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December 2003
In this issue, Mike Driscoll profiles Mark Shaw.
Mark Johnson recaps the recent drivers' school, highlights our
December event at AMP, and details the Fall Series final standings.
And D.N. Effer looks ahead to the National Tour event being
held here on the January 23-25 weekend.
Our next purely local activities are the Practice Day
on Saturday, January 17,
and the Annual Banquet
on Saturday, January 31.
Copyright 2003.
Duplication allowed in whole or in part, provided full acknowledgment is
given.
Mike Driscoll
&
Scott Meyers ,
Co-Editors
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the pylon points to:
Mark Shaw
by Mike Driscoll
ARIZONA REGION
Mark Shaw was born and raised in the home of the Indy 500.
But despite this auspicious beginning, he didn't get interested in automobiles
until junior high school.
Even then, his interest was in stock cars rather than open-wheel racing.
His first car was a 1950 Ford, which he dreamed of setting up like the '49 Ford
in the movie Thunder Road.
Then his brother let him drive his 1962 VW Bug, and he was bitten.
He bought his own Bug when he went to college and has owned 17 VW's since.
He's pictured here standing guard over the latest of these: a platinum grey
2003 New Beetle Turbo S.
Mark's interests in participant motorsports also began in college, with
automotive gymkhanas (meets comprised of various contests to test the skills
of the competitors) and road rallying.
Autocross was pretty fragmented then, and remained so into the 1970's, with irregular scheduling and much variety among events.
The passion was road rallying, including some all-night performance rallies
run under SCCA auspices.
Mark says he "really got very good at it," which is easy to believe given his
performances at regional and national autocross events.
Mark was director of the Hendricks County Sports Car Club in 1971, right there
in the heart of Indiana, just minutes from Indianapolis.
But his motorsports activity dropped off when he moved to Phoenix in 1973.
Road rallying was not very thrilling here, given the sparsity of country roads.
And he couldn't locate any local autocross activity then, except during a brief
work transfer to Austin, TX.
But in the mid-1980's he encountered a work associate who was active in
Arizona Region autocross, and by 1987 Mark was thoroughly into it, competing
in his 1979 Scirocco.
Then as now, the regulars welcomed and encouraged the efforts of new members
to stay abreast of everybody's improving driving skills.
Many of these contacts with Don and Sharon Roberts, Scott Meyers,
Dave Mingus, Glenn Wojtowicz, and Bob Tunnell, to name a few developed
into lasting friendships.
That hasn't changed either; new challenges and new friendships continue.
As does Mark's volunteer activity, which started about 1989 and has covered
just about everything at one time or another: timing, scoring, course design,
editing the printed form of the Pylon Press.
He did a stint as Director in 1991, when the region's first Pro Solo was held,
and is finishing his current two-year stint as Director just as the region
prepares to host its first National Tour event.
Mark will be doing course design for our region in 2004, and will continue to
serve as webmeister for our web site.
Professionally, Mark is an electrical engineer in Motorola's Sensor Products
Division.
Most of his career has been in auto-related electronics.
He holds nine patents on such systems and has authored numerous technical
articles.
He's currently working on the development of sensors for automotive tire
pressure monitoring, an assignment that well fits his passion for autocrossing.
But Mark doesn't completely fit the engineer stereotype.
There's room in his life for work outside of sensor development and play
outside of autocrossing.
Just check out his
sponsor.
Note the flower in his New Beetle.
Solo 2 Ground School
by Mark Johnson
6 December 2003, ARIZONA MOTORSPORTS PARK
The Arizona Region SCCA Solo 2 Group hosted its annual Drivers' School at Arizona Motorsports Park on Saturday the 6th. The day started with event chair Dave Young greeting each student at the gate with a packet explaining the days goals, schedule and activities. After the cars were inspected for safety, multi-time Solo 2 National Champion Mark Huffman conducted a classroom discussion for the 60 students on the finer points of driving and finding a fast line through an autocross course. The students were then matched up with their individual instructors, three to one, and set out on course walks.
