Larry (et al) it would be SHOCKING to me if the vast majority of STL entrants in Nationals are "true" STL cars. I'm more than confident they are not. But I submit that "true" is a bit of a misnomer, as a Spec Miata entered as an STL car is still an STL entrant, just as much as my Integra is. An entrant is an entrant.
Where the significant of a "true" entrant comes in is when we get to the National Championships: if we have within-the-year STL numbers that put the class top 1/4 of the field but then have few Runoffs entries of far less than that, then I'd personally consider it a failure. Then again if the Runoffs entries are still up there and the majority of the entries are SMs or IT cars, that's perfectly fine.
Again, an entry is an entry and unless the Club wants to get into judging the "validity" of each specific entry -- a process which will have to be applied across-the-board, not just in STL/STU -- if we make the numbers then we make the numbers. If we don't, we don't.
Leverage your strengths, minimize your weaknesses.
We are starting to see "true" STL cars showing up; just this past weekend we had a new CRX enter the Regional weekend at LRP. I know of a few other Hondas being built, and even some Miatae guys that are harboring latent interest in jumping to the manly-colored panties side (the 1.6L Miata is looking interesting, given the across-the-board weight increase.) If we get BoD approval on JDM engines for 2013 it opens may other possibilities for engine swaps. Once this ball gets rolling downhill we're going to see many other unique entries popping up.
As for the whole "championship in 2012" thing, not giving STL a shot at it in 2012 was the right decision. STL was given that provisional status and placed with STU cars at the Runoffs as a concession to those that opposed the class primarily due to "too many classes". Its purpose was to see if STL could be a viable class within the National Championship program. If we had reneged on that agreement and given STL a national championship in 2012, then the very next class that asked or this opportunity would be met with "Oh no you don't! We fell for that once, we're not falling for it again! Go pound." We are going to work through this process the right way, not with end-run games.
For the 2012 Runoffs I am working to qualify for the event and enter my STL car as an STU car, and spend time there in Wisconsin supporting Super Touring in general and promoting STL specifically (I'm thinking some kind of gentleman's agreement to stick to STL prep and run some STL stickers).
It's all about the numbers...let's see what happens.
Oh, and read my signature please.
GA
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Originally Posted by Greg Amy
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