Dennis Hale <dhale_510@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Your fallacy is beleiving that all folks want
> restrictions and "level playing fields".
You're right - people want "no restrictions" and "level playing fields".
As in: "don't tell me what to do, but I'd better be able to win!"
Well, TNSTAAFL. You can't have both.
What SM does is trades openess on engine and some chassis (all the common
bolt-on stuff) for restrictions on chassis, weight, suspension, and vehicle
eligibility, in order to provide the least number of restrictions we can
while still providing a reasonably level playing field.
It's a class of compromises, to be sure. But they're good, well thought out
compromises - so the class works.
> Some just want to be gearheads without all the limitations a
> "level playing field" requires.
Those people are rare rare rare, and the circumstances that support them
rarer still.
Look at every single motorsport there is today - there is not one, not a
single one, that is 100% "run whacha brung" Not Top Fuel, not F1, not CART,
not NASCAR. Nobody. National-level series cannot stand that level of
exposure to expense; things just get too crazy.
(and yet, oddly enough, I find over and over again that the biggest dollars
get spend when a competitor bumps up against a rule. Ask any NASCAR team
owner how much his restrictor plate motor development program costs,
compared to his open-plenum motor development program)
> Those building "outlaw" OSP cars are not going to be well served by SM.
That's certainly true enough. We cannot make everyone happy. But we did
manage to hit the ponycar and riceboy markets pretty well... I'll take 66%
coverage, no problem. Perfect is the enemy of Good Enough.
> You are chasing off faithful, enthusiastic,
> committed enough to actually build special purpose car
> type of participants and hoping for them to be
> replaced by better, more controllable ones.
Uhhh, no. Not at all. We're not chasing anybody off. Regions are still
quite capable (and encouraged) of running whatever class they want. Nobody
in SM is looking for anyone to shut down regional OSP classes. If you've
got a healthy OSP, more power to you!
What we DO provide though, is for the subset of the OSP-types who want to
play on the National stage, and who can live with the tradeoffs we needed
to make to make a National OSP-like class viable, is a OSP-like class that
is offered nationwide. And given that a true "open" OSP would NEVER work
nationwide, this is the way they can move up in the world. This means we
may dog-rob some of your OSP competitors, but anybody who jumps ship from
OSP (or any class, for that matter) must be better served by SM in some
fashion; otherwise, why make the jump?
None of this, of course, matters at all to your "gearhead" guy, because all
they want is to tinker with their cars in a no-rules environment, right? If
that's all they want, then SM isn't even on their radar.
Different class for different people.
As for SM2, or BSM, or whatever - SM for not-SM-eligible cars (2 seaters) I
don't know what's happening there. I recommended to the SEB that it be
established, but that recommendation and $1.50 will get you a cup of
coffee. If there are people out there that want to see it, they would best
be served by writing the SEB and telling them that they want it, or better
yet, following the SM example and organizing and sending letters to the SEB
as a group. I'm not going to fight this battle for y'all, you're gonna have
to help yourselves.
DG
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