Given that no one has come up with a solution that is
guaranteed workable, I am going to suggest the obvious
alternative:
CANCEL THE SLUSH SERIES
There, we've solved that problem. Now let's discuss
what we can all do for fun instead. I suggest we change
the GGF event on 10/1 to a practice event focused on fun.
You can come to learn, you can come to teach. You can
come just to run for fun. You can be a rookie. You can't
run, work, and leave in 2 hours though. You'll be there
for at least half of the day, and you'll be busy.
We don't need to limit attendance. We don't need
to predefine how many runs people will get. We
can tell people to come in the morning or afternoon
based on what kind of car they're bringing. We'll split
each session into two run groups and each group
can run in the order gridded for half the morning
or afternoon session and work the other half.
Cars with multiple drivers will not get any more
runs than any other car, but can be entered
morning and afternoon if entered by different
drivers. No driver may enter both morning and
afternoon. This will be done on the honor system
in order to determine who is lacking in
sportsmanship which I believe is the only
requirement for maintaining dues paying
membership in the SCCA.
We don't need to screw just the rookies. We don't
need to screw just the serious competitors. We
don't need to worry about how many occasional
drivers show up. We don't need to refuse to accept
new members.
If we do this, I will be there without a car.
If you want me to ride with you, ask me to
jump in. If you want me to drive your car,
move over. You don't need to have a Lotus
of Ferrari to ask.* If no one asks I'll go home
and do something else.
Or we can just leave the rules as they are for
the next five events and see how ugly it gets.
If we do this, I may come anyway, but I have no
compelling reason to do so.
Rich Urschel
Ps. I predict my suggestion will not reduce attendance
at all. Only 17% of this year's entrants ran for trophies,
and I doubt seriously if that is the only reason they are
autocrossing.
Pps. If you can come up with an objection to this, please
ask yourself just how selfish your reasoning might be
before posting it. There are a lot of people subscribed
to this list, and you wouldn't want to embarrass yourself.
If you see an administrative problem with this (e.g.. teching
the second group's cars), think about a solution for it
before suggesting it won't work because I haven't
spoon fed you every detail.
* If anyone in Sacramento would like to take up my
offer for tomorrow or Sunday, send me a private
e-mail. I need more than one response to make it
worth driving five hours, though. Unless you have
an exotic I've never sat in before. :-)
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