----- Original Message -----
> Yes, they pushed the rules to the limit, as
> any Championship race team would, but in this competition, the rules are
> about accounting, not construction.
========================================
That's the rub, Steve. I can buy the DOM tubes necesary to install a full
roll cage in my car for about $200. But the labor to do so properly is
worth well over $1000. Somewhere, a fair value for labor has to come into
the equation. Otherwise the "little" guy will never stand a chance against
those with full fabrication shops and paint booths at their disposal.
I started a GRM $2003 Challenge car project with a (barely) running $500
Neon. I have already sold well over $700 worth of parts off of it but can
only "claim" $500 worth of credit against it's purchase price. I traded
it's OE springs for twice-the-rate Mopar springs, stock 122K OE mile engine
mounts for solid mounts (from a kid who got tired of the change rattling in
his cup holders), a one piece aluminum seat for helping a guy learn to
reload rifle ammo, etc. Due to current budgetary constraints it continues
to sit in my garage, looking sad and lonely. One of these years I'll get
around to actually working on it again.
I however _still_ question the legitimacy of such things such as finding a
running 2nd Gen MR2 for $300-500 when a freaking Cavalier is assigned a
"fair market value" of over $1000. Yeah, right. Like an avid autocrosser
wouldn't have snatched that MR2 up a long time ago if for nothing more than
the parts.
Eric Linnhoff in KC
'98 Dodge Neon STS #69
www.geocities.com/eric10mm/KnuckleDragger
"In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French;
I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their language."
Mark Twain
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