> Steve Hoelscher wrote:
> So don't talk to me about major re-orgs in stock. You have no
clue. ;-)
Well, at least you didn't say "Spoken like a true Stock category
believer. How's about we consolidate all
the stock classes down to 2." :^)
But to the meat of the matter. New car depreciation can be
thousands. Just to flip a car is beyond the means of a lot of
stock class competitors. Not to mention the cost of operation as
a regular daily transport as many of us do. Regular service,
clutches, shocks, anti-roll bars, etc. do cost many dollars, I
would dare say equal to what an SP/ST/SM competitor might spend.
Ask Mark Sipe what he has invested in his cars of the past seven
years. As with both SP and Stock some cars live the life of
Reilly being trailered to and from events. I did not even discuss
the cost of possible unusable shocks, wheels, and other assorted
parts when a car is sold.
We all have operational costs for our respective classes. As an
example, my by in to the 968 was extremely high for me (and is
now, too) in 1996. A fourth and second before winning in '98. '99
I did poorly, too. And then came the S2000. All those 968s
disappeared. An uphill battle for those remaining in 968s. In
2002, only one 968 (2 drivers, Kozlak's old car).
Your issues with the reclassing of your car(s) many years ago
still lingers on. You do need to move past this, regardless of
this thread.
Some clues are as obvious as the nose on your face. No not
clueless, but trying to see the whole picture. And yes little
Bennie, there are too many Stock Classes. I'll your two Stock
classes to two SP classes.
I guess that won't happen in 2004. :^)
Matt Murray
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Hoelscher" <stevehh@hiwaay.net>
> Matt Murray wrote:
>
> > FWIW, running in my teen-weenie stock classes, I have been
through minor
> > reorgs (BS to AS, etc.), up to and including the major reorg
of a few
> years
> > ago. Painful and a bit traumatic, but the stock competitors
survived it.
> > And to be honest, I'd say Stock is due for another reorg in
two or three
> > years. Imbalances have occurred and need to be addressed,
instead of Stock
> > staying stagnate.
> >
>
>
> Matt, stock class re-orgs are not that big a deal. They happen
all the time
> as new cars are introduced and re-classed. Anthing resembling
a major
> upheaval, as happed a few years ago, is not as earth moving as
it would be
> in SP. It takes a couple of years to develope a competitive SP
car in most
> cases. And in the majority of SP classes, buying the car is
the cheap part,
> its the cost of developement that makes it expensive. In stock
a major
> re-org may cause the competitive drivers to switch cars,
abandoning a now
> un-competitive car and buy a newly competitive model. But such
things
> happen on almost a seasonal schedule anyway. Worst case you
take the
> depreciation hit, sell the car and whatever parts you bought
and move on.
>
> In SP things are quite different. Buy a car and spend two
years or more in
> development, spend several thousand dollars for engine
overhauls, fuel
> injection systems, limited slips, coil overs, clutches and
flywheels, seats,
> dyno time, travel for testing, etc... You now have an
investment that far
> surpasses the cost of buying and preparing a stock class car.
Now that you
> finally have the car competitive, have the SEB re-org SP and
render your
> investment in time and money almost worthless because you can
only sell the
> car for a fraction of the investment in it. The construction
and
> development expenses are all lost. This is a MAJOR financial
loss for an SP
> competitor. Above all else Street Prepared, Prepared and
Modified classes
> need stability to survive because the competitors must have
several years to
> amortize the cost of development. Regular re-org of these
classes will
> drive competitors out due to the high cost of dealing with the
re-orgs.
>
> I know of what I speak because it has happened to me TWICE now.
First, I
> built my first purpose built DSP car (a 1300 X1/9) back in '89.
I spent
> every penny I had to build that car. I went to my first
Nationals that year
> and finished third. But in July of that same year the SEB
moved a whole
> slew of "uncompetitive CSP cars" down to DSP for '90. When I
returned to
> Nationals in '90 I was lapped traffic. The cars I had run
against in '89
> were gone and DSP was now a very different class. I got one
season out of
> my new car. I took a year off to save the money to re-invest
in the car to
> try and make it competitive but that effort failed. After two
years of
> trying I gave up and built a new car (my current 1500 X1/9).
I very nearly
> dropped out of the sport because of this. I had invested every
cent I had
> to spare in that car which was rendered useless by the stroke
of a pen.
> That it could happen again if I built a new car had me very
worried.
> Obviously I built that new car. I then spent four years
developing it which
> paid off with four championships. I was rewarded for my
efforts by a major
> re-org of SP which created FSP, where most all of my former DSP
competitors
> sought refuge and another batch of "uncompetitive CSP cars"
were dropped on
> top of me. Again, I am faced with trying to competely
re-think the car to
> try and find more performance or abandon it at a significant
loss and build
> yet another new car. At least this time I got more than a
single season out
> of it. Still, a $20,000+ loss is hard to take.
>
> So don't talk to me about major re-orgs in stock. You have no
clue. ;-)
>
> Steve Hoelscher
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