2014 Improved Touring Participation

[Terry Hanushek]

Here are the final 2014 participation counts for Improved Touring by Division

# of Races	11	10	14	48	28	3	71	12	12	209
CLASS	CenDiv	Great Lakes	MidDiv	NEDiv	NOR PAC	ROCKY MTN	SEDiv	SOPAC	SowDiv	Total Class Entries
IT7	0	14	30	100	0	7	99	0	0	250
ITA	20	83	29	285	178	1	456	42	12	1106
ITB	13	35	40	205	2	1	150	0	4	450
ITC	3	54		61	2	0	73	0	0	193
ITR	1	4	6	133	5	0	94	0	4	247
ITS	22	27	20	305	30	3	462	0	14	883
TOTAL ENTRIES	59	217	125	1089	217	12	1334	42	34	3129
2014 Averages	5.36	21.70	8.93	22.69	7.75	4.00	18.79	3.50	2.83	14.97

For comparison purposes, in 2013 there were 241 events with a total entry of 3782 - average of 15.69

Terry

[Greg Amy]

Looks like an East Coast series (yo!)

Nice to see IT7 included.

ITC is dead.

ITR better pick up the pace, or we'll put SIRs on them and move them to IT7.

[Matt93SE]

What's an IT car look like? I haven't seen one in years..

[Greg Amy]

You had 34 chances to see one...you need to pay attention more.

I'm recalling the strength of IT in the mid-80s in SWDiv, resulting in my building a 1983 Rabbit GTI into a stout ITA car...later an ITA Dodge Shelby Charger, which got its butt tanned by some kinda wild-sounding Alfa GTB-something...and having to jostle in the fields with dozens of cars per group...

[Matt93SE]

You had 34 chances to see one...you need to pay attention more.

I'm recalling the strength of IT in the mid-80s in SWDiv, resulting in my building a 1983 Rabbit GTI into a stout ITA car...later an ITA Dodge Shelby Charger, which got its butt tanned by some kinda wild-sounding Alfa GTB-something...and having to jostle in the fields with dozens of cars per group...

Tongue in cheek comment. Most of the IT cars I see are either double-dipping SMs (ITA) or are 'twice-a-year' cars that are running 20 seconds off the pace of a pointy-end car (ITS) and I only see them as I'm hoping they see me coming and don't turn down on me. All nice people, but they just don't show up that often and some of that's because of lack of competition... good fields breed better competition. no competition breeds an empty field. The ITB entries are a 1970-something Celica whose owner recently bought a GT-3 car and the Celica gets driven 2x/year by his son to keep his license.
The ITR entries must be the ITE car that I saw at 2-3 events last year, as I don't recall ever seeing an ITR car here. Schweitzer runs a NASA GTS-2 E46 in ITE and it's stupid fast. Another guy runs a Porsche 996 in ITE and GT2.

so yeah, I know who they all are.. only a couple of them are true IT cars; the rest are "we'll find you a place to run" cars that just want to play in traffic.

When I got involved in Club Racing via working F&C back around 2004, there were a good contingent of ITA and ITS cars- several regular Datsun Zs and RX7s in addition to a host of double-dipping Miatas. I was talking to some of the area veterans and there were several factors around here that killed IT in the region- most of it politicky stuff 10 years ago that ran everyone off. ugh. damn politics.

[Peter Olivola]

Over 75% of all IT entries are in NEDiv/SEDiv.

Does the ARRC inflate the SEDiv numbers?

Is the ARRC a significant encouragement to account for the huge differential?

Would a similar event in other parts of the country encourage additional participation?

Is there something else that accounts for the huge differential?

[jwasilko]

Wow. IT and ITA are strong in the northeast!

[Greg Amy]

Wow. IT and ITA are strong in the northeast!

Thanks, (Spec) Miata!

[dickita15]

Over 75% of all IT entries are in NEDiv/SEDiv.


Is there something else that accounts for the huge differential?

there are only three places in the country where regional racing is significantly bigger than national racing. NE Div, SE Div and San Francisco. everywhere else national racing is where the cool kids are. IT thrives where regional racing is king. (except SFR where nothing is normal)

[ITC69]

ITC is not dead--In may be in need of some fresh blood, or newer cars classed into ITC. regular co-driver's wifes' health problems and lack of ECR's in SEDIV did reduce my overall participation in 2014. I understand that ITC is experiencing a revival in the Great Lakes area.

[joeg]

Agreed. Big deal for ITC in Ohio, WNY and MI too.

We are more or less home-based at Nelson Ledges, so there can be a lot of bad knocks from those "not-in-the know" on account of that.

[gran racing]

Wow. IT and ITA are strong in the northeast!

Relatively speaking. Fields have been small and it sure isn't was it was like several years ago. Too bad. Hopefully this will change and IT will grow.

[Greg Amy]

ITC is not dead--In may be in need of some fresh blood, or newer cars classed into ITC.

Problem is, there are no "newer" cars of that performance level...the Toyota Yaris, Fiat 500, Mazda 2 all put out ITB power. Hell, the Hyundai Accent is ITA power!

And no one is going to want to take one of the above into ITC when they can run Spec-B (as long as it lasts). And participation in Spec-B - with all the manufacturer support - shows how little interest there is in racing cars like that.

