Sorry,
forgot to click reply to all ... so here goes...
Note: forwarded message attached.
Tom
http://www.fot-racing.com/spit/caption/tom_strange.htm
#4 white spitfire
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Tue, 09 Oct 2007 08:43:10 PDT
Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 08:43:09 -0700 (PDT)
From: tom strange <tstrange@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re:FOT GRC standard ...thankyou Cary, ..and foot in mouth
disease ...
To: Group44TR7@aol.com
In-Reply-To: <cba.1c4125f9.343cd7c7@aol.com>
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Thank you cary for a very well written letter ..
I thought that the FOT was all about camaraderie, promoting triumphs (in
all venues), working together to solve problems, promote reliability and
safety; and most of all to HAVE FUN.
Please bear with my rant, and forgive blunders committed here.
Vintage cars are going away. Racing is getting more expensive; becoming a
deterrent to many people all by itself. As much as we may not want to face it,
the older cars are getting harder to find, and more expensive to maintain. We
have to decide if we want to have vintage racing just for us, and be an
exclusive club that outlaws all new members and ideas or if we want to let the
sport grow as things change. People racing 2008 BMWs will one day find that
they cannot compete with the "new cars" but will love their car, and will want
to continue to race it. Yes, it will then be a "vintage car".
Eligibility talk came up after a bad accident at Road America. Many people
expressed the sentiment that the accident happened because the cars were not
"vintage correct". Wrong. The accident happened because "driver attitude" was
not period correct. Everyone wanted to "clamp down" on the mods.. Very little
comment was pointed toward clamping down on drivers with a bad attitude, or a
record of causing accidents. Sorry folks, but guns do not shoot people, and
cars do not cause accidents. People do.
There are solutions. Midwestern council has an easy out. We have a class
that can (and is) applied to all groups, classes etc. for cars that do not
comply. They race with cars of comparable lap times, power / weight (in other
words in their proper class) but display the letters UNR unrestricted. They
cannot win points to take wins away from legal cars, but they do get to race,
have fun, and play with their proper competitors.
Drivers with Council who do not race in the spirit of their run group, are
put on probation, or simply asked to leave.
I dont think any current SCCA triumph is going to come to a national FOT
event with plans to WIN against cars prepared to a 30 year old GCR. I dont
think any properly prepared vintage car should have to compete against them
either a simple UNR would fix that For that matter, any vintage driver who
comes to a national FOT event simply to win, is not there in the spirit of
vintage racing anymore than the SCCA driver who wants to use his advanced mods
etc. to win and gain bragging rights.
The bragging rights come from the fact that we all ran, we all had fun and
we all went home safely.
The cars should not be sent home from such an event because they are not
completely eligible, but the drivers who race to win "at any cost" should be.
Sorry for the long post and the rant, but I fear that we could tear a great
group of people apart if we start arguing about eligibility at this event.
Lets all play and we all have fun. Since it is a vintage group, those of us
who do not fit in completely should respect the vintage spirit what we can do
to fit in, we should do. If we are not completely eligible, lets leave the
trophies to those who are, and most importantly, lets race in the spirit of
vintage racing, whether we are vintage legal or not.
My understanding is that the Kastner cup goes for promotion of the spirit of
vintage racing, and thats the way it should be. I doubt that it will go to a
current SCCA car, that races to win at any cost. Kas, please correct me if I am
wrong
Two notes to leave you with
at the Morgan festival at RA, there were brand new Morgans running because
they were the featured car. They did not detract from the vintage morgans in
any way this is the way it is at many events.
Every year from the beginning of racing to today there are cars running
that do not comply with the rules they just havent been caught at it I
believe Kas has said that finding ways to make the rules work for you, and
finding the things that are NOT specifically illegal, are the edges that many
winning teams use to get where they are
Lets not spend time arguing lets race.
Thanks for listening .
Group44TR7@aol.com wrote: Amici
Philosophically, there is also a very big difference between drivers. On
one extreme there are people who simply want to have fun driving as fast as
they can with their car and the opposite extreme of someone who wants to win
a competition. It would seem that we should have an agreement amongst FOT for
those who want to compete as to the level of preparation allowed, a sort
very basic of FOT GRC for the Kastner Cup that preferably references an already
existing GRC. If you are in not in compliance, you simply are not eligible -
but you can go on the track (if accepted by SVRA) to have fun driving your
car.
Thanks for listening, Cary
tstrange@sbcglobal.net
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Tom
http://www.fot-racing.com/spit/caption/tom_strange.htm
#4 white spitfire
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