Guys,
Having attempted to play golf, (it wasn't pretty) and having autocrossed a
few times over the last 35 years, I was surprised to find that golf and
autocrossing require much the same reactions, muscle memory and practice to
do well.
Since only mountain climbing, bull fighting and auto racing are the only
sports according to Hemmingway, how can one compare racing with golf which
by Hemmingway's definition is a game.
Well, neither require great strength. Both require good eye/hand
coordination, a soft touch and finesse to get the car or the ball where you
want it to go. Both require a great deal of concentration, an autocross run
continuously for about a minute at a time, golf requires you to go into the
zone three, four, or five times per hole, controlling not only you swing but
your stance, body movements and the aforementioned eye/hand coordination.
And most of all, both require practice, practice, and more practice. Golf
has a handicap because of the different abilities of the players. Autocross
has a handicap system because of the great disparity of equipment.
All golfers after all are playing with very similiar sticks and balls. The
physical and mental assets of the player are the difference. (For instance
and not to slight women, but they normally don't have the upper body
strength to drive the ball the same distance as a man, so the handicap
system helps to level out that field) In autocrossing, whlile the physical
and mental attributes do play a part, power steering, brakes etc. make up
for a lot of physical differences. The difference in our sport is that one
competitor may be in a Corvette and the other guy in an MG Midget. With
equal drivers the only way to compare their performance on that particular
course is by a handicap system, therefore the PAX.
Larry Steckel
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