Well last time I posted I was still licking my wounds from being beaten
by the gimp. I think the bleeding has now stopped, but a dull pain
remains. Hmm, how many days til the Pike's Peak Tour? (Being an
ex-Catholic boy, I still need my fair share of flogging and guilt. <evil
grin>)
Anyway, back to the Evo school and Wendover. With all this talk on
team.net about stock classes, and buying your way to a championship with
UberShocks etc., the thing that comes to mind to me is just how little
we get to practice in our sport. In my previous sport we practiced four
times a week and at least three hours a day (more on Sat/Sun).
Tournaments were two days long, from sunrise until sunset. Of course
you had the gym/weight work and running/biking/crosstraining on your
three "days off". In one week I'd have amassed more "seat time" than I
get in a year of autox'ing.
That is why the Evo schools and Nat events are so critical to
up-n-comers. A monkey can turn the steering wheel of a car or press the
pedals. What separates the champs from the chimps is knowing *when* and
*how* you use the car inputs. Of course this comes greatly from
experience, something that newbies are sorely lacking. However we are
fortunate enough to have great champions like Bob Tunnell, who will
selflessly let you know how they plan to attack the course and will give
away their years of experience to help you along the curve.
This is rather amazing if you think about it. In what other sport do
your competitors give away their secrets? Could you imagine a prize
fighter saying to his opposition, "By the way, I didn't really do as
much road work as I should have, if you go to my body, you can probably
take me out in the late rounds."?
So in this time of ardent discussion on car classification, I'd like to
take just a moment to thank the people who make up this sport and for
their willingness to try to make it come down to a driver putting in his
best run between the clocks.
Todd
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