You know what's weird? If only knew them by e-mail, and you changed the name
Dennis Hale with Paul Foster, it's almost as if they were the SAME PERSON. Far
out.
National Tours are actually run by SCCA, chaired by members of the local
region. I'm not an expert on this by any means, but it's just what I've seen.
There's a traveling staff of the same core group of people, like Howard Duncan,
Paula Whitney, and so on. They are usually very well run, and a great
opportunity to get to know the nationals staff, and meet some "national
caliber" drivers.
I should also state that "national caliber" REALLY means you go to national
events. It doesn't matter where you finish. If you go to the event, you're
running with the best, you're opening yourself up to huge improvements, so you
should feel good about attending, period. It's a great step. It's like your
ticket to competing at the Olympic Trials. Hey, if someone told me I could, I
would in a second just to be around all that talent. It wouldn't matter to me
where I finished. Just to say I warmed up in the same POOL would be enough.
Here's your chance to drive in the same parking lot with the Janet Evanses and
Carl Lewises of autocross. Why miss it?
Enough of that. The only reason why I'm going on here is because I worry that
there are new people who have no idea who Dennis is, and might actually, yikes,
BELIEVE him and think that SCCA is as scary and evil as he says. Just to
assuage any fears, every year at the Solo II Nationals in Topeka, they have a
Talent Show, where people get up on stage and sing and dance, sometimes well,
and sometimes not. How can anyone call that evil, I don't know, but it seems to
really be the heart and soul of what all this is about: having fun. National
Tours are no different.
I think the scales are SCCA property, but I could be mistaken, and they travel
around from Tour to Tour, Pro to Pro. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.
At any rate, chances are, they bounce around a lot, and are dead wrong, as they
were at this event. This is pretty obvious. I think rather than pointing
fingers at SFR shouting conspiracy, I think there's got to be a way to protest
the scales or something. Maybe this will be covered in an upcoming issue of
North American Pylon perhaps? I'm not trying to lessen the harm of the
inaccuracy. This is a serious problem that must be addressed, because what a
bummer. But I guess I'm not quite as paranoid as Dennis is, as I think I have a
better ability to single out exactly what the problem is, as do probably Frank
and Jim Tikijian and all others who were totally SCREWED by this inaccuracy
(probably), and they SHOULD be vocal about it. It's wrong, and nobody has said
otherwise.
Again, this post is not really for Dennis, or even to Dennis, but for the
others out there who are reading his conspiracy theories and are feeling
confused and/or depressed wondering what all that is about. Please come run our
events, ESPECIALLY the Tours and Pros, and judge for yourself. I think you'll
have fun.
Katie
-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Stevens [mailto:Kevin_Stevens@pursued-with.net]
Sent: Thursday, May 09, 2002 10:50 AM
To: Dennis Hale
Cc: ba-autox@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: pros and tours
On Thu, 9 May 2002, Dennis Hale wrote:
> >The scales person was not an SFR member, but from
> another state. Please choose your targets more
> carefully, Dennis.
> - --Pat K
>
> Oh, that makes a difference? It was the SFR Tour,
> right? Who do you think was responsible? Who do you
> think should have worried about the problem? The RE of
> the Arizona region?
Well, but you do need at least a TARGET for the conspiracy, Dennis. Is it
the (new) SFR chief? Is it the guy running the scales, from the East
Coast? Is it whoever was chief of protest? The national office? The
PAC? The rulebook? If you have a specific issue, bring it up.
Otherwise this nebulous hinting and posturing is starting to get really
old.
KeS
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