O.K., I think I'm missing something. I think that it is often the case
that it takes a year or two (or more) for people to figure out the best
set-ups for cars, and so the FIRST year a new car comes out, it often isn't
at its most competitive.
All that aside, looking at the results from Nationals from last year,
trophies were won by drivers in cars dating from '72 to '99. The "best"
year of car in Topeka last fall was 1995, with 18 trophies, but the
breakdown of the other years may surprise you (and no, all of the '80's and
early '90's cars did NOT come from CS!).
year of car # of trophies
1972 1
1979 1
1985 1
1986 3
1988 4
1989 3
1990 1
1991 9
1992 1
1993 10
1994 7
1995 18
1996 11
1997 6
1998 10
1999 3
It is true that all the first place trophy winners were driving cars made
in the '90s, but in that group, there was just one '98, one '96, three
'95s, two '94s, one '93, and one '91--and more than one of those cars isn't
even made anymore.
In case you are interested--by class:
Super Stock--trophies 1-3 taken by a '93 Mazda RX7, with 4th going to '86
Vette, & 5th to a '93 Vette. The newest car in the trophies was a '97
911--everything else was '93 or earlier.
AS--two '95 968s took the top two spots, followed by a '91 MR2. A '98 M3
was the only new car in the group of trophy winners, which was rounded out
by an '89 944S2, a '93 968, an '89 944 S2, a '72 911E and a '94 968.
Notice the '89 and the '72 in there with the '90s cars.
BS--all the trophies went to Miatas, with the breakdown like this: 2 to '94
models (including 1st place), 5 to '95 (including 2nd place), 1 to '96, and
3 to '99s
CS--5 trophies (including 1st) to '91 MR2s, second place to a '79 TVR (yes,
I know it's been reclassed), 4 trophies to '88 924Ss, and 1 to a '92 MR2
DS--the trophying Neons came from '95 (2), '96 (3), '97 (2), and '98 (2)
ES--a '95 Celica took the top spot, with 4 '94 Celicas also trophying. A
'95 Neon was in third, followed by a '91 Saturn, a '96 Impreza, an '85 CRX Si.
FS--GM ruled supreme, with a lone '96 Mustang in the 10th trophy position.
Among the Camaros and Firebirds, though, there was a mix of current and
previous generations, with cars from '89-'91 taking 4 of the trophies
(including third) and '95 to '98 getting the other 6
GS--the 13 trophies went to drivers of '95 Eclipse (1st), '98 Integra Type
R (2nd and 10th), '95 Prelude VTEC (3rd), '98 A4 (4th, 8th, 12th), '97
Camaro (5th), '96 Camaro (6th and 13th), '97 Talon TSI (7th), '95 Probe
(9th), '93 MX-6 (11th)
HS--of the 6 trophies, 3 went to '95 Celicas, but the top two went to a '94
Celica and a '93 MX-6. Fifth place also went to a '93 MX-6.
mlc
'91 MR2 NA
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