ITAC changes. Chairman resigns.

[irondragon]

Andy B's resignation from ITAC is a real loss for Club Racing.

He and I have tangled over car weights in the past.
I am not the easiest person to convince, but Andy was always patient and entirely
diligent in the way he presented the procedures. Thank you Andy.

If ITAC efforts have just worn Andy out, I am not surprised.
My grumps and queries must have contributed.

I believe that the classification process is no longer working.
Not for lack of effort from ITAC and similar groups that hear from the car people.
These groups pass info, ideas and requests up to CRB and to BoD.

But somehow the decisions made high up don't seem to support the efforts of ITAC et cet.
No wonder Andy Bettencourt has resigned. Our Loss

When will SCCA create a classification process that is transparent , functional and easy to use??

Seems we are far from that.

Bill Miskoe

[StephenB]

This has been a devastating year for the Sports Car Company of America. These recent resignations is the end that I never expected and truelly a set back to our organization. I wish Andy, Jake, Kirk, and all the others that have contributed the best of luck. I know that I have challenged and questioned the decision's this past year and all I can say is THANK-YOU for the time and dedication you gave. I am sorry it ended this way for all of you and I encourage you to do what I did... walk away from the drama, stay quite, and remember why you started in the first place. INMHO SCCA is a lost cause but it is all we have for now. This is for fun and entertainment.

RIP the real ITAC that tried, and listened to the members you will be remembered and appreciated for a long time.

Stephen Blethen

[anthony1k]

For the benefit of those of us less knowledgable with this issues, can someone talk about some of the specific reasons that drove the recent resignation?

[RSTPerformance]

With the appointment of Dick P to the BOD I had hope that we might be heading in the right direction for the 2010 season. With the resignation of Andy and Jake adding to the already listed resignations this isn't good news. I strongly encourage all those whom have the opportunity to vote in new BOD members to do so. Find more people like Dick P.

Also write letters to EVERYONE. Get the CRB replaced with people that will listen to member input like Andy, Jake, Kirk and others have done for years.

Raymond "what do we do now?" Blethen

[RSTPerformance]

Who is on the CRB now???

[mossaidis]

Bob Dowie
Charles Fred Clark
Col Jim Drago
Jim Wheeler
Thomas C Start
Chris W Albin
David A Gomberg

[Matt Rowe]

I'll make my response short and sweet as I in the midst of packing for a trip.

First, I too have to echo the sentiments of so many here in their appreciation for the efforts of the ITAC over the last several years. Andy, Kirk and Jake have been very public proponents of a transparent process and they will be sorely missed but I also have to express thanks to everyone on the committee that has been fighting the good fight and hope they can carry on.

Second, this is a disturbing trend that we are seeing such high turnover in the group and certainly bears some further understanding.

Finally, and the reason for my packing, is I am off to Las Vegas for the national convention where the CRB, BOD and National staff will all be in one location. I would imagine I won't be the only one looking for some information/answers.

[Bob Roth]

A couple of points,
1st - Andy is a standup guy, always willing to listen, great chair, appreciated his effort

2nd - Maybe the problem is we've made IT too difficult to regulate based upon only 5 classes. Here's a suggestion, lets make 10 or more classes so we can cluster cars more closely in similar configuration and potentials. Face it, none of us are racing for money and the world won't care if your champion of ITA or ITA1. I think a lot of grief would be avoided if we weren't trying to equalize a 1.6 Del Sol with a 2.5l BMW or a 1.8 type r with a V8 stang. With all the levels of prep, and ability of drivers its just to hard. When I started racing in '84, there were maybe 20 cars classified in a total of 3 classes. After 26 years of adding cars to IT, maybe its just too hard to get it right.

Go crazy, make separate spec miata 1.6 and 1.8 classes. Its not like the SCCA is going to go broke giving out more plywood 1st place trophies. With more classes having more closely clustered cars, it allows more cars to be competitive. It also makes cheating more apparent and it makes any CRB adjustments affect fewer cars in any class so less outrage. Bottom line, there would be fewer cars on the forum for sale for peanuts just because nobody can presently make them competitive. If IT is supposed to be fun entry level racing, why not let as many people win as possible? If people have a problem with this diluted competition, don't forget its entry level racing, go ahead, run prod....

[JeffYoung]

Apprecaite the post, but totally disagree. This was not what is driving the issue, and having 20 classes with different multipliers, etc. would dilute fields, drive interest down and make our (the ITAC) life more difficult.

A couple of points,
1st - Andy is a standup guy, always willing to listen, great chair, appreciated his effort

2nd - Maybe the problem is we've made IT too difficult to regulate based upon only 5 classes. Here's a suggestion, lets make 10 or more classes so we can cluster cars more closely in similar configuration and potentials. Face it, none of us are racing for money and the world won't care if your champion of ITA or ITA1. I think a lot of grief would be avoided if we weren't trying to equalize a 1.6 Del Sol with a 2.5l BMW or a 1.8 type r with a V8 stang. With all the levels of prep, and ability of drivers its just to hard. When I started racing in '84, there were maybe 20 cars classified in a total of 3 classes. After 26 years of adding cars to IT, maybe its just too hard to get it right.

Go crazy, make separate spec miata 1.6 and 1.8 classes. Its not like the SCCA is going to go broke giving out more plywood 1st place trophies. With more classes having more closely clustered cars, it allows more cars to be competitive. It also makes cheating more apparent and it makes any CRB adjustments affect fewer cars in any class so less outrage. Bottom line, there would be fewer cars on the forum for sale for peanuts just because nobody can presently make them competitive. If IT is supposed to be fun entry level racing, why not let as many people win as possible? If people have a problem with this diluted competition, don't forget its entry level racing, go ahead, run prod....