[Autox] Class Participation (Part 3)

[John Lieberman]

I agree with what you're trying to do here, Clemens -- but I also like 
Rocky's proposal.  To me, it make more sense.  And, since it's already 
been done in Club Racing, that should give us some leverage with Solo, 
too. 

I'm in the same boat that Rocky's in -- we both run in GP -- and I know 
that we've both had to live with this artificial "bubble" ever since our 
class was created from DP a few years ago.  When I built my Mini (as a 
DP car) 23 years ago, I wasn't even thinking about National classes.  I 
just did it because it was a whole lot easier and cheaper to turn the 
pile of parts that I had bought into a Prepared car than it would have 
been to take it back to Street Prepared or even Stock class status.  The 
money I would have had to spend on interior and exterior trim parts -- 
let alone, ancillary engine parts -- was better spent, in my book, on 
performance parts.  I just wanted something that I could have fun with 
locally.  I didn't even attend my first Nationals until '97 and I didn't 
drive at Nationals until '98.  By then, I had already sunk far more time 
and money into my little car than I should have, and I still wasn't a 
competitive driver -- even though the little car might have been up to 
the task in the right hands. 

Unfortunately, I've had to miss the last couple of Nationals -- but not 
because of the rules.  It was strictly for financial reasons!!!  
However, by not being there, I also know that I contributed to the 
problem in our class.  I DO plan to be there in 2010 -- even if GP isn't 
recognized as a National class -- but that doesn't help us with where we 
are now.

BTW -- I would love to get my hands on a couple of those stickers.  
Please let me know the best way to go about doing that.

John Lieberman

Rocky Entriken wrote:
> In 1973 we had 15 classes at the first Solo Nationals, which included 
> one Ladies class on Index. Or, as a practical matter 14 classes in 
> which 224 drivers competed. That's an average of 16 cars per class.
>
> in 2009 we had 38 separate classes, all but the FJs having parallel 
> Ladies' classes. We had 1148 entrants, or an average of 30.2 entrants 
> each. of course, when you include the Ladies classes we had 72, and 
> that included 16 "empty or close to it" (one trophy, or in two cases, 
> none). But I believe my proposal does not go to the extreme, but backs 
> away from it. It says if we have a class of one or two or three cars 
> (or up to six), well you people have fun, enjoy the event, but you 
> haven't risen to the level of champion. However, you might next year 
> because we aren't taking your class away. You have nothing to fear, 
> but you do have the possibility of striving to achieve something better.
>
> We anointed 67 champions this year, plus five "winners" of 
> supplemental classes (two of which had four drivers in trophies). Had 
> my proposal been in effect, we'd have crowned 49 champions and 
> declared 23 "winners." It would have made the mantle of champion more 
> exclusive and more deserving, which still not disenfranchising anybody.