No, Tommy, the DQ was for both of you. And according to the posted copy of
the protest form, only on the head question and that mostly for the lack of
documentation as you outlined below (the other items were "withdrawn or
reprimand only"). Wednesday night they gave out all the FSP awards with the
guy originally 12th getting 10th, etc.
I find Tommy's recitation below very refreshing. No recriminations, no
poor-mouthing, just an acknowledgement of a "gotcha" situation and a desire
on the part of the protestees not to drag things out, and thus was of
benefit to the rest of the class. It might be noted, they were 2-3 on the
original results, and the protestor was neither the winner nor the guy
originally in 4th, but a fellow lower down who was in the trophies either
way.
On another FSP item, it was fun seeing my friend Takahisa Aono win the
class. Taka came to the US several years ago from Nagano, Japan, to study at
a college in Omaha, Neb. (I forget which) and discovered autocrossing there.
He started out with a Karmann Ghia running in EP that could hardly get out
of its own way, and was DFL at his first Nationals in 1994. After he
finished school, he moved to California and apparently fell under the
influence of some pretty good drivers there. His last previous Nationals was
1998 (19th in AS with an MR2) before he left Nebraska. I thought he might
have been the first foreign-born (other than Canadian) to win, but found out
that note apparently goes to Kyung An (now Wootton) who was born in Korea
but came to the US as an infant.
--Rocky Entriken
(permission to forward to the Evo list if anyone feels the need)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tommy Regan" <tommy_regan@yahoo.com>
To: <autox@autox.team.net>
Cc: "Rich Windberg" <typ53@gtwn.net>; "Evolution List"
<evolution-discussions@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2002 12:54 AM
Subject: FSP Protest (long)
> Finally getting around to replying... :-)
>
>
> --- matt_murray@earthlink.net wrote:
> > As of trophy presentations tonight, Tommy Reagan was DSQ'ed in FSP. ESP
is
> > okay first through ninth. All others were resolved (FML was timing).
>
> Interesting. My co-driver and car owner (Rich Windberg) and I were in
identical situations since
> we competed in the same car. Not sure what happened at the Wed. night
presentations 'cause we
> left early, but it's weird if only one of us was listed as being DQ'ed.
Ah well, no big deal....
>
> Nonetheless, I'd like to say a little something about what happened this
past week since I, nor
> Richard, are/have been/or ever will be cheaters and I'd like to state our
case in our defense. :-)
>
> Let me preface this by saying I am no VW Scirocco expert. I simply
co-drive one with my friend
> who _does_ know VWs very well. I know pony cars pretty well, but FWD
German cars are a completely
> new thing to me as of this season, so bear with me. :-)
>
> Protested items on the Scirocco were, IIRC:
> - Illegal hydraulic cam/head instead of the commonly used solid tappet
cam/head
> - Modified final drive ratio (we shifted ALOT, which prompted this one)
> - Illegal torque suppression device
> - Side molding (door ding strip) was removed
> - Heater control knobs missing from dash
>
> We were only concerned with the cylinder head protest 'cause after much
debate among other VW
> enthusiasts, it was the general consensus that while a hydraulic cam
cylinder head was available
> on certain later model 8V Sciroccos (making it SP legal), acquiring
documentation to prove this
> was looking to be exceptionally difficult. :-\
>
> Rich and I found ourselves spending the rest of the afternoon on Wednesday
in the protest hangar.
> Oh joy! It was a first for me and, I think, for Rich, too. The torque
suppression device was
> deemed legal. The items less critical to performance (namely the molding
and switches) were only
> marginally addressed because the main spotlight was on the cylinder head.
We had friends
> searching high and low (as were we as much as possible), but we were
coming up empty.
>
> Eventually, it looked bleaker and bleaker that we'd get the info we needed
to back it up even
> though we had a P/N for a hydraulic lifter from a 198X Scirocco (Thanks,
Gary!). Unfortunately,
> that wasn't sufficient evidence. :-( Rather than prevent other folks from
walking across the
> stage later that night and knowing our cause was not looking good, Rich
and I elected to be put on
> the mercy of the Protest Committee, who then decided to DQ our runs. We
understand their
> decision, as without sufficient evidence, they had no real choice but to
determine the head
> illegal. I'm sure I would've done the same thing had I been in their
shoes.
>
> To say the least, Rich and I are very disappointed this all happened.
There was no malicious
> intent and judging by what all the other FSP drivers were telling us, they
know that that was the
> case. BTW, a big thanks to all the FSPers who showed us support through
this ordeal. Your
> "congratulations" and good wishes were very much appreciated by Rich and
myself!! Reminded me of
> the great comradry I've shared with all the guys and gals in CP. Thanks
for that... :-)
>
> Regarding the final drive ratio, I'll say this. It's a stock 5 speed
transaxle (3.8X, I think?).
> The reason we're shifting to 3rd gear all the time is simply because this
hydraulic cam/head
> doesn't rev and we're running short 225/45-13's. We shift by 6000 rpm and
if we're lucky we can
> stretch it out to 6500 rpm, not that there's any power up there. We have
to rely on a pretty
> decent midrange torque output instead. That's why we were shfting into
third on the front stretch
> on the north course....something I later saw other FSP folks doing, BTW.
:-) We went to 3rd four
> separate times on the north course, twice on the south course.
>
> Over the next few weeks, the car will be dynoed in its current state of
tune with the hydraulic
> cam/head. Then we'll locate a more desirable solid cam/head and slap it
on and dyno it again for
> a comparison. Following that will be a full shortblock build-up (the
current one has over 200,000
> miles!) to the extent of the SP rules. We'll dyno it, too. Anyone who is
interested is welcome
> to see the graphs. I might even just scan them and post them on my site.
We're very confident
> that it'll make more power than our current combo. :-D
>
> Anyway, thanks for letting me ramble. I feel better now.... :-)
>
> Tommy Regan
> FSP #45
>
> P.S. I understand that some documentation may have since been found to
show that the hydraulic
> cam/head came on '87 or '88 Sciroccos. If anyone can confirm, I'd love to
hear about it! Thanks!
>
>
> =====
> www.reganracing.com
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