John,
He is a member of the Central FL region and I think that he has run at least
one of your events. The biggest problems for him is (1)finding folks to
crew for him and (2) the long distance tows (he's in Pensacola). He was
looking forward to running with HSR at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama
because its so close to him, but I think that's somewhat in doubt now.
-----Original Message-----
From: John A. Rollins [mailto:nobozos@ix.netcom.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 3:21 AM
To: Hugh Barber; vintage-race@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Question about HSR
This is disturbing news because it is not isolated to just this one
occurance. Another friend who races a 240Z with the local SCCA Vintage
program was recently turned away from an HSR event for not having the
"correct" tires... This is guy is one of the nicest people you would ever
meet and usually runs in the upper "half" of the field but is very stock
when it comes to vehicle preparation. Like Hugh's father, he voted with his
wallet, packed up the car and left the event.
These are examples of what is wrong with some people/organizations. I was
one of the early supporters of HSR, running its events from the beginning up
through the Daytona event in 1997. By that time, the allowable years and
preparation levels were well beyond anything remotely "Vintage" and
distancing "Historic" quickly. Further, the competitive "spirit" was way
higher than the Vintage spirit so I chose to eliminate future HSR events
from my schedule. It strikes me as odd now that the same organization that
freely accepts current race cars and Spitfires with 6-speed transmissions
would refuse to let cars compete because of their tires... This sounds more
like an individual problem than an event organizer problem. Even in our
Florida Region SCCA Vintage Program we have guidelines for cars that show up
and maybe aren't quite within our strict preparation rules. Rather than
"send them packing" after they have taken the trouble and time to tow to the
event and all, we normally allow them to participate with the understanding
that the items not meeting our requirements must be fixed prior to the car
being entered in another of our Vintage events. This seems to be the most
equitable for all parties.
I'm sorry that you had a bad experience at a Vintage event in my home state;
it reflects poorly on the entire sport. Hopefully, you'll find a group that
is more welcoming. (Perhaps your father should contact me if he is based in
Florida as we hold about 8 - 10 Vintage events a year within the state with
SCCA, in a far more "relaxed" environment.)
*8o)
John A. Rollins, Vintage Race Coordinator
Florida Region, SCCA
(561) 748-6512
website: http://www.netcom.com./~nobozos/
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hugh Barber" <tr6nut@sbcglobal.net>
To: <vintage-race@autox.team.net>
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 10:18 PM
Subject: Question about HSR
> I recently had an "experience" with HSR and I was wondering if this type
of
> experience has always been a part of HSR or is it indicative of new
> leadership at HSR. I flew out to FL from CA to crew for my Dad at Sebring.
> He is racing a 1964 Jaguar XKE with a Chevy 327. It is the actual car/same
> configuration that he raced in SCCA (A Sports Racing) during the late
> 60's-early 70's and he has documentation to prove it. He has raced in HSR
> for the past three years with no complaints or problems. Anyway, at the
end
> of the Thursday test day, this guy shows up at our paddock area, says he
is
> the "new" competition director, and says that "we" are putting him in a
> tough spot with the car. He was then quite insulting (ran a safety check
on
> the car - even though it had already passed tech) and claimed that HSR has
> no place for "mongrel cars". My father pointed out that this is an actual
> vintage race car (not a new build),that he asked for and received approval
> to run from Joe Pendergast (previous Comp Dir), that he had run this car
for
> the past three years in HSR, and that he is more than willing to run for
no
> points, since he just races for the fun of it. All of this fell on deaf
> ears. The new Comp Director's decision was that if we wanted to run that
> weekend, (1) we would have to get bias-ply tires (even though tires in
class
> 3A- Sports Racers from 1967-1974 are "free") ,(2) if we had any problems
"of
> any kind" (his actual words) in practice, he would not let us run the race
> (nice how he invented a rule "just for us") and that (most important of
all)
> (3) we would not be allowed to run any other HSR events this year.
Needless
> to say, we don't run where we're not wanted, so we packed up and went
home.
> I find it very interesting that this same weekend had a Panoz LMP entered
> (since when is a current ALMS car "historic"?) and a Ginetta with a SB
Ford
> (but hey HSR doesn't allow mongrels and kit cars, right?). By walking
> through the Sebring paddock, it appeared that HSR caters primarily to the
> very wealthy or folks with Porsches and does not want folks who just are
> racing for the joy of it.
>
> Hugh Barber
> Hollister, CA
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