Mark Andy wrote:
> First, apparently it used to be that all prepared cars ran together on an
> index or something, which pissed off a lot of prepared folks. Ever since
> I've been running Pros ('98?) Pro's have been following the regular
> classing structure in open classes.
Mark, et al,
As a long-time Pro Solo competitor in a slick-tired class (CM), let me give
you some history that goes a little further back.
When I started running Pros regularly in '93, (almost) all Solo II classes
had their own Pro Solo class. The names were different (GS was S7, CM was
M3, etc), but they were all there. Bumping rules were as they are today.
CM/M3 in particular always had a good turnout. Some of the prepared classes
(particularly, DP, EP, and FP) had good turnouts too. BP often filled up on
the west coast as well. But slowly turnouts dwindled. There were two
complaints. The biggest one was money. See, back then, you could win A LOT
of money at Pro Solo. In '94 when the Neon contingency arrived, you could
win thousands at a single event! But in the Prepared and Mod classes, there
was VERY little to be won. It didn't seem fair. Now, this was caused by a
lack of contigencies available to those cars, not so much the Pro Solo
administration directly, but they could have gone after those sponsors with
as much vigor as the stock class sponsors ...
The other major complaint was fragility of the cars. The launch can be hard
on a Real Race Car not designed for drag racing. While I never had a
launch-related failure, many of my fellow CM drivers did, and the
higher-powered cars really had a lot of trouble and a lot of corresponding
repair expense. Anyone else remember Larry Park going all the way to Salt
Lake City to find a replacement transmission or differential when he blew
his up at Wendover? Anyone remember him doing EXACTLY the same thing the
very next year?
So, numbers dwindled. At around the same time, the ladies class was getting
an overhaul, and instead of basing Ladies class positions on the difference
between the ladies time and the fastest open class time, it was to be
indexed. So, they started using the index to deal with the dwindling
turnout in the slick-tired classes.
Bottom line: the index was an attempt at a solution for dwindling numbers,
not a cause!
Josh
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