It's not the math, it's not the Nats. It's me: I'm stupid.
I went to the Colo Region event in Denver Saturday, and
although they did a great job of rolling things along,
it makes for a long day when you have 150+ cars/drivers.
Sunday I ran with my local club. The first car came
out about 10:30, and all 18 of us had all the "fun runs"
we could tolerate by 2:PM, after a one-hour lunch break.
There weren't any mods or open-wheelers, nor karts, but
we ranged from a 454 Vette, a 427 Camaro and a Z3 bimmer
to an ITB "wabbit" and some crazy kid in an overpowered
blue car. And an FTOD RX-7. ;)
That's racing. That's autocrossing. That's having
"bookoo" funsies for $15. That's not working two hours,
waiting four hours, and heating up the grid for two hours
to get in your three minutes of adrenalin for $30.
And don't tell me there aren't any seriously competitive
drivers/cars outside the SCCA. If you think so, meet
me/my club for the Shootout in Cheyenne next summer, and
try your hand at a _real_ autocross, complete with all
the spectators you could want and more street curbs than
you could ever imagine being afraid of, and Cobras (not
Mustangs) that will break all eardrums, as well as all times.
I won't bother dropping any names, since team.net doesn't
seem to know anyone outside of the SCCA.
As a dedicated "guy in white" for the road racers, it
pains me to say that the SCCA did not invent autocross,
is not the "end-all" of autocross, does not know everything
in the world about autocross, and definitely does not
run the best autocross events, unless you think "best"
means paying five nights of hotels in Fumbuck, Kansas to get
six or seven minutes of run time.
If you're into ego-trophies, go pay that price. I'm just
into the fun of racing and the skill of driving, like
the other 95% of us that the SCCA has forgotten.
Math is one thing. You can squeeze a lot of runs into
one day. But you can also squeeze a lot of people out.
--
Chris "Maverick" Shepard
Bailey, Colorado
SCCA F&C Road Racing Corner Worker
Solo II Class FP '83 RX-7 / ITA
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