Wm. Severin Thompson wrote:
>While the subject of proper vintage cars are being discussed, I must
>admit that I'm troubled by the addition of the 3 year old Nascar
>vehicles, the IMSA stuff, and the "winged" monoposto doohickies. What's
>the deal? Just because a car has become uncompetitive in it's racing
>organizations rulebook doesn't make it vintage.
I quite agree. The '94 Catherham 7 should not be considered "vintage"
until about 2015. Even given that that's an abberation, there is an
issue with recently obsoleted race hardware showing up at vintage
events. I think there are several reasons. I don't think it's
sponsorship. I don't think it's a deep, dark conspiracy. Remember,
racing is a growing sport, and has been for some time. This means there
are a lot of recently and maybe not-so-recently obsoleted cars on the
market. You would not believe how cheap you can pick up an Indy car
that's a few years old. You could easily spend more on a proper vintage
car with 1/10th the horsepower. Never mind the upkeep on an old Indy
car, that's just cubic dollars. ;=) The real issue is what the hell do
you DO with it?? As I see it, there are lots of people out there who
have money, like to go fast, and snap up these winged demons at bargain
basement prices. The older vintage cars are pricing themselves into the
collector market and may be disappearing from the active race scene.
There's also this little problem of attrition in the ranks as cars get
foolishly wadded up and written off. Accidents happen, but some clubs
don't seem to stress driver attitude enough. This means fewer old cars
on the grid, and dwindling attendance. Clubs that face rising track
fees (pronounced IN-SUR-ANCE) are forced to either admit newer cars, or
raise their fees.
In CSRG, I actually voted FOR the addition of FVees and Club Fords (no
wings!) to the open wheel grid rather than get absorbed into the closed
wheel ranks. There just weren't enough Juniors and F3's showing up to
have a decent open wheel grid. With proper attention to eligibility
rules and driver attitude, these changes have been generally positive.
Before, I was getting blown off by Lotus 22's and F2 cars, now I'm
getting blown off by Lotus 22's, F2 cars, AND Formula Fords. Sigh. At
least I can dice with the Vees.
I apologize in advance if these remarks offend Jim Isbell with the '79
Lola he doesn't know what to do with, or other owners of such cars, but
this is my opinion.
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