Considering the incredible amount of time and effort by the esteemed Mr.
Johnson, too bad this is just one more in a series of events denied/decried
by the not so esteemed Lirpa Loof. His annual denials that take place on
this very day each year are simply too incredible to imagine, as our sport
could benifit immensely from many of these proposals. So, until next year,
don't hold your breath thinking that Mr. Lirpa Loof will come over to our
side...
Phil O.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Roger Johnson" <rjohnson@friendlynet.com>
To: "Team.Net (Group)" <autox@autox.team.net>; "Evo-Discuss (Group)"
<evolution-discussions@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, April 01, 2002 8:19 AM
Subject: [evolution-disc.] Background - Upcoming Olympic Announcement
> I want to provide some of the background behind the
> upcoming International Olympic Committee announce-
> ment regarding the inclusion of Autocross as an
> "Olympic Demonstration Sport" in Athens 2004.
>
> The IOC official announcement was due today, but will
> likely be delayed due to Easter, the April 1st holiday
> and Passover. In any case, as my resignation from
> the ad hoc committee that worked to this end is effective
> today, I am at liberty to confirm what has been whispered
> and rumored among the solo community for some time
> now. Most important is that each of you not be fooled
> by what will appear to be the fulfillment of a widely-held
> dream - there is far more to this than first meets the eye.
>
> And if you can see thru this process, now is *not* the time
> for public proclamations. Much better to let the news
> sink in for a while to allow the true believers to have
> their day.
>
> So while this 'demonstration' status for 2004 and 2008
> are big steps that we are very proud of, it is due to the
> machinations and unreasonableness of one of the member
> countries (Finland) that we aren't further along - in fact
> far more is _undecided_ regarding the competition than
> what has been agreed on.
>
> This effort started some time ago - prior to the Atlanta
> Summer Games, in fact - when SCCA coined our Solo
> II Nationals week of competition the "Solo Olympics".
> Some of the trophies that year were medals with ribbons,
> etc. The US committee preparing for the Atlanta games
> was headed by a friend of Nick Craw, Peter Ubberoth. He gently
> reminded Nick that the work "Olympics" was not in the
> public domain, and asked that we not use that phrase
> to denote SCCA events. This discussion between
> Nick and Peter went further, and ultimately led to the formation
> of the committee that has successfully petitioned the IOC to
> include our sport. And if we can get past the incredible
> politics that have impeded progress, we should be a full
> Olympic sport in 2012!
>
> Each country that had an existing gymkhana/time trial/autocross
> program was invited to select a member to serve on the committee.
> Great Britian, Germany, Canada, Japan, Thailand and the Netherlands
> were the first to elect representatives with our 'friend' from Finland
> coming later, in spite of the fact that there is evidence of only TWO
> events held in that nation, with less than 20 entries at each!
> (Yet this fool is an autocross expert. Geez.)
>
> But you can be assured that world-wide, this sport is poised on the
> edge of explosive growth as other countries, especially in South
> America, rush to develop programs to catch what clearly has to be
> a huge U.S. and Canadian advantage.
>
> As I mentioned, what *has* been decided is far smaller that the
> list of items that have not. The rough outline of the decided items
> include the site for the competition, which is a relatively small parking
> lot at the Hellinikon Olympic Complex (HOSC) south of Athens. Given
> that this is the olympic hockey center, it will get little use for these
> summer games and the lot is ours for the necessary week.
>
> There will be 6 members on each National team, with 6 alternates.
> There are to be 6 vehicle types represented: saloon car, 2 seat sports
> car, open wheel (FF2000 seems to be the choice here) etc. For the
> most part, our committee favored a same-car event, i.e., the drivers from
> each country selected to drive say the formula car would all drive the
same
> car. Each driver gets two runs in that car each day, Monday August 23
> thru Friday the 27th, with their best run from each day accumulating
> to an aggregate total for the team championship and the individual gold
> in that vehicle.
> The order in which drivers compete in that car will rotate - for instance
> if you are the first driver Monday you would be the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and
> 9th on the succeeding days (depending on the number of countries
> competing, of course). And as the sport gets more successful, it may
> be necessary to prepare more than one car (like IROC) in each
> category to accomodate increasing numbers of national teams.
>
> It is in the area of teams that the first obstacles have been presented.
In
> spite of parallel women's teams in almost all Olympic sports, the Japa-
> nese representative Shashimi Wantanabe and the Thai, Mei Upp have
> strenuously resisted the inclusion of Women's classes even in the demon-
> stration phase, as there is *zero* female participation in their
countries.
> And more, as the kinds of events run in the Japanese version of the sport
> are VERY different than the event courses in North America.
>
> Further politics have included the Canadian insistence on a class similar
> to SCCA's A Modified, with competitor supplied and driven vehicles.
> Gee, given the potential for dominance from the Milligan/Cheng car,
> is it any surprise that the Canadian rep (Rae McAlan) has dug his heels
> in on this one?
>
> So of course, not to be outdone, I have insisted on a Viper/Z06 type
> vehicle in the mix. And the German rep (Essen Scheist) and the Dutch
> rep (Ibea Dyke) have joined forces to demand Porsche 911-type vehicles.
> Then the Japanese and English combine to insist that at least two
> of the 6 vehicles be right hand drive. (It is my guess that the new Mini
> will most certainly be included.)
>
> The resolution of these vehicle issues will most certainly, ultimately, be
> money: which of the world's manufacturers will step up to provide the
> millions that the IOC will demand of the Official Supplier of Cars?
> (and tires, shocks, plugs, etc. etc. etc.) Certainly the serious among
> us will then be purchasing those vehicles, to gain as much seat time
> as possible . . . . . .
>
> I am sure that all of the above issues can be resolved, but it is going to
> take a drastic change in the make-up of the organizing committee - the
> reason for my resignation and also that of the French and UK reps is
> the Finn on the committee, Loof Lirpa. I can say with no fear of
> argument that this guy is a total fool, and his obstructionistic tactics
> on everything from vehicles to venue to visas has delayed
> immeasureably the forthcoming announcement. This should have been
> done last fall, and here it is April 1st already. Valuable time has been
> lost as the incredible amount of planning and detail necessary to stage
> this event in a mere 16 months is staggering.
>
> He has further insisted that at least one of the vehicles be of the
> European forest-rally type, with competition indoors on the hockey
> ice! And while constantly decrying the potential inclusion of the
> NASCAR or Indy-Car drivers from the U.S. as professionals, Mr.
> Loof Lirpa insists that Finnish rally drivers are amateurs! Incredible.
>
> So I urge you again not to be fooled: not by the spin the press puts on
> this, nor the biased nationalistic reports that are inevitable, and surely
> not by the coming endless rounds of individual viewpoints that will
> soon overwhelm the electronic lists.
>
> It is up to the ASN (FIA affiliate) in each participating country to
> determine the selection processes for it's team, and if competiton
> at this level is of interest to you please stay tuned (and update
> your passports)!
>
> Roger (O) Johnson
>
>
>
> 419 435-9169 (h/o)
> 419 944-7958 (c)
> 800 422-1682 x89525 (vm)
>
>
>
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