Jim Hayes <hayes@mediaone.net> wrote:
> In every instance that I can recall, rules are make to insure
> "fair competition." Wheras:
> 1.The stricter the rules, the more rampant the cheating, and the
> more subtle the cheating. Witness SCCA showroom stock, where you
> only seem to need to finish sixth to win the runoffs, since at
> least the top five cars get disqualified for cheating.
> 2. Vintage racing seems to he always trying to minimize
> competition. Vintage is supposed to be fun racing, and we have had
> suggested many times on this forum that if you want to be
> competitive, go race SCCA, IMSA, F1 or whatever.
> Therefore: Vintage racing should have minimal rules and minimal
> emphasis (and reward) for winning.
I sure don't follow the logic on this. True, if there are no rules to
break then there's no such thing as cheating, but there'd be no
resemblance to vintage racing either . . . you might find yourself
swamped with replicars, blown production engines, super-wide wheels,
massive overbores/strokers &etc.
I totally agree that the emphasis should not be on "winning" but on
doing the best you can with the equipment and skills you've got - but
within the rules. Having raced production cars under SCCA/CalClub
rules back in the early sixties, I have some idea of the spirit of
those times and the folks I know who truly _enjoy_ vintage racing
are the ones who stick pretty closely to recreating those cars and
that spirit.
It may be a skewed impression, but the ongoing exchange about "What
is Vintage" suggests that there are a lot of folks who:
1) Race a car that's totally, by-the-book, vintage legal. Well,
almost. Except for those "reliability" parts. And maybe a couple of
other tweaks of questionable legality which were made necessary
because:
2) Almost everyone else--or at least a large percentage of everyone
else in their particular class--cheats. Some of these cheaters are,
it's been said, "emotionally damaged dimwits that have a 'win at any
cost' mentality" and who cheat because:
3) Almost nobody enforces the rules. This despite the fact that:
4) There ARE rules, and there's an enforcement mechanism in most
groups, and despite the fact that:
5) Everyone at the track knows who cheats . . . and they ridicule them
behind their backs. Yet, on the other hand, vintage racing is fun
primarily because of:
6) The good company and cameraderie of the vintage racing crowd.
It strikes me that if you know someone is cheating and you're afraid
to do anything about it, complaining behind their backs is a pretty
futile gesture. Perhaps a complaint made directly to the offender
might be a good start . . . very few people looking for "good company
and cameraderie" are going to persist in cheating in the face of the
disapproval of their friends and competitors.
Its been said that the easiest person to cheat in any contest is
someone who's already cheating - because they're in no position to
complain. I hope that's not what's going on here.
Jim Hill
Madison WI
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