Phil writes (liberally snipped):
<< No. Businesses are about numbers. Clubs are about concepts and shared
interests. If the concept and shared interest is sufficient, the club will
survive. >>
Isn't that the same thing? If a club satisfies the numbers, it survives just
like a business. If the club continued to center itself around MG TCs and
TR-3s, there would be this very happy, tiny group of SCCA members. So, then
you'd have an "SCCA" with 1000 members, and a club that does what SCCA now
does, with the remaining 50,000 people and a different name.
<< SCCA's primary goal has changed from what it was
in Westport in the very early days. That process was already well underway
when I joined in 1968. It started as a sports car club. Racing was a big
part of that. Later, racing was the main ingredient, and the sports-car
thing slid. >>
First, I don't see how "preservation of classic sports cars" was a primary
goal in Westport in the early days. What we know as "classic sports cars"
were then "current sports cars." I think those guys were interested in
"enjoying and competing in sports cars." It just so happens that they are
currently our "classic sports cars."
<< Well, exactly. That was the point of the SCCA at its inception. The
preservation of sports cars. In fact, if you allowed a sports car to be
destroyed or sold outside the club, that was grounds for you your
expulsion from the club. A am not making this up. >>
I guess we disagree on the word "preservation." I think the point of that
was so that someone else could enjoy the sports car the way it was intended,
not so that it would be "preserved." They were just elitist enough to think
that only someone else in the club could do so.
<< Hmm. The most "popular" car club hereabouts is the Minnesota Street Rod
Association. The cars they celebrate are all built before 1965. Their
annual weekend show draws 10,000 cars (including mine, this year). Seen any
SCCA events with 10,000 cars lately? >>
I'm not sure how you can compare 10,000 cars sitting around being looked at
with 1,000+ cars in an actual driving competition. Are all 10,000 of those
people actually members of the MSRA?
SCCA is just fine the way it is, even if it isn't everything to everyone.
The Boxsters, Z06s, S2000s and even the Type Rs and WRXs are in 2001 what the
MGs, TRs and XKs were in 1951. That's not to say we can't improve it, but I
don't see making old sports cars competitive in Stock Category as one of
those improvements.
Charlie Davis
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