Kurt, I'm very aware that Rickey is faster than I am. He's faster than anyone in the southeast, with rare exceptions on the odd day (Brian at Road Atlanta is an example although that wasn't in his car. The SIC 2005 is another, although Rickey came back strong after his spin and might well have won without it). Basically, though, he gets outrun maybe once a year. Look at the stats. He has won about 90% of the races he enters, and most of the ones he didn't were ones in which he had problems.

But that's my point for people who think RX7s will be competitive in ITA. Rickey is clearly the fastest RX7 around and yet he's still several seconds off the pace when the really fast ITAs (i.e., the Rick Thompsons of ITA) show up. The weight changes will make it closer, but I still don't see RX7s being truly competitive in ITA. That's not to say that Rick and some of the other RX7s won't win some races. When the fields are a little weaker, it will happen (For a similar scenario, I've won 4 IT7 races in the last two years - but it was in races where Rick didn't show up. That doesn't mean I'm a truly competitive IT7 driver.)

And the reason for the spec tire rule was cost savings, not a desire for us slower people to drag down the fast guys. It wouldn't work. As you note, the fast guys are the fast guys for a reason. It doesn't make a difference whether everyone is on Hoosiers or everyone is on Toyos.

Tom Lyttle