I got my Fastrack yesterday and read Steve's Memo with interest. As Alan says,
there may be some bad blood due to the P.R.O. , but I don't think the intent
was to
be "mean spirited", as much as to say "don't forget your roots". I'm hoping
people
won't forsake the SCCA National Tours and ProSolos in favor of the new P.R.O.
tour, but I can see how it might happen, at least on the short term considering
how
it is very similar in many ways to the SCCA venues but does the one thing many
national level competitors want. It provides a LOT of prize and contingency
money.
Sure, the SCCA national level events have contingency money available, but not
at the same level as the new P.R.O. series looks to have. It is amazing how
much
money some people are willing to spend to win a little prize/contingency money.
I live in Idaho (thats in the Northwest, not somewhere in Iowa), so there won't
be
too many P.R.O. events near me (closest is Wendover at 6 hours away). Anyway,
the SCCA is my game and that is where I plan to stay. But that is not to say
that
I won't consider running the P.R.O. event when it comes to Wendover.
I am concerned about the safety factor though. I'm hoping there aren't any
serious
accidents due to this new format. I won't even pretend to know very much about
this
new series (I have looked at the website) and have not seen the heated
discussions
which must have taken place on the Evo list but I know that at least for this
year when
I travel to an event it will most likely be to an SCCA "sanctioned" event.
As many have said before me,
Peace,
Scott Troyer
SS#71
Alan Pozner wrote:
> I just read FasTrack..
>
> I think the PRO thing is a big deal to National in that one of the key
> people in last year's National Solo program (Heyward Wagner) has jumped ship
> to assume the job of General Manager for PRO. I think Howard Duncan was
> grooming Heyward for a bigger job, so the spit was probably acrimonius. I
> have no doubt that there might be hard feelings on both sides. PRO has
> gotten a good deal of press in NAP and GRM and Evo Schools. They are pushing
> hard with a strong marketing campaign.
>
> They are definitely a threat to our club-oriented, volunteer-run
> autocrosses. With the public's growing interest in grassroots motorsports,
> it is only a matter of time before some commercial organization comes along
> to seize what SCCA continues to leave on the table - heavily promoted
> consumer-focused autocross competition. Whether that is really a good idea
> in our litiginous society is debatable. But a "retail" form of autocrossing
> is surely going to get more press than our "secret" form. And so lots of our
> hard-working volunteers are going to have hard feelings and lots of our
> hard-working volunteers are going to jump ship to become stars in this new
> autocross firmament.
>
> Steve Johnson's memo seems kinda mean spirited to me. There is the implied
> threat that if you participate in a PRO event as an organizer that you are
> jeopardizing your relationship with SCCA and that support of PRO is
> anti-SCCA.
>
> But overall, I don't think it will matter because PRO is setting itself up
> for failure. By having only "big-time" events they will not appeal to
> neophytes. By having no class for Prepared and Mod cars they cut out 40% of
> existing autocrossers. By placing their events at venues that are not big
> flat parking lots, they change the nature of the driving and increase the
> possibility off-course cars striking stationary objects. Seems like the only
> people that will attend their events are the hard-core National-Level Stock,
> Street Touring, and Street Mod drivers. Of course many of those hard-core
> people are local SCCA core people who will not forsake their regional
> programs for PRO and will not give up National and Divisional level SCCA
> events for PRO events on the same weekend.
>
> The famous Chinese curse, "may you live in interesting times" certainly
> applies here.
>
> All IMHO
>
> Regards,
> Alan
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Carrie Sparling
> > Sent: Friday, January 10, 2003 1:29 PM
> > To: Alan Pozner
> > Subject: RE:
> >
> >
> > http://www.scca.org/news/fastrack/03-02.pdf
> >
> > page f-25 is the infamous memo. I think everybody's being silly.
> >
> > -=*=-
> > Carrie Sparling
> > IDenticard Technical Support
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Alan Pozner
> > > Sent: Friday, January 10, 2003 1:22 PM
> > > To: Carrie Sparling
> > > Subject: RE:
> > >
> > > I haven't got my SportsCar yet.
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Carrie Sparling
> > > Sent: Friday, January 10, 2003 12:22 PM
> > > To: Alan Pozner
> > > Subject:
> > >
> > > helluva hullabaloo over PRO
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