List,
Tom speaks from experience and history is on his side. The car he used to
campaign, the Pearson Brothers coupe, that had the same top chop as his
present car was one that used the owners interpretation of the rules. Rules
stated a set windshield height ... they just changed the slant on it but
still had the specified measurement of glass. Now the car is an ikon in hot
rodding. I agree that the rules should be for safety and the rest should be
for the inventiveness of the builder. Makes things much more interesting.
Wes
----------
> From: "Thomas E. Bryant" <saltracer@awwwsome.com>
> To: "Ferguson, Darrell" <dfergus@bactc.com>
> Subject: Re: Spoiler Rules
> Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 18:09:55 -0800
>
>Darrell,
>I'm not knocking your efforts to make inroads or push the boundaries. We
>all prefer to live as close to the fence as is comfortable. Personally,
>I'm not comfortable making waves, just don't like confrontations.
>
>When we first appeared on the Salt with our present car, at Speedweek ,
>no problem, we didn't get noticed because we didn't go very fast. At the
>World of Speed we started to get it sorted out and drew a little
>attention I guess, because when we arrived at the World Finals I was
>immediately told that our car was illegal because of the altered wheel
>wells. (Someone had said that the wheel well is part of the quarter
>panel, so altering the wheel well was altering the quarter panel which
>was not allowable.) We could only run for time!
>Here I did get confrontive. We had built the car with the rules and
>present running cars in mind. (George Field's car was running wheels
>tucked into the confines of the body.) After a bit of discussion it was
>decided that I had a good argument, so I was allowed to run the class
>and the next year the rules stated that it was an allowable
>modification.
>
>You see, I am not against your trying something different. But, keep in
>mind, on the Salt, the tech committee is God and the rule book is their
>Holy Bible. It would be best to have this sorted out with them before
>appearing in impound with much at stake. Good Luck!!
>
>Tom
>
>
>
>"Ferguson, Darrell" wrote:
>>
>> I'm just trying to figure out which way to go! I left drag racing to move
to
>> a less restrictive form of racing (SCTA). I have heard others on the list
>> echo similar sentiments regarding the NHRA and how many racers despise
what
>> they have come to represent in the name of hot rodding. It all goes back
to
>> how the rules are interpreted. I have received at least 5 DIFFERENT
personal
>> interpretations of the rules regarding a rear spoiler in the altered
class.
>> Again, whenever there is a gray area, how does each person read the rule?
>> For a competitor who already has a rear spoiler of a particular design,
>> he'll read the rule in his favor. I get the impression that there will be
a
>> rule change, or clarification, in one direction or another, regarding
>> Spoilers on both Altereds and Competition Coupes for the 2000 season. I
have
>> seen rules changed to allow competitors to try new ideas that were
>> previously illegal for the altered class in the past. Many have suggested
we
>> take that approach, but again, our spoiler is not illegal as I see it and
>> therefore didn't even think twice about lobbying for a rule change. We're
>> not trying to cheat, or break the rules, and if I had something to hide,
I
>> certainly wouldn't have put pictures of anything questionable on the
BLACK
>> RADON ENGINEERING Homepage. We haven't even teched our car yet, and the
>> controversy we're generating is only from a couple of pictures.
>> Unfortunately I feel as though we're already off to a great start making
>> friends with the SCTA Inspectors, and other members of this list. At the
>> rate we're going here at BLACK RADON, we'll be racing with no rear
spoiler
>> at all, or be forced to run for time only. I guess my point is that the
>> people that I idolize in the world of motorsports are those who
consistently
>> think outside the box, people who push the boundaries to break new
ground.
>> Along those lines, my brother, father and I want to bring that attitude
with
>> us to the salt and I get the impression it's already hurting us.
>>
>> Darrell Ferguson
>> BLACK RADON ENGINEERING
>> # 939 BBFALT
>> http://my.cybersoup.com/blackradon <http://my.cybersoup.com/blackradon>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Thomas E. Bryant [SMTP:saltracer@awwwsome.com]
>> Sent: Monday, November 15, 1999 3:03 PM
>> To: Ferguson, Darrell
>> Cc: 'Jim Dincau'; dferguso@ebmail.gdeb.com;
>> boogiewoogie12@hotmail.com; land-speed@autox.team.net
>> Subject: Re: Rules
>>
>> I understand that a tag in an early NHRA Rule Book was: "If it
>> doesn't
>> say you can, you can't." Just another way of looking at the
rules!
>>
>> Tom
>
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