I thought Dennis had a pretty good perspective on the whole deal. His post
was one of the most logical on the subject I have ever seen on this list and
gives a reasonably fair assessment of where we are now. However, Rocky's
history lesson is a little on the "revisionist" side. While Dennis may not
have studied history, I lived it. I have been running Street Prepared since
1983 when it first obtained National status, so I have lived through its
evolution from a street cars with a few bolt on mods to fully tuned
competition cars.
Street Prepared wasn't then, isn't now and never has been a "logical
progression" from stock to prepared. So I do not understand why people seem
bent on forcing this synario on it. I have researched the subject and can
find no evidence that it was ever the case or its intention. First of all,
the rules that make up the "prepared" category are in no way "logical",
therefore it is impossible to have a logical progression to something
illogical. Case in point: Under the prepare rules, the motor in my
original 1300 X1/9 that I started SP with, can run a lightened crankshaft,
billet steel rods, forged pistons, unlimited compression, o-ringed head, any
camshaft, titanium valves, any size ports and a dry sump oil system. Yet
it has to breath through a STOCK (32mm) carburetor! While one might argue
about how the comp board arrived at such a formula, it cannot be argued that
it is logical. I won't even get into the stupid wheel rules that resulted
in cantilever tires.
If one were competing with a stock car, as I was at the time, the most cost
effective modification to increase the performance of the car was to ditch
the dinky little stock carb and stick on a larger carb, or better yet,
multiple carbs. A logical, common, simple and inexpensive mod. A logical
progression from stock to prepared would be a catagory that was a subset of
the prepared rules. Therefore, no modifications would be permitted that
were in excess of prepared allowances. So the stock carb would have to stay
and thus the most efficient method of increasing performance is prohibited.
Logical? Hardly. The prepared category engine modifications are primarily
expensive internal modifications, while the external, bolt on items (like
carbs or FI) are tightly limited. This is contrary to the idea that a
stock class competitor could take his stock class car, make some simple
mods, go faster and have more fun. Nor does it fit well with the typical
mods of the casual enthusiast.>>
Rocky Entriken wrote:
In response, Street Prepared was invented in 1979. It was created as the
middle ground. More than Stock, not as much as Prepared, but intended to fit
between the two. It was an instant success. "Bolt-on options" was the basis.
If you could buy it off the shelf and bolt it on, it was legal. That was the
concept. Two areas where it quickly got away from the SEB -- carbs and
wheels. You could yank that old OEM carb and bolt on a Holley, right?
Bolt-on = legal. How wide a wheel can you fit under that fender? Bolt on =
legal. And while everyone involved looked at the effect of stepping up a
Stock car to SP, they did not look at the next step of taking that same car
eventually to P. Oops, some of those bolt-ons were not legal in P. Too late.
Genie's out of the bottle.
<< The Genie was never in the bottle, nor did the SEB "loose control" of
SP. The rules were devised at the time to capture cars that enthusiasts
drove and bring them into the sport and/or give the stock class competitor a
place to go when he got bored with stock without having to go all the way to
prepared. Instead, what happened was, competitors pushed the envelope just
as they do in any preparation category. Under Rocky's model, why isn't the
"stock" category "out of control"? Did the SEB envision quad adjustable
shocks, custom made front swaybars, Hoosier DOT race tires, ACR Neons and
Z06 Corvettes when they wrote the prep rules for stock? Of course not.
There are more people complaining on this list about how stock is not
"stock" enough than there are people complaining that Street Prepared is too
"prepared" and not enough "street". >>
Now, today, a
good SP car is not that far in performance from a good P car. Both are
Prepared, just in different ways and with different restrictions.
<< To some extent I agree. I think that the performance of SP has moved in
that direction, but then stock class cars have gotten much better too. Look
at the leaders in P and SP and you will still see a significant performance
gap. Figure too that some cars (like the Honda CRX) the CSP version is a
couple of hundred pounds lighter than its DP or EP counterpart, yet the P
versions are significantly faster. >>
SP is too well established now to undo it.
<< By "well established" I assume you mean 'successful'. So why would a
successful category need to be "undone"? With SP class entries consistently
outnumbering prepared class entries (in all but CP), isn't it logical that
perhaps Prepared is the category that needs a makeover?>>
ST is what SP should have been.
<< Why? I love driving SP cars. They are great fun. I do not
particularly enjoy driving ST cars. They are not as much fun and have too
many compromises. Besides, my car is not ST legal. >>
The real trick will be carefully preventing ST from going down the same
path.
<< ST was doomed(?) for that fate the day it was made a national class. As
a regional only class, ST would work well and as the ST competitors became
more serious they would move into the existing class structure. By making
ST a national class, its entrants will take the class with them as they
become more serious and develop their cars and drivers. Eventually, ST will
become the exact thing it was created to avoid.>>
Steve Hoelscher
#27 DSP
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