Hold on, guys. I never really said speed differentials are a *bad*
thing. The one truth about vintage racing I'm fond of quoting is
that there will ALWAYS be speed differentials. The question is in
how people deal with it. I've been out there in one of the slowest
open wheel cars in the group for 6 years now. When the racing is
clean and gentlemanly, there's no problem. Anybody who races with
me regularly knows they never have to sit behind me more than one
corner. I have guys come up to me after a race and thank me for
pointing them by so consistently. When there is actually somebody
going about the same speed as me, we'll trade places back and forth
with utmost care, and have a grand old time. Unfortunately, these
opportunities are getting fewer and fewer.
The point I was making is that once you already have significant
evidence that people are being sloppy AND agressive, you have a real
potential for disaster. The suggestion I made was to separate the
faster and slower cars into 2 groups mostly so the corner workers
would have a chance in hell of figuring out who was being naughty
and nice.
I also never said mixing open and closed wheel cars was a bad thing.
The issue many people have with it is visibility. The roll bar on
some open wheelers barely comes up to the door handle on some sedans.
The issue isn't the fenders, it's the mirrors. My car is large enough
that I think I could easily move to CSRG's Group 3 with the pre-war
and 50's specials. There's a guy in that group in a Cooper F3 from
the early 50's who also left the open wheel group because of the same
issues I raised. There are good, clean racers in CSRG who won't bring
out their early open wheel cars because of the antics of some of the
faster drivers in that group.
Also, comparing Sebring and LeMans to anything we do is really apples
and oranges. Those races are mostly run by professionals. Both Tiger
Woods and your family doctor can go out and swing a golf club. Guess
which one has a better chance of finishing in the money. With the
exception of a few ringers in the crowd (Bobby Rahal), we are mostly
amateurs. There is a lot of driver potential difference out there as
well as basic car capability. Driver attitude can make a big difference
in keeping an amateur sport safe.
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