I was going to chime in, but jjjanos hit nearly all the points that I was going to make. Only disagree with the last idea - and that is because it repeats the fallacy that several of the other posts make. There's been a lot of talk about "customer service" and getting more entries. Then the same people talk about eliminating this or that group or class - as long as it belongs to somebody else. How the hell does throwing out a bunch people who want to race with SCCA constitute "customer service" and how is that going to increase entries?
Let me give you a very graphic example. A bunch of SEDiv RX7 drivers got together when the CRX came in and made their cars hopelessly uncompetitive in ITA and pushed for the creation of IT7. Over the objections of some regional officials who objected to more classes or just didn't like it ("You only want it so you don't have to compete like everyone else," I was told, and "I suppose we've got to give every car its own class," another official smirked) it was finally approved. And guess what. The year before, there were 334 entries in ITA (including RX7s). After the change there were nearly 250 ITAs and 250 IT7s for a couple years. Then the forces of opposition returned and IT7 was eliminated. The following year 334 ITA entries appeared. So this mindless action cost SEdiv about 150 entries in one year before IT7 was reinstated. Fortunately, the SEDiv officials usually get it right, but this was a case of not thinking customer service. Eliminating somebody else's class is not the route to more entries and more money for the regions. To cure one problem jjjanos and others bring up, all it takes is officials willing to make the hard call and, per jjjanos example, combine the fast and slow formula cars when the fields are small. It can be done - and it has happened at at least one SEDIV race this year.
Finally, I see some discussion about how if we have just a few classes with big car counts we'll make club racing a spectator attraction again. Beyond the customer service problem (see above), the world has changed. Frankly, I don't see that ever happening again. Club racing was a spectator sport in the 50's and into the 70's primarily due to a lack of competition. You couldn't even get the Indy or Daytona 500s on TV, so for people who wanted to see racing, club racing was an available option. But now with multiple racing options available on TV every weekend, we're unlikely to ever see any but the hard-core sports car racing nuts - and there just aren't that many of us. We're no different than minor league baseball or, these days, short track stock car racing. It's hard to get people to pay for a minor league product when you can see the best for free.
And even in its heyday, club racing was rarely as big spectator sport most people like to think. Even in the early 70s when sizeable crowds were attending the Runoffs at Road Atlanta, the maximum paid attendance was (according to a former high SCCA official I discussed it with) never more than 4000. Maybe a few prime events (June Sprints, Runoffs at Mid-Ohio or Elkhart) can draw a crowd, but a run-of-the-mill regional or even National? Not likely. Every SCCA event at Road Atlanta is spectator and the Region even runs TV spots to advertise. But the number of paid spectators (non-crew) is so small that my understanding is that the tickets sold don't even cover the cost of spectator insurance. Maybe it's worth it for attracting some new blood, but it's never going to be a prime source of revenue.
Not to say things can't be improved. Yes, it would be better to have fewer classes with a lot more entries in each. But I think that most of the "cures" I've seen are worse than the disease.
Tom Lyttle
Decatur, GA
IT7 Mazda - 2006, 2008 SARRC Champion
ITS Nissan 200SX - finally running correctly
FP Ford Capri - waiting for a comp adjustment
GT3 Dodge Daytona - what was I thinking?
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