December Fastrack...

While it isn't my class that would be eliminated, those charts always make me wonder why we don't start reducing the number of classes, and consolidating classes to make things less confusing, etc.

2-3 formula car classes, 2-3 production, 2-3 GT, IT, SM and SRF...not sure we need much more. Oh well.....
 
To be fair, this isn't really a viable picture of a "national" (lower-case n) Regional program. We know, for example, that "ITE" isn't the same among regions, let alone divisions.

Regions OUGHT to be able to define their own classes but we absolutely make the distinction between those (a la the Pacific coast Radial Sedan [RS] thing) and nationally recognized regional classes run to consistent rules.

K
 
JeffYoung said:
While it isn't my class that would be eliminated, those charts always make me wonder why we don't start reducing the number of classes, and consolidating classes to make things less confusing, etc.

2-3 formula car classes, 2-3 production, 2-3 GT, IT, SM and SRF...not sure we need much more. Oh well.....
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Ohh that would make wayyyyy too much sense. Unfortunately the SCCA has too many racers that prefer to be a big fish in a small pond when it comes to their race class for the club to get far with consolidation. I don't personally see the appeal of it. I'd rather be competing for fifth place in a class with 20 cars, than get 2nd place racing against three other racers. And they have consolidated some in production and GT, but it just happens at a slower rate than classes are born.
 
JeffYoung said:
While it isn't my class that would be eliminated...
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Actually, Jeff hit on the issue in the first dozen words. I'm not saying this is his attitude, but if you were to survey the SCCA membership and ask if there are too many classes and we need to consolidate, I'd wager the vast majority of them would say "yes".

And, if you were to correlate those answers to the classes that the respondent competed in, I'd wager there's a direct inverse correlation (larger classes would say "yes", smaller classes "no".)

Then if you were to ask everyone if they would be willing to sacrifice their class - regardless of size - in order to reduce the overall number of classes, I'd wager the vast majority would say "no".

And because we're a club, not a benevolent dictatorship, the situation grows.

Finally, if you think "this time it's different" I'll wager that were I to take the time to rifle through my SportsCar magazines from the early 80's (as far back as I have) you'd be surprised.

Welcome home.

GA

On edit: not intended as a personal poke but simply for illustrative purposes, but let's not forget Jeff that you were on the committee (correct?) that added yet another Improved Touring class not too long ago, to accommodate faster cars so that they didn't have to race with so much weight to fit into ITS. THAT is why we have more than "2-3 formula car classes, 2-3 production, 2-3 GT, IT, SM and SRF." Imagine your next ITAC concall if the BoD sent you a note stating "eliminate ITC and ITR, and combine all existing IT cars into S/A/B. Oh, and do your best to make them all reasonably competitive."

Just sayin'...
 
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Totally agree there is a whole lot of "me me me me" in our pretty much universal belief that someone ELSE's class should be eliminated consolidated.

Not that it makes it 100% right, but the classes I "serve" are in top 4/5 for participation, although I certainly get your point about creating a new IT class.

I guess my point is illustrated by ITR. ITR was needed -- it creates a new IT class for cars with more than 180ish stock hp, which at this point is pretty much anything that comes out of a factory in the last 10 years or so.

STU/L might fill a similar need by creating a new member desired level of prep.

But for classes that have seen significant participation drops in the last 10 years? Consolidation/elimination/move to vintage.........

The number of classes and prep levels we have right now is overwhelming.
 
I do not think it will SM5 will be a national class anytime soon. Guessing at the regional schedule next year at 250 races you would need 625 entries to be awarded national status. Hopefully with all of the work going on with STO, STU and STL, we can let T3 and T1 go away, I would imagine SSB is not too far behind as they barely stayed off probation last year. We will soon see if people want to race their SS,T and IT cars in a showroom stock type configuration or a more modified specification in ST

matt
 
Holy crap regional racing kicks national racing's butt, entrants wise.

ITS SEDiv has MORE entries than SM or SRF national in the SEDiv.

Unbelievable.
 
We don't need another class, MX-5 why?
These are not Miatas, they are a different beast.
Put them in ITS or ITR and let them multiply first!:026:
 
GKR_17 said:
Already in ITR for 2011.
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Already in STU for 2011.

And Jerry, if you don't want another class added to the Club roster, then I kindly suggest that you write the Comp Board and ask them to absorb the MX-5 Cup cars into Spec Miata as per the Pro Regs. Or, you can recommend that they cancel Spec Miata and replace it with MX-5 Cup.

Hey, just suggestin'...

;)

GA, who suggested about a brazillion years ago that creating a class only for Mazda Miatas was a pretty stupid idea, given they're already classed in Showroom Stock and Improved Touring, and all that was going to do was dilute the existing entries...hey, just sayin'...
 
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Greg
On the SM site I suggested they move the NB(99-05) cars into MX-5 and give the SM class back to the original SMers. They took my post down!
And....they said they wanted my comments!:023:
 
Holy crap regional racing kicks national racing's butt, entrants wise.
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It's really interesting to hear about companies and how they choose to support Club Racing. I often hear "we want national drivers winning with our equipment" and ignore regional racers. I don't get it especially when regional racers represent a larger share of their market. Essentially I've been told I can finish 3rd in an SSC national race (out of 3 LOL!!!) and be better off than 1st in a 30+ ITB field.

Just thought how people still view national vs lowly regional fascinating.
 
gran racing said:
...I often hear "we want national drivers winning with our equipment" and ignore regional racers. ...
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Really? Who? How often?

I have a suspicion that if one scratched at the surface of that, they'd find the Club Racing department and National class racers were at the root of a lot of that opinion. If SCCA wanted VW to pay contingency $$ down 3 places in Regionals like they do for Nationals, it would happen.

The distinction between the two is sustained by people who want it to exist, who benefit from it.

K
 
Knestis said:
Really? Who? How often?

I have a suspicion that if one scratched at the surface of that, they'd find the Club Racing department and National class racers were at the root of a lot of that opinion. If SCCA wanted VW to pay contingency $$ down 3 places in Regionals like they do for Nationals, it would happen.

The distinction between the two is sustained by people who want it to exist, who benefit from it.

K
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That is an interesting theory, one that I will have to look into.
 
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