Steve,
I bet if you went to the Tiger list archives you would find a number
of postings by Barry Shoenberger regarding SCCA and Tom's Tiger. Barry came
to Seattle two years back and we held a special Pacific Tiger Club dinner
meeting where he spoke about the situation and about his own racing efforts
in SOLO and roadracing.
Quite simply it is a matter of politics and money. Toyota is
continually spending cubic $$$ developing a GT-2 car to WIN races and SCCA
does not want to lose their entries or their advertising money. An
independent like Tom, winning the Championship, makes them look bad.
They have lobbied SCCA to change the rules in their favor, effectively
writing Tom out of the winners' circle. This is not unlike what happened in
the 60's when the Corvette lobbyists were successful, rules were changed and
among other things the Tiger was no longer allowed to use a 4bbl carburetor
and the Corvettes gained 8" wide wheels.
Jim Leach Pacific Tiger Club Seattle
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