A few comments on Dennis' large amount of effort on this:
1) If you do away with Sunday runs, you will lose workers and spectators
from those that didn't make a challenge (I know, I know, but more will make
a challenge - see below, I believe.) Oh, heck, I'll put it here... Reducing
class competition to lesser runs, means that competitors have a high chance
of not getting more than two runs on Sunday. Will people really stay around
on Sunday for that? See #4 below.
2) Besides the 'uniqueness' of the tree for ProSolo, part of it's 'charm' is
getting a 'second chance' at the course after you and your mind have had
time to digest what happened on Saturday. To me, what makes ProSolo 'Pro'
is who can process that information, and fine the tenths, hundreths, etc.
needed to win. And that builds the camaraderie amongst the class
competitors.
3) I believe you don't give credit as to how effeciently the challenges are
run - there really isn't that much down time between runs, even with Howard
having to do mental math manipulation :-) As two cars finish their swap and
launch, the next pair is staging, and then the dial-in is done as soon as
the cars are back. Even when it is close, we get the answer before the next
pairing is done.
4) With your calculation on class challenge numbers (I'm not saying they're
optimistic or not, just taking them as numbers) - that's 142 entrants rather
than 66. You now have one challenge that equals the entire former system.
A bit o' time to run these eh? If it were drag racing, then indeed that
would not be as tough, but with the switch over, you indeed make a day out
of challenges.
5) I can't speak for anyone else, but I don't have an interest in drag
racing - that they do it differently in the 'real' system is of little
importance. I might be in the minority here, and if so, that's ok. I know
Dennis and others come from or at least participate, in drag racing, so
ProSolo is a 'bastardized' version - but many of us like that :-)
If the SCCA changes the format in order to make $$$, I can understand that.
And like any sport, some will like that new format - others won't. I still
consider the challenges to be a 'bonus', and class competition is the real
challenge.
Kevin McCormick
P.S. I know I'm adverse to change, but, hey, _someone_ has to be!
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dg50@daimlerchrysler.com [mailto:dg50@daimlerchrysler.com]
> Sent: Monday, January 22, 2001 1:38 PM
> To: autox@autox.team.net
> Subject: Some ProSolo Challenge Ideas
>
>
> Hmmm.. just throwing some ideas around.
>
> If one examines ProSolo by category, you find that the Stock
> class is the
> largest, followed by Street Prepared, then Prepared/Modified taken
> together, and then Street Touring/ Street Modified taken
> together (which is
> the fastest growing segment)
>
> So what if instead of 1 Challenge, we had 4?
>
> SS-GS feeds into the [sponsor name] Showroom Stock Challenge
> ASP-FSP feeds into the [sponsor name] Grand Touring Challenge
> All the Prepared/Modified classes (which historically have been fairly
> limited in actual turnouts) feed into the [sponsor name] Grand Prix
> Challenge (better name? Top Autocross? Funny Car? )
> And all of STS/STR/SM feeds into the Honda Pro Street Challenge
>
> The Stock classes are pretty broadly subscribed, and there
> are 8 of them,
> so a 32 car challenge will qualify 4 cars per class (which is
> pretty good)
> A 64 car challenge will qualify 8 cars per class, which is perfect.
>
> In SP, we've got 6 classes, but ASP is always under-subscribed, and
> depending on the area, one of BSP/DSP/FSP is usually bumped,
> so the average
> there is 4 classes. A 16 car challenge qualifies 4 cars per
> class, a 32 car
> challenge qualifies 8.
>
> In Prepared/Mod, things are all over the board. CM is usually OK, and
> there's usually a bumped-to-full Prepared class, so figure 2
> classes on
> average. So an 8 car class qualifies 4, and 16 qualifies 8
>
> In STS/SM/STR we've got two very large classes and one tiny
> one - but the
> "street tire" issue is going to catch up with STS some day,
> and they'll all
> move to STR - so again, 8 gets you 4 per class, 16 gets you
> 8, but with the
> sheer size that I think these classes are going to draw in
> 2001-2002, I
> think 32 (which gets you 16 per class) is probably more like it.
>
> So 4 Challenges have to be run - a 64, 2 32s, and 1 16. We
> currently run a
> 32, and 2 16s, and a 2, without much trouble. It might mean a slightly
> longer day, or the morning class competition runs could be dropped in
> favour of the larger challenges (so Saturday becomes
> Qualifying Day, just
> like, well, every other motorsport in the world)
>
> With that format, each Stock, Street Prepared, and
> Prepared/Modified class
> would qualify 8 cars per class, which on a class-size average
> of 12 cars is
> pretty good - the top 66% of the classes make the Challenge.
> On the SM/STR
> side, we'd start off qualifying 100%, but as I'm expecting
> 20+ car fields
> in 2002, that'd drop to the nominal 66% soon enough.
>
> Yes, the Ladies class is conspicuous by its absence. It's a
> Pro series,
> deal with it. I don't see "IndyCar Ladies" or "Top Fuel
> Ladies" and Shirley
> M and Sarah F don't seem to mind....
>
> It's a whole lot easier to market 4 classes than 30+...
>
> Thoughts?
>
> DG
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