Well actually, Mark, I was trying to address more the aspect of how we treat
strangers than the aspect of whether or not to have scales.
>All this is beside the point. The damn rule is in the book and its a
>pretty "visible" rule. If you don't wanna do it anyway, fine, but don't
>try to bend over backward justifying it with a buncha mumbo-jumbo about
>how you're all friendly. News flash - _every_ autox club feels that way
>(usually with good reason).
And then, I am not the one in charge of complying with that rule. Just
speaking from the point of view of another competitor. I don't dispute the
rule, only noting that I do not feel personally aggrieved when scales do not
happen.
>As a prepared competitor, I like having scales available so that I can
>check how much _I_ weigh before I get to Nationals, maybe have time to set
>corner weights, etc.
Yeah, me too, but I don't need to do it every event. And there are other
opportunities besides the Divisional (road races for example -- I've taken
my car there in the past for no purpose other than to run it across their
scales). Also note, just because the scales at THIS event say you weigh 1500
pounds is no guarantee the scales at the NEXT event will say that. So it is
always a best-guess approximation. If you are close to the edge, if the
event has scales it is a good idea to use them pre-impound. When you're 100+
overweight, it is not a worry. :-(
>In addition, having all the cars run over the scales is a nice "warm
>fuzzy" that everyone's legal. Most of the time it seems like more of a
>chance to poke fun at your overweight buddies vs. check legality anyway
>:-)
Whaaaa. I'm too damn overweight anyway. Maaaa, Mark's poking fun at
meeeeeeeeeeee!
Actually, last year at Nationals, I placed high enough in DP that I was
pulled out of line to be weighed. And THAT was kind of cool. I've cracked
for years that I wanted to place well enough to get protested, and doing
well enough to get weighed is getting close. But you might note that even at
Nationals, they do not weigh EVERY P and M car, just those in and near
trophy territory. Is that strictly compliant? A strict reading of the
rulebook 6.10 would suggest not. It says only "verify legality of weight
specifications." It says nothing about picking only the top contenders to do
that. And I suppose that "verify" could be just asking everyone "are you
legal?" and getting affirmative answers that satisfy everyone concerned
could accomplish that. In a National class of 30 cars, I might not be
satisfied with that. In a Divisional class of four cars that I know very
well, I would be.
--Rocky
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