Maybe the 84hp Chevy Spark? What else? 74hp Mitsu Mirage?

The Smart Car...?

Agreed. Big deal for ITC in Ohio, WNY and MI too.

Adds new clarity to the term "regional racing"...

[JeffYoung]

I'd say absolutely not. The ARRC is actually pretty poorly attended in ITS and ITA. Big S and A fields at CMP, VIR, Roebling, Daytona, etc. though.

Over 75% of all IT entries are in NEDiv/SEDiv.

Does the ARRC inflate the SEDiv numbers?

Is the ARRC a significant encouragement to account for the huge differential?

Would a similar event in other parts of the country encourage additional participation?

Is there something else that accounts for the huge differential?

[dickita15]

even in the divisions it varies. for instance if you look at 100 entries for IT7 in the North East you think that is good. for those 9 tracks. truth is 96 of those were at the 3 tracks in New England.

[Knestis]

These numbers - particularly by division - do nothing but reinforce for me how asinine the "national-regional" status of IT is. If it's not a REAL region-specific category, its classes should be Majors- and RubOffs-eligible. If it's never going to happen, it should be left up to the regions to decide what they want to do.

Fish.

Cut bait.

Decide.

Then make the XX best-subscribed classes in the GCR in 2015 eligible for the RubOffs in 2016 (and so forth). Let the market work its magic and we'd have fewer "national" classes in one step. Cake.

K

[Greg Amy]

These numbers...do nothing but reinforce for me how asinine the "national-regional" status of IT is. If it's not a REAL region-specific category, its classes should be Majors- and RubOffs-eligible. If it's never going to happen, it should be left up to the regions to decide what they want to do...Then make the XX best-subscribed classes in the GCR in 2015 eligible for the RubOffs...

So just remove Improved Touring from the GCR and leave it to the various regions to publish their own regs. Problem "solved".

GA

[Ron Earp]

Greg, I know it is never going to happen. I understand that.

But it doesn't stop me from asking questions about how the club operates. Yes, I am living under the misguided notion that the SCCA is a club, by members and for members. In my SCCA club if the majority of members decide that all cars shall be painted white with black tops, then it shall be done. If the majority of members were to vote that IT becomes a National class then it would occur.

But we know that isn't how it works. A handful of people, probably sitting around in smoke filled rooms, decide what the club will and will not do. What really gets the IT racers though, is that while IT is regional only it a) still gets controlled to a large extent via the CRB and b) provides a large amount of income to the club but its racers are still essentially second rate members of the club.

[Greg Amy]

What really gets the IT racers though, is that while IT is regional only it a) still gets controlled to a large extent via the CRB and b) provides a large amount of income to the club but its racers are still essentially second rate members of the club.

a) We can resolve that by removing it from the GCR, and thus the CRB's control. Then IT is no longer centrally-controlled and all the locals can do with it whatever they feel best.

But IT racers don't want that: they want a centralized set of rules that somehow spontaneously happen without any centralized control, all while being infinitely responsive to the needs/desire/votes of the racers competing within it.

So do you want a centrally-managed set of regs or do you want the regs to be responsive to local needs/desires/votes? Sorry, you just can't have it both ways.

b) Improved Touring does not provide a large amount of income to the Club, other than in licensing (and I suspect the overhead may exceed those revenues). Improved Touring does, however, provide a large amount of income to the regions in the form of entries.

Ergo, IT is better off being a regional-only category, responsive to the regional racers it serves and the regional leadership that benefits from it.

I've moved back and forth over the years between National/no-National. when I was competing at the top of my game in ITA I wanted to bring it to "The Show", but I have always realized (well, at least since the early 90s) that once one does that the game changes significantly. Today's winners in ITA have zero chance of consistent success at their current level against Spec Miata-level Nationally-prepped ITA efforts. That's just the way this game works.

The farther we get into these debates, the more I'm leaning toward the idea that Improved Touring and the SCCA in general are better served by removing the ITCS from the GCR. Solves all ills for everyone.

GA

[Ron Earp]

b) Improved Touring does not provide a large amount of income to the Club, other than in licensing (and I suspect the overhead may exceed those revenues). Improved Touring does, however, provide a large amount of income to the regions in the form of entries.

I'm asking, doesn't the region contribute money back to HQ based on the entries? Fewer regional racers, less money back to Topeka.

I think regional racing does have an impact on national classes. The two best attended national classes, SM and SRF, are also well subscribed at the regional level. I suspect if there were fewer, or no, regional races that the participants in these classes would find other outlets for their racing. National races are fewer in number and will require participants to tow for longer distances to obtain their racing fix, and that could cause a decline in their numbers.

NASA does a lot of stuff wrong, but one thing they got right was not having a regional/national racing program. There are races and a championship. Come one, come all.

But IT racers don't want that: they want a centralized set of rules that somehow spontaneously happen without any centralized control, all while being infinitely responsive to the needs/desire/votes of the racers competing within it.

Have you polled the body of IT racers to come up with that assertion? Or is this based on the topic being discussed here six years ago?

I imagine that if you were to take a poll of current and active IT racers in the NE and SE that the majority of them would choose for IT to be a national class. Just a guess. I'd be interested in knowing the answer.