Very interesting, lots of issues going on. Commenting on the situation at hand is hard, as I'm sure there's a lot of missing information.
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Cooler heads have prevailed on that protest. The cars will be allowed to run should the drivers want to.
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Andy, I'm not sure what that means if the protestor didn't withdraw the protest.
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I still say it's Jim Danial's class, he just let eveyone else play in it.
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James, that's just silly. I don't know you or Jim, or hardly anyone else that races SM, but no one person controls a class.
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1) pro motors are not 10-15hp up on crates. more like 5-10 at most.[/b]
Travis, that's a big jump over a stock motor, on what's supposed to be a spec class. IIRC, SRF motors dyno w/in 2 hp of each other, before they're sealed.
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the root problem in my opinion is SCCA making a change that i'm sure they knew would affect many people in the home stretch of the national racing season. if this change were made in the offseason and someone still had illegal cams per the updated rule during the 07 season, tough noogies. but throwing paper around a week or so after the update in fastrack is a bit harsh.[/b]
Need to research the timing on this before making a comment, but in general, I agree, mechanical changes should not be made mid-season.
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They'll be fodder for every Sunbelt and Hartzel prepped motor at Nats. I don't think anyone got even close to the top 10 with a crate motor out here, last year. [/b]
I don't know how accurate this statement is, but I know there's a perception (and it may be backed up by results sheets) that you need one of these big-dollar pro motors to be able to run at the front. To me, that's not what a spec class is supposed to be about. Since Enterprises is probably going to be sold, having all the SM engines come through them is not really an option, and I'm not sure Mazda wants to be involved w/ managing everything either. However, I think something needs to be done about it. If it's a spec class, and everyone is supposed to be running stock motors, either have them sealed by Mazda (or at a shop that dynos them w/in 1-2 hp of a known stock motor, or put a claim amount on them. You can claim anybody's motor for the cost of a new crate motor and half of the amount for R&R. You would not be able to protest sealed motors, but you could claim them if you thought that the seals had been faked. In that case, the claim would be the cost of a new crate motor and the full R&R cost.
It's a real shame that we're hearing so much about this class being cheated up, especially in its first year of National eligibility. Over on the Prod board, there was a well known individual selling an SM from their shop w/ admittedly cheated-up shocks. When called on it, he got beligerent (sp?), nasty, and abusive and used the "Everybody's doing it" and "Nobody at the front uses stock parts" arguements. I could attribute that to the general perception that there's a "wink, wink" attitude about the rules among a lot of the Prod folks, which is why the Prod rules have evolved into the mess that they are today, but mostly I see it as someone looking for a way to rationalize and justify cheating.
As I said in another post elsewhere on this site, the penalties for cheating need to be harsher, if we want any hope of discouriging (sp?) it.