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Traction control

To: dan@saltflats.com
Subject: Traction control
From: "Thomas E. Bryant" <saltracer@awwwsome.com>
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 13:12:51 -0800
Dan & all,

I just received my Bonneville Racing News, so I was not aware of the 
article that has had some discussion on the network.

The intent of this post is not to rekindle this issue, but merely to 
support Dan Wright's article.

I just want to compliment you Dan on an excellent dissertation of the 
"Issue". Well written and logically supported. I know that there are 
some, (most fairly new to our sport), that want to argue that the 
driver's part in this pursuit of speed is not an important factor. 
However, I dare say that any driver that rises above the crowd in 
performance in their class would support the idea that their involvement 
was not important to the accomplishment.

I know that we all have enormous egos, otherwise we would not pursue 
this somewhat expensive sport. What else can we gain from succeeding, 
but personal accomplishment. And I want to say...I think that there is 
nothing at all wrong with feeding your ego.

Today's family sedan leaves very little for the driver to do but steer 
the course. When we push the throttle or stomp on the brakes, 
electronics do the rest, correcting what ever errors we make. They even 
turn the lights on & off, lock our doors, adjust the seat and warm our 
butt. Do we really want this in our race cars? I don't! The real problem 
with electronics is that after they are employed for a while, we begin 
to depend on them. To me, this is where a safety issue comes into play, 
electronics have a habit of failing, (otherwise, some of us on this 
network would have to look for other employment.) Failure is even more 
likely in a salty environment.

I suspect that the ones promoting traction control will continue their 
fight, and that is OK. However, as it stands today, it is illegal and 
the true competitor will not use it. We are back to the ego thing...in 
my view, only a warped mind could find joy in an accomplishment that 
employs illegal tactics.

Tom, Redding CA - #216 D/CC






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