FWIW, I respect everyone who's put forth their wisdom and opinions. I find
Bryan's opinions on classing to sound a bit elitist - so be it, he's got an
opinion and thankfully the time and drive to support autocross. I don't have
to agree. What I think I hear is that he has a view on what the reason for
the SFR has for putting on these events. I'm not sure that I agree that the
number one reason is for SFR to show its huge, hanging accomplishments by
dusting up on other Regions at the Nationals. If that is going to be the
driving (no pun intended) policy for how we decide to do things here, maybe
that should be in some Mission Statement that we can read and understand.
If the reason for reducing classes is to make the job of those scheduling the
events easier, say it. From the discussion here, it sounded like Jerry or
someone was all hosed off at the temerity of the Slush attendees at not
showing up in regular, repeatable numbers from week to week. I don't show up
at 7 a.m. if I don't run until the afternoon, unless I'm working. John Kelly,
should I feel guilty about that? Do you know if that was a motivator amongst
the Street Tire contingent?
If the reason for reducing classes is that Bryan doesn't think you're a
serious competitor if you're not hauling around an extra set of tires and
wheels, hey, I've been doing that just in the Street Touring class! Those
darned Falkens ride like buckboards.
If you feel you want to measure the success of the Region by National trophy
count, I'd say to look around. We send (a misnomer, it's all individual
choice) a large number to the Nationals, in large part because we've got huge
participation numbers. In addition that helps refine the existing competitors
in the crucible of competition, helping them to improve faster and farther.
But my opinion is that the majority of those enjoying the events aren't ever
going to Topeka, and they are very important in their time and support at
making the SFR Solo2 the smashing success that it is.
A lot of people pick a class based on what they feel like driving, their
budget, whatever. Belittling people because they don't use race tires, or
even DOT R tires, doesn't improve the discussion in my opinion. And yes, that
was Bryan asking rhetorically, What's wrong, afraid of some competition? when
handing down the Steering Committee decision that Street Touring cars could
not compete in Street Tire. I think that many competitors look at the rules
and see where they think that they might have a little edge, be it building
the Civic Si du jour, or changing class to ST because the car seemed
hopelessly outclassed in its Stock category (that'd be me), or buying an extra
set of Hoosier Dirt Stockers because it might rain in Topeka. ST in STi was
just one option that looked attractive for a while.
Which brings me back to my stated opinion that the membership doesn't know why
the SC does what it does, and in some cases that may be because the SC doesn't
know. Without some sort of communication as to the guiding objectives, we nor
the SC won't ever know if we're getting closer or not. And the SC won't know
what we want, except in a vague way by counting heads and dollars at year's
end.
PaulT
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