Quote:
Originally Posted by john3g
I and the entire staff understand the concerns. Believe me we do but heres the question,"what do we do"? What can we do to curb the cost of racing and try to get back the car owners that have hung it up do to the ever rising cost or how do we bring in some new blood into our sport?? Now I now those are loaded questions and I know I'm going to get DRILLED but they are valid questions. I understand Spicoli's concern as well. What do with this stuff when I'm done? The good news is that there will always be a need for steel blocks and/or short block assemblies as long the modifieds keep raising the horse power bar and keep the rules (stupidly) as open as they are. The question remains though if not steel blocks then what? The main reason for the steel block deal is that your aluminum engines and it's rotating assemblies can be reasonably transfered into a steel block. If we went to a 305ci or 355ci or even a carburetion set up then I think we would have definitely cut the car count down to zero. All we have to do is look at the MSCS deal. They have done a great job with their series but it has turned into a USAC type of deal and to be honest I think that if the MSCS staff wanted to they could go head to head with USAC on any given Saturday night and come out on top but thats only my opinion. The fact is the average weekend racer has very little chance of breaking into the top 10 let alone the top 5 at an MSCS show and thats where our deal comes in. I guess I'm back to my original question, if not steel blocks then what can or could we have done to make it as easy and as painless as possible and keep it as cost efficient as possible. The biggest hurdle is to keep the transition easy from aluminum to steel a simple one. Sam didn't want to get into a spec series and limit his car count he wanted to make as easy as he could for everyone. So again what could he have done to make it better and your right this is a great discussion.
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From a rules standpoint Sam did the right thing. The fewer rules you have, the less you need a tech staff to insure rules are being fllowed. This also opens the door for a "run what you brung" mentality. Everyone is invited, as long as a magnet sticks to your engine block and you run a DT-3 right rear.
Where there does seem to be some controversy, however, is the 16 car feature starting field rather than traditional 20, or even 24 car starting fields. We're a bit unsure as to the reason for this, especially if you are trying to build a class. The additional $50 for the additional cars helps to defray costs for more competitors, and the additional cars on the track gives a better show for the fans. The requirement for a 14 day pre-entry in order to get passing points, etc. also conflicts with the intent for "blue collar" racers to be able to do this. This also comes into play when the schedule is not concrete early in the season. Many blue collar folks have a non-standard work schedule which limits their ability to forecast their availability to race. And they're asking us to go past closer race tracks to support the series for essentially the same tow money.
Lastly, as I outlined in an earlier post, after racing your guts out in heat and qualifying races to get as many finishing and passing points, you're then still subject to the luck of the draw with some sort of invert depending on the second draw. I'm OK with the invert (it might give the fans a better show) but, to reward the drivers for being subject to the second draw, passing points should also be added to the overall point calculations for the championship. The winner of the race is still the winner of the race, but he may not be the highest point winner for the race, especially if someone starts at the back and finishes second.
Just a few things to consider.
Tim Simmons