>> when you showed up in that beautiful N/T Eclipse show car at the 98
>> Harrisburg Pro - on street tires. You couldn't wait to go out and get >> R
tires.
> Eeeks! I've been exposed!!! ;-)
Heh. :)
But here's the point for those who may not have been there. Ol' Eric here shows
up in the quintissential riceboy car - with "Eggroll Racing" on the side of it,
even - at a ProSolo. Not only was he in a car that's 1000lbs too heavy for the
class (and, as I remember, prepared in excess of SP in a couple of minor areas -
no rear seats, is that right Eric?) but he's on street tires.
He got CREAMED.
Now as a stereotypical riceboy, he should have taken his ball and gone home, and
we'd never see him again, right?
Hell no. After the first day's beating, he was all over myself and McKiver. Me
for car prep advice, McIver for driving advice. (Demonstrating uncommon savvy
and perception. Imagine asking McKiver for car prep, and me for driving -
disaster! :)
He wasn't all sulky about how he was getting clobbered - and keep in mind, this
was a heavily prepared (read: $$$ invested) car he was driving. Instead, he was
all gung-ho about the ways he could spend more money and how he could drive
better. In a nutshell, he was acting exactly the way you'd hope a newcomer to
the sport would act.
I offer that Eric here is TYPICAL of most riceboys, and proof of the myth. Once
they see how it's done, they get the bug just like everyone else, and become
productive members of autoX society. ;)
The big difference that I see between Eric and most other riceboys is that Eric
had access to another car (a Miata) that had a competitive place to play. Had
that not been the case, we may have lost him this year without ST/STR/STU.
Want the address of that turbo-kit guy Eric? STU is calling... :)
> I think the SCCA create the ST classes to help attract new
> membership from the ranks of the rice rocket crowd.
> Instead, we have Vince Bly and Mark Allen, both accomplished National
> Level competitors from other R tire classes running away with the show.
Well, that's not a bad thing. At the National level, you want the bar set high.
I suspect they'd have more participants in that class if it was STR though....
One thing that I'd like to know though is if Mark and/or Vince are trying to
attract other (new) members to the sport and class. They should be.
> However, we regularly have 100+ entries in our regular regional events, > and
we don't seem to have any requests for a Street Tire class.
Our numbers are more like 180-200 (although rain has dropped the numbers
somewhat this year) We have separate Street Tire classes, but eliminated the
Novice class. That seems to work well. The "real" novices and the occasionals
drive in a class that's suited to them, and the couple of oddballs who are
experienced drivers who prefer street tires (one of whom has a good reason - his
daughters and their boyfriends all share his car, and his tire wear is *nuts*)
are sufficiantly stingy that nobody is throwing megabucks into ultra-rare street
tires in an effort to dominate the class. It works.
DG
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