The straightforward course was designed to highlight basic car control and autocross skills. It featured a clutch friendly 90-degree start followed by a short section to get the car settled and into second gear. An increasing-radius turn brought the drivers up to speed. A big constant-radius sweeper, the so-called carrousel, offered students a chance to explore the cornering limits of their cars. It was long enough for the students to examine the effects of steering and throttle inputs on the car and their desired line. The exit of the carrousel offered a chance to try braking in a straight line versus braking around a corner. Shortly thereafter, the entrance to a slalom required the students to pick an optimum line and speed in order to put the car in the right place at the right time. This sustained slalom had definite entrance, body, and exit sections, allowing the students to find a rhythm and get in tune with their cars turn-in characteristics. Offsets throughout the course required looking ahead and modulating speed appropriately to avoid getting off line. Not only did the course offer basic elements and good instructional opportunities it was safe and fun!

The students got several passes through the course to try different approaches with instructors in the cars. There was a debrief session after each run and a new plan was formed for the next run. Occasionally, the instructors would drive to demonstrate a specific line or technique. During lunch, the instructors offered rides in their own cars. For a novice or someone unfamiliar with autocross, there is nothing quite like a fast ride in well prepared car with a good driver. The experience in the car is so much different than what can be seen or described from outside the car. Such an experience can be powerful enough to change your paradigm of what's possible which is the point, after all. By the afternoon, most students were driving solo, picking out good lines and going much faster than they had done in morning runs.
The school was a big success and set quite a standard for next year.
The students took home certificates of completion, new sets of skills, and carloads of enthusiasm. The satisfaction the instructors felt was evident, as they passed along their knowledge and watched the students develop their abilities and gain confidence.
On Final Approach
The Final Event of the Fall Series
by Mark Johnson
Cones? Check.
Timers? Check.
Scoreboard? Check.
Course is hot!
7 December 2003, ARIZONA MOTORSPORTS PARK
A cool cloudy morning welcomed 150 drivers with their families and friends to Sunday's final round of the Arizona Region's fall Solo 2 series. The weather soon warmed up, reaching the low 70s in the afternoon. The heat was on in many classes, too, with season competitions being determined by this event's
results.
Students from the drivers' school held the day before were eager to try out their newly honed skills, and got to do so by running the school's course backward.
(Event organizers decided it was quicker and easier to use the course that was
already laid out than to set up the new one mapped out on paper by our usual course designer, who couldn't make Sunday's event.)

The impromptu course was characterized by an awkward takeoff that proved a bit tight for long wheelbase cars, followed by a long roll out to the start lights. The first turn was a tight right-hander disguised as a Chicago box, leading to a set of increasingly friendly offsets. The final offset opened to a long slalom across the back. The slalom fed directly into a medium sweeper leading toward the center of the skid pad where drivers were faced with a left-hand constant-radius carrousel that carried on for nearly 270 degrees. Immediately after the carrousel, a decreasing radius right-hander signaled the final approach to the finish. It was a real speed-maintenance course with very few chances to light the afterburners.
The key to clean runs was a smooth, controlled entrance into the slalom in order to avoid a DNF or cone penalties. There was a brief opportunity to put down some power exiting the medium sweeper, after the slalom and heading into the carrousel. However, the defining feature of the course was the breath-taking carrousel where sustained steady state cornering was required. Even though there were lots of pylons defining the inner arc of the carrousel, they seemed untouchable. No amount of throttle or steering input seemed to move the car closer to those cones. While the fast drivers were only centimeters away from the inner arc, often times with the nose of the car pointed right at the next pylon, they never seemed to hit one. A deft touch of the controls was required to avoid a spin in the transition between the relatively high-speed carrousel and the decreasing-radius finish.
Top time of the day went to Lotus ace Ted Lewis with a 39.968, which was pretty amazing since he drove in the first heat. Barnstorming Brian Peters piloted his C Stock Miata to the top PAX score by flying through the slalom. He wasnt the only one going fast there were many folks in contention for top PAX. Maybe the cloud cover helped equalize the heats? Had the vacuum sweeper really cleaned up enough dust and dirt that the first heats were not at a disadvantage? Perhaps it was the rubber laid down from the day before in key areas that offered a more consistent surface? Whatever the reasons, there was a wide variety of cars and drivers near the top of the PAX ranks. Maybe Chuck Voboril's absence from the event was a factor as well.

Having the
PRO drivers all gridded close to each other made for an exciting run group. While the onlookers enjoyed one speedy run after another, none of the PRO drivers really got a chance to see their competitors run. Ted Lewis was up first and set the benchmark at 35.312 PAX in his Lotus. David Rock went next and raised the bar with a PAX time of 34.347 in his Celica. Mark Huffman carried a little too much speed into the slalom and whacked a cone with his Elan. After first runs, the order was Rock in first, Lewis in second, and Huffman in third. Second runs saw Lewis go faster, but not enough to catch Rocks first run. Rock continued to push hard, improving his PAX score to 34.177. Huffman put down a smoking run to claim the lead after second runs with 34.004 PAX. With one more chance, Lewis turned in an awesome 33.813 PAX in spite a bobble while exiting the carrousel. Rock improved slightly to a 34.160 PAX but not enough for the win. Huffman was the last car of the heat and all eyes were on him. No obvious mistakes, but a slight hesitation going into the carrousel may have cost him. He ended with a 33.852. Final results for the day show Lewis leading Huffman by one PAX point, 995 vs. 994, and Rock trailing at 984. Wow!
More and more drivers are seeing the advantage of run group choice and subscribing to the
Sportsman class. Many of these drivers are mighty fast too, often claiming top PAX time of the day. Today, it was Brian Peters in his Miata who collected the class win and top PAX honors. Giving him a run were Steve Eymann at 998 PAX, Tage Evanson in a vaguely familiar Neon at 988, and Dave Young at 981 with his BMW. Mark Shaw tried out some new tires on his new Beetle Turbo S, with good success at 950.
Street Tire 1, land of the powerful cars on real tires, is always interesting. The real story here is not who did well, but who didnt. Not surprisingly, Lou Young drove his S2000 to win with a 917 PAX score. Phil Hunter and Steve Mott turned some heads with strong finishes. The rest of the usual suspects were all close in the high 800s. Chris Noyes was turning some good scratch times, but was a victim of the tight start, hitting the inside cone on one run and over compensating by hitting the outside cone the next run. Sneaking into the ST1 class under the radar was Chris Bunch in a MINI Cooper S. Because of slight discrepancy between the course map and the actual layout of the cones, Bunch missed a gate on every run. Which is too bad, because he was putting down very competitive times. Look out for him next season; he wont make the same mistake twice. Over in
Street Tire 2, David Webb pushed extra hard after he discovered the Tech crew not only put numbers on his car, but added a little commentary too. Im Slow spelled out in shoe polish on the SVT Focus window didnt fool anyone. The rest of Street Tire 2 experienced a bit of turbulence when Webb skitched to a 951 PAX performance.

In the Open Classes,
E Stock has been a pleasure to watch. This time, Rob Love brought his MR2 over from New Mexico to join the fun. Would Love change the dynamics of the E Stock battle? Just like the PRO class, these guys were gridded near each other so they never really knew what the others were doing. First up was Lee Imler in his Miata, who spun at the finish. Kevin Venisnik finished next with a 45.872 raw time. Love followed up with a 45.348, good enough for the lead after the first round. On second runs, Imler showed some speed, but hit a cone. Venisnik improved to a 45.515, but not enough to claim first. Love, not being familiar with the AMP surface, tried to push it and went off course. After second runs, it was Love, Venisnik and Imler. On the third run, Imler put it all together, turning in an impressive 45.111 to take the lead. Venisnik improved to 45.148, close but no cigar. Love was tentative after his second run and only managed a 47.727. Imler came from behind to take the win on his only clean run with Venisnik .037 behind and Love trailing by a mere 0.2. Isnt E Stock great!
Just as exciting is
G Stock. Dane Campbell was first out in his MINI Cooper S and scored a DNF. Next up was Larry Dues, establishing a target of 46.513. Kevin Gleaton knows the competition will be intense and wants every advantage he can muster, so he rounded up a co-driver. Although the co-driver runs in Sportsman class, it was the same heat as G Stock. Gleaton heads out on hot tires, only to DNF. Scott Meyers is the last G Stock car to run and jumps in front of Dues with 44.642. After first runs, the order is Meyers first, Dues second and DNFs for both Gleaton and Campbell. Campbell cleaned it up for second runs, but his old worn street tires could only cut a 47.453. Dues goes faster, but hits a cone. Gleaton puts down a clean 45.873 to jump in front of Dues. Meyers gets wild, wipes out many cones but still claims the lead with his fast first run. On third runs, Campbell coaxes a little more out of his tires to cut a 46.242, enough to jump in front of Dues. Dues hit another cone and has to rest on his first run. Gleaton gets another DNF and must stand on his only clean run. Meyers finished up with a clean 44.114 to improve his lead. To give you an idea of just how fast these drivers were going, final results showed Meyers with a 975 PAX, Gleaton at 938 PAX, Campbell at 930, and Dues with a 925.
The peripatetic Henry Iglesias jumped to the
Novice 1 class in his now Street Mod Nissan 240SX. Before that he competed in NV2, for an event. Before that he was in NV3. Not a great strategy for earning series points, but something must be working right. He brought home the win with an 890 PAX. Right behind him, and a consistent NV1 top dog, was Derek Slife in a Honda S2000 with an 871 PAX, followed by Alfred Trujillo in another SM 240SX at 867. Darrell Covert and Ryan Sotak both turned in solid performances to round out the top five. Covert pushed the Z06 to an 863 PAX score and Sotak cranked the WRX around to an 859 PAX. Many of the top
Novice 2 drivers were at the school the day before and demonstrated they are quick learners. Jason Miller has been fast from the get go and graduated with honors. He turned a 937 PAX using his new skills.
Aric Trust and his MINI are on a meteoric rise and challenged Miller with a 932 PAX to claim second place.

Khay Wai Leong not only drives fast, as demonstrated by his third place 913 PAX score in a Honda CRX, but he quickly learned that by sticking around until the cones are finally in the truck, there are opportunities for even more fun.
Brad Owen needed a good event to pull up his series total and he did it with an impressive 894 PAX in spite of questionable advice from his instructor. Davis Koffron continues to breath new life into his Rabbit GTI and it keeps going faster. He finished with a nice 887 PAX. Over in
Novice 3, there were three 900+ PAX scores remarkable! Richard Vela used his Nissan 240SX to crank out a 916 score. Not far behind with a 902 was Cameron Danavandi in his Integra and Jon Wing at 902, also in an Integra. Sarah Peters put in an outstanding effort with her 919 PAX score in
Novice Ladies. In second place was Lindsey Maxfield with a 839 PAX score.
The ground crew had some challenges to overcome during this event. A slow start and a major oil spill (from an engine disintegration in Mike Shapiro's Honda Accord) threatened to stall them early on. With a resilient team effort, they managed to get back on schedule and brought the event in for a perfect three-point landing, that is, ahead of schedule. Fun runs were even offered to those who had stuck around to break the course down.
Flying High
Final Standings in the Fall Series
by Mark Johnson
ARIZONA MOTORSPORTS PARK
The Fall 2003 series is complete: the battles are over, the PAX scores are summed over the best 3 of 4 events, the victors are declared, and another chapter of the Arizona Region Solo 2 history book is closed.
Check the series
results, taking special note of PAX totals.
Anyone with a PAX total of 2700 had it going on all season long.
Joel Schotz was one of them, winning the
Super Stock in his Z06 Corvette. It is not clear if he has an excuse for going so fast, but none is needed with a 2910-point series total. Jim Young made enough events to qualify for the series and a second place trophy with 2809 points. Dan Sniezek was just out of the trophies. In
C Stock, Mark Johnson sacrificed many tires to claim first with a 2882 point total in his Miata. Tom Tkacik accumulated 2841 points with one set of carefully aged tires for second place. He will be a terror if/when the new tires arrive. Just out of the trophies was Tom Dukerich. He discovered a floppy sway bar mount on his Miata late in the series that had hampered his earlier efforts. Ron Mercer used his Nissan SE-R Spec V to dominate
D Stock at every event he attended, accruing 2861 points. Mike Esker prevailed in a tight battle over Jim Barks for second place. Esker drove his Mazdaