Quote Originally Posted by jdrago1 View Post
Lets be completely frank...
I can be frank.

At one critical juncture during the ITAC mess, we had sent up something like 15 recommendations for weight adjustments for make/model examples that were judged to be out of whack. Some of them, by the time we reached the highest point of "tension," had been in the CRB's hands literally for MONTHS without any action. Members were very frustrated, many complaining loudly about it on this board.

One member - again, a regular poster here at the time - emailed you to complain/ask about what was probably the most egregious example of the "black hole" or "perma-tabled" recommendations your board's docket. You replied, telling him in some detail how messed up the ITAC was, and how we weren't "doing our job..."

...except you didn't notice that he'd cc'd me on the original message when you hit "Reply to All." I got to see you trashing the ad hoc to a member, and kindly offering your personal help as a CRB member to fix the problem for him. I called you on your duplicitous, Secret Car Club of America, back-room BS in a reply email; that the ad hoc was doing its job (recommending) and that the CRB was the SOURCE of this member's problem, NOT doing theirs (deciding).

I heard nothing back from you; no acknowledgement that maybe what you did was a problem. You didn't do what you COULD have done - make up or down decisions on all of those stagnant recommendations - to address the member's concern. That was instrumental to my outing the CRB for stonewalling the process in this forum, the resulting gag order from the CRB (okay, Andy, it was a gag REQUEST ), and my subsequent resignation from the committee.

SO, frankly, while I do not KNOW you, you have given me fair reason to say that I do not TRUST you. You've earned that.

Not being on the inside anymore, I can't see the day-to-day workings of the relationship between the STAC and the CRB, but when I see an example like Greg mentioned above - fast-tracking a proposal through the board under the guise of it being a recommendation from the ad hoc - my opinions are reinforced. I know based on my decades of experience in the Club, that if one example gets out, there are lots more that don't.

When I see that two individuals with a vested competitive AND commercial interests in the outcomes of rules decisions - yourself and Mr Keane - control all messaging from from the STAC back to the board's deliberation, I know how you can shade the conversation. (That was, in my estimation, a key cause of the problems we had during that meltdown, although it was not you personally playing the role then.) I thought that process was going to change. It's a problem that it hasn't, if nothing else because it's lazy, sloppy policy making.

I know that CRB members are deferential to their respective category "experts," so your position can easily steer the body's decision. When you deny here that a tall box with a high center of gravity will, all other things being equal, be slower than a short box with a low CoG with the same power, I know you're using criteria other than physics or some other objective measure to make determinations about how you direct those conversations.

Heck, the board couldn't even represent my proposal accurately when it was put to the membership in the the October prelims, turning it into a request to "Consider Differences Between Sports Cars and Touring Cars in STL" and making it sound like I proposed "adding more weight to all rear-
wheel drive cars." That's completely not accurate but you know that if you control the message, you control the process. YOU CAN'T HELP YOURSELVES.

So, yeah - I'm still a little pissed off, I'm an ideologue, and I value transparency and character - or at least the appearance of character - above the tradition and culture of these rule-making bodies. If you and the board want my trust, get the two guys benefiting from STL rules out of their position as sole conduit of information beyond what's captured in the web-based system. Recuse yourselves from board decisions that benefit you. Be transparent. Don't engineer any more end runs around the ad hoc.

Kirk (who figures he's probably un-invited on that ARRC seat deal now )