Jack Drews wrote:
>BUT -- there's more to this than just our love of the cars. It has to do
>with AWARDS. There will be an entirely different character to the races
>if awards for finishing position are offered. And it doesn't matter if
>it's cash, trophies, or points -- we ALL change from Mr. Hyde to Dr.
>Jekyl when awards are offered. All this is true in SCCA racing - the
>level of intensity and risk-taking is directly proportional to the
>rewards available -- regional non-points races v.s regional points races
>vs. National races vs. Runoffs.
<snip>
>Comments?
>--
>uncle jack in frigid iowa
>TR4 Rallye Replica vintage racer
Well, Uncle Jack, perhaps I ought to have elaborated in my previous posting
that in fact to my mind the reason to bring in more commercial income is
only to turn it into "start money." This way everybody gets something (and I
mean blanket start money, not this tapered to Mr.Y's car is better than
Mr.X's etc.). This was how we used the income for Irish historic racing
years ago. The end result was that everybody went home with a few dollars in
their pocket to offset some of their expenses and it actually encouraged
folk to race next time.
Given the point I earlier made about date cut-offs essentially artificially
enhancing certain cars "competitivity" anyway, overemphasis on prize funds
for winners/places is bad for historic racing in many instances as it
discourges older cars - e.g. the global Formula Junior thing where all the
lovely older cars with stock gearboxes which can't compete with the fine
more newfangled things just tend not to come out to play.
On the other hand, if you can pay start money then this helps every runner
on the grid, and even if it is only a matter of small dollars, in my
experience everybody appreciates the effort.
Regards,
Patrick
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