how IT/7 started in your region?

what approach was used in your region

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Daryl Brightwell
ITA/7 Mazda #90
SFR, NORPAC
CAL CLUB, SOPAC

IT-7 was organized "BY" the drivers, and "for" the drivers of SEDiv. Unlike other "spec-classes" of recent memory (eg. Spec Miata, Spec-7, Pro-7, Panoz GT, Legends and even the SCCA sponsored SRF)----IT-7 was NOT formed by an entrapanure (sp?) to make a bunch of money by building race cars/selling race parts.

Two guys in SEDiv (Stan Hinds and Leeg) organized the drivers of 1st gen RX-7's in SEDiv and with petitions from the actual drivers Stan and Lee made the case to the (then 18) RE's of SEDiv for the adoption of IT-7 as a stand alone class. (and just for the record neither Stan nor Lee are making any $$ from this class and both have since gone back to racing their IT-7's).

The IT-7 drivers were and remain totally content to run in what ever EXISTING race group is most appropriate per the decision of SEDiv officials, (thus we don't really deprive anybody of their "Track time").

The class winners in IT7 get there with a solid-IT car build and prep and good driving skills. We cannot by definition of a single marque class simply "buy" our way into the "car of the month" to get ahead of the competition. From a certain point of view any "spec" class is really a much tougher class to get to the front and stay at the front.

In DC/MARRS, Spec RX-7 (no IT-7) was started by Bret DePedro, a long time RX-7 driver and shop owner. Whether or not his motivations were fiscal is irrelevant, he has run the class well for the past 4-5 years. He's prepared a good number of the cars, but they are so easy to build that many are home-developed or done by other shops. The rules have administative tasks/duties outlined, so there are yearly elections for class admin, rules changes, etc (requiring 75% approval to pass, which rarely happens).

The class started running with 5 or so cars in the ITB group, then grew and moved to the ITC group. Last year, it got large enough to have a seperate run group. This year, attendance is 37+ avg and 51+ max.