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I have always been about inclusion as opposed to exclusion. IMHO, the near perfect set of rules already exist and one word says it all....MONTPELIER!! It's based on a pretty simple concept. (1) Bring your car. (2) Race your car. (wow) I would say regarding chain drive vs. q/c who cares but obviously some folks do, but the fan in the stands likely has a hard time telling the difference ( Ya Know,if it looks like a Duck....) and the car count continues to grow. Back in the early 2k's I was on the Board with BCRA and we had very low count, some times as low as 9 cars and rarely were we over 14. We introduced Division 2 (VW's, Chev. 2 , Cosworth ect) but ran them against the regular Midgets. They had a heat, dash and all of a sudden we had around 17 cars which made us look like something so interest (and car count) grew. By the end of the ' 02 season we were running a few B mains and paying $150.00 to start the A with $75 for all non A main starters which at the time was more than USAC. Sadly myself and Gary Dickenson left the board in '03 and Div.2 was kicked to the curb, car counts fell and you probably know the rest. Am I correct that the new Div. 2 does not allow the aforementioned VW's ect? And if not, why not? How about the cars with old Fontanas and the like just sitting. Pretty sure that IF they are a little heavy on H.P., some air restrictions could be applied. The I.R.S. seems to have figured all that years ago.Bottom line is that it's about CAR COUNT 'cause the fan in the stands is very tired of 6 division shows with 10-12 cars (if that) per division. To me, it all goes back to Montpelier keeping it simple and continuing to grow. Here's some Focus history some may not be aware of. (1) The original Focus as proposed was a Honda. I saw it at Turkey Night around '98 or so. Of course, Ford's money came in so Focus it was. Then Ford's money dried up, Honda came into the picture now you all need Honda's and we know how that turned out. Now we have Speed 2 Midgets which if I am correct, (not really sure 'cause I can't find a rule book) is a Focus only group, once again excluding the Ecotec's ect. I know for a fact, those guys wanna run, but apparently are not welcome. Historic fact (2) 1/2 way thru the inaugural Focus season the point leader with several wins was Todd Hunsaker in his 100 year old T.Q. and I remember speaking with a certain ex USAC V.P. asking him what they were gonna do about THAT. He sternly replied that the champion WILL have a Ford Focus and before the end of the season he indeed did. The point here is that most of these cars are going about the same speed. To bad we can't get them all together and just let 'em race. It would be a heckofashow. Then again, there's always Montpelier....
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