Mazda
>>> subsidization. Times
>>> have changed, and my guess is that it's current trajectory won't
>>> change.
>>> And it is painful to witness. I understand. I grew up on SCCA,
>>> my dad
>>> was a two-time RE, and I watched him race at Cumberland, Dunkirk,
>>> the
>>> Glen, and Marlboro in the 50's and very early 60's. I ran Formula
>>> Fords,
>>> graduated to a Formula Continental, and like many others, saw the
>>> writing
>>> on the wall for small-bore and open-wheel cars, too. It came down
>>> to a
>>> not-very-palatable choice - invest another 30K in a Zetec
>>> conversion so I
>>> could at least rely on running the FC Cooper Series in addition to
>>> SCCA,
>>> or cut the bleeding and go back to the future and run Vintage. Hard
>>> decision to lose 20K on the sale of the FC, but it was the right
>>> one. I
>>> chose SVRA because every vintage sanctioning body, and every vintage
>>> driver I spoke to respected them. They became the standard that I
>>> built
>>> my car to, and now that I have raced under their banner, I, for one,
>>> couldn't be happier. Yes, it cost a ton to make the change, but
>>> to me, it
>>> was worth it. Now my dad's watching me. And once again, it's a
>>> family
>>> event. It's a shame that SCCA has ceased to be a "family", but a
>>> blessing
>>> that SVRA (not to leave out VRG, VSCCA and others) are indeed a
>>> family.
>>> Some things you just can't put a price on.
>>>
>>> There are choices out there. Changing SVRA to accommodate SCCA
>>> isn't one
>>> of them in my humble opinion.
>>>
>>>
Bill Babcock
Babcock & Jenkins
Billb@bnj.com
503.936.7660
www.bnj.com
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