> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-autox@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-autox@autox.team.net]On
> Behalf Of Chris Shepard
> Sent: Monday, June 26, 2000 18:42
> To: autox@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: It's the math, stupid!!
>
>
>
> 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.
Whatever, seems you get to define your own terms. You won't do that in SFR
because you won't find a site for $270. In this area your type of autocross
doesn't exist outside of a very select few individuals running around on free
company sites. How's that for being exclusive?
>
> 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.
Yawn. No doubt there are many excellent drivers outside SCCA. However, there
aren't a hell of a lot of them that can compete nationally at Solo II (see, I
can define "autocross" my way too). For one thing, ditzing around at small
events with no direct competition does very little to make you or your car
faster.
I'm (at the very most) regionally competitive in Solo II. Every small event
I've been to, SCCA Solo II regulars have totally dominated the standings. I
went to a local $$$ marque event last month in a stock class car and took FTD -
by two seconds, raw time. I've been to others where I won the Open class on 240
treadwear street tires. Until I ran, everyone thought they were doing great.
And you know what? I probably sucked - I usually do in unusual circumstances.
But there's no way to know without a decent competition pool to compare to.
> 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.
And exactly who says they did any of that? What the SCCA DID do is get a
consistent set of rules to run by, implemented nationwide. But the best
autocrossers ARE at Topeka, by and large, to about the same degree as other
types of national championships. Because a lot of the same factors that MAKE
them the best make them want to prove it. Sure, some can't go, or are turned
off and prefer to run locally, or etc. Same is true in all sports. But if you
opt out, you don't have a lot of credibility when talking about how good you are
and how bad the folks actually competing are...
> 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.
I certainly enjoy running small events, getting lots of runs, and getting to
feel good about myself. Hey, if you lose, you can always blame the other cars,
since there's no preparation limits enforced! When I want to know how I really
measure up, I go to the big SCCA events and pay to get my butt kicked.
KeS
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