His point was that three of the past four years in ESP were won by margins
of more than one second (1998's margin was 0.2 of a second), and that in two
of those three years they were won by cars "common" to the class. But that
when the same margin (in fact, the least of the three examples) is achieved
by a car new to the class, everyone bleats that it is just the car and never
mind that it was prepared and driven in superior fashion.
IOW, the argument that Tunnell won only because he drove an M3 is as
accurate as saying Madarash won only because he drove a Trans-Am or Ames won
only because he had a Camaro SS. The margin-of-victory argument does not
stand up under scrutiny.
BTW, has anyone even noticed another pretty good driver (Jim Leithauser) in
the SAME car could do no better than seventh, 4 seconds behind? Or that
there were two other M3s in the game -- one finishing third, yes, but three
seconds behind, with its co-driver in 33rd; and the third M3 finishing 31st.
IOW, most of the class beat it. IMHO, Tunnell's victory had more to do with
preparation and driving skill -- and his is considerable -- than with the
badge on the nose.
As for the wailing about how the class was depleted this year after a record
48 competitors in 1999 ("only" 37 this year -- still the 8th largest Street
Prepared class ever and the second-largest ESP ever) ....
F Stock had 59 entries in 1982, 39 in 1983
B Stock had 56 entries in 1997, 40 in 1998, back to 51 in 1999
D Stock had 51 entries in 1997, 33 in 1998
The point being that after a class jumps to a record entry it does not
always continue at that level for any number of reasons. None of those three
cited classes had any strange car come in the following year, just simply
fewer people in those classes decided to come the next year. Why did D Stock
drop 18 entries in '98? Probably 18 different reasons -- more than that
because there had to have been people in the class in '98 who did not come
in '97. Attributing an entry drop to a single cause (other than major
reclassifications, like moving Miatas from CS to BS, so CS dropped from 57
to 40) is often unsupportable. Even moreso when the "depleted" class is
still the second-largest it has ever been. If you did not have '99 to
compare it to, this year's ESP entry would have been hailed as a popularity
landmark. In fact, it still was!
Rocky Entriken (dispassionate observer; no dog in this fight).
-----Original Message-----
From: Steven Eguina <seguina@unionfundingusa.com>
To: Chris Dorsey <racecar01@hotmail.com>; strano@stranoparts.com
<strano@stranoparts.com>; autox@autox.team.net <autox@autox.team.net>
Date: Thursday, October 26, 2000 12:47 AM
Subject: Re: Letter to SEB / ESP
>I guess 1998 didn't count.
>
>----------
>> From: Chris Dorsey <racecar01@hotmail.com>
>> To: strano@stranoparts.com; autox@autox.team.net
>> Subject: RE: Letter to SEB / ESP
>> Date: Wednesday, October 25, 2000 9:12 PM
>>
>> OK, Mr. Strano, Lets look at past results:
>> In 1997... John Ames won ESP by 1.149 seconds in a 96 Camaro SS
>> Maybe the Camaro SS should have been moved to ASP or BSP!
>> In 1999... Mark Madarash won ESP by 1.206 sec. in a 88 Trans-Am
>> Maybe the Trans Am should have been moved to ASP or BSP!
>> In 2000... Bob Tunnell wins ESP by 1.066 sec. in a 95 M3
>> Should the M3 Be moved to ASP or BSP???
>>
>> You wanted to look at results!
>> Maybe we need one class for just Mustangs, one class for just Camaros,
>and
>> one class for just M3s.
>>
>> And if your remarks about local events and local drivers was ment to
>> undermind my experience... I guess a 2nd place National Championship
>Trophy
>> means nothing!
>>
>> -Chris
>>
>>
>> _________________________________________________________________________
>>
>
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