Mustang in STU

[Matt93SE]

Stay tuned for the February Fastrack.

Dave

Is it Feb yet? My car and wallet are waiting on rules....

[adoyle]

So why then in this throw everything in class, did they stop at 1985 and newer IT cars. I have a 1980 3.5 ltr car and I would love to go double dip at Nationals.

[Ron Earp]

So why then in this throw everything in class, did they stop at 1985 and newer IT cars. I have a 1980 3.5 ltr car and I would love to go double dip at Nationals.

Spoil the look of the class man, spoil the look of the class....

[adoyle]

Jeff, What do you mean by force IT guys to go national. You could make IT a national class, and if member want to run national then do it, or you could run just regionals.

[Ron Earp]

What do you mean by force IT guys to go national. You could make IT a national class, and if member want to run national then do it, or you could run just regionals.

Force the class to be a national class, not force the racers to actually race it. When polls were done quite some time ago the majority of IT racers did not wish the class to be national eligible.

[Knestis]

Force the class to be a national class, not force the racers to actually race it. When polls were done quite some time ago the majority of IT racers did not wish the class to be national eligible.

...and it's been a while so I may be wrong but I don't think any distinction was made between "IT racers" and others who voiced opinions.

How about these for questions:

Which do you think is more likely to be beneficial to the Club Racing program as a whole: IT gaining National status or the addition of the ST classes?

Which do you think will be more detrimental to the health of the IT category?

K

[Ron Earp]

...and it's been a while so I may be wrong but I don't think any distinction was made between "IT racers" and others who voiced opinions.

Sorry, I don't mean to mislead. For sake of clarity - "the majority of people on this board who bothered to offer an opinion, most of whom are IT racers, seemed to prefer IT not being national".

[Matt93SE]

Which do you think is more likely to be beneficial to the Club Racing program as a whole: IT gaining National status or the addition of the ST classes?

My personal $0.02 is that I joined Club racing BECAUSE of the ST class. I specifically did not want to run IT due to the rules being too restrictive to us "tuners". I didn't want to run Prod either because I'd be stuck with a $$$$ NA engine build that doesn't make crapola for power. I can go faster for cheaper in STU, whether I'm nationally competitive or not.

As with many IT racers, my goal isn't to go to and win Ruboffs-- at least that's not on my 5 year plan. I don't think I'll ever win ruboffs (I ain't rich and I'm in a rich boy class), but I would definitely like to go and see what it's about.

[erlrich]

How about these for questions:

Which do you think is more likely to be beneficial to the Club Racing program as a whole: IT gaining National status or the addition of the ST classes?

Which do you think will be more detrimental to the health of the IT category?

K

For the Club Racing program as a whole, I think the addition of the ST classes will untimately be more beneficial - assuming they can get a stable ruleset in place. I think IT going National would benefit National Club Racing, but that would be offset by the loss to the Regional programs. The addition of ST does add the potential for new cars to come into Club Racing; making IT a National class will likely only cause a shift to IT from other classes.

I also think IT gaining National status - absent a ST class - would be less detrimental to the class; however I feel less certain about that answer. The potential for IT to become what SM has become would be very real IMO, and that could be a very bad thing for the class.

[Knestis]

... The potential for IT to become what SM has become would be very real IMO, and that could be a very bad thing for the class.

You mean, "popular" and "competitive?" Something else? This issue came out as one of the common arguments against National status - that "IT would become like Spec Miata" - but it was less easy for those opponents to explain HOW that would happen.

...The addition of ST does add the potential for new cars to come into Club Racing.

No doubt that that STU will see some cars (or car-engine mash-ups) that wouldn't otherwise have a place to race in SCCA. Is that, in and of itself, a good thing? Montana Region could create "Spec Bobcat" (swiped from someone else - Tom, maybe?) and create a huge opportunity for an entirely new field of vehicles...



...but does "new" automatically translate into "successful?" (Note that this is a stock version, above. You can tell by the lack of SFI stickers on the side screens.) Even if four guys in Missoula REALLY want to race them and have full backing from the National Marketing Manager - one of the guy's father - who's willing to pay big contingency $$ for an ARRC win...?

New cars have to come with "new drivers," replacing those who leave, so we at least maintain current participation levels program-wide. And remember here that we don't primarily lose racing members because they get old and crotchety. We lose them largely because they get financially overextended, disaffected, or ultimatum'd by their spouses.

...IT going National would benefit National Club Racing, but that would be offset by the loss to the Regional programs. ...

So, a thought experiment to test that theory: Is safe to assume that H Production would be a more successful class, program-wide, were it to LOSE its National status and become a Regional-only class? Or is there something else going on behind this assertion?

Does it absolutely follow that it would be "bad for Regional racing" if, for example, current Regional IT entrants had the option so decided they wanted to do Nationals? The simple loss of those entries would be the net (negative) effect on Regional IT racing...? (I think Jeff expressed this concern.) How about the possibility that more people with National aspirations would use Regional IT races to meet their licensing requirements? Or for car and driver development? Or that prices for used IT cars might increase due to a bigger market? Or that the supply of top-spec used IT cars might expand as National drivers quit?

And is it a safe first assumption that National racing competes with Regional racing? Noodle over the implications of THAT one for a minute, if your answer is "yes."

The whole point I'm trying to make here is NOT that you are wrong. It's that we need to think through the mechanisms we understand to be at work - the theories-of-action - that "cause" the results with expect from a policy decision, and anticipate how all possible outcomes might fit together to define how "successful" it ultimately is.

I could reasonably assume that an improvement to my house will make it easier to sell - curb appeal! - but it might also increase my property tax. Or make it HARDER to sell if it becomes the $400K property on a block of $100K properties. Or make it IMPOSSIBLE to sell, when I discover that nobody seems to like the stone-and-iron, sadomasochistic dungeon themed great room that I thought was the BEST THING EVER...

K