>Was kind of shocked to see the press release this morning about capping the
>number of Nationals entries. Got me off my ass to fax in my entry real
quick!
==========================
(Twists greasy villianous mustache with index finger and thumb) So, the
subliminal messaging worked. Heh heh heh.
>Being from San Francisco region where we have recently started requiring
>membership to run with us to help slow our increased attendance problems I
>can stand on both sides of the issue.
===========================
WOW!!! There's a problem I wish our region had to deal with. Our level of
new participants is on the rise, but we've also got some attrition of the
veteran competitors to balance it out.
But in our case, it's more of a
>space and time issue than I think happens at Topeka. Except I guess the
>banquets will be too busy with 1200 entries (I would skip a banquet to be
>able to attend otherwise).
========================
You're a sick, sick man. Truly NOT Team Laughing Stock material. ;^)
If we need to find
>a way to get them all to run (Run Monday... 5 days or more? A lot of horse
>shows run over a week or two) or a way to make them fit in a banquet hall
>(maybe not serve dinner) then I think that's what we need to do. Limiting
>our sport especially at a national level is, imho, a way to discourage
>those people that do run regional events to try to compete and want to be a
>national champion. I for one find national events far more enjoyable than
>regionals... but I'm glad I stated in the SFR regional program and was
>nurtured from the beginning. I'm not a competitive national-level driver
>but that's where I want to play.
==============================
I wholeheartedly agree. Even as much as I try to psyche myself out, in
reality I'll probably never be in contention for a jacket. Well, perhaps if
I give the driver enough of a shot of the "squeeze". ;^) But I still want
to play with the top guns just to see how I compare and am hopefully
improving.
The whole "nationals" experience is truly a Zen thing. There's FAR more to
it than just the 6 minutes of seat time. Without the friends (both old and
new), cars, and vacation time off from work it'd just be another long hot
autocross Sunday.
Since I live a torturously long 75 miles from Topeka folks at work think I'm
nuts that I'm gonna spend a weeks worth of vacation in "sunny Topeka".
Whadda they know.
Eric Linnhoff in KC
#69DS TLS #13
'98 Neon R/T
<eric10mm@qni.com>
"The future belongs to those who believe
in the beauty of their dreams."
-Eleanor Roosevelt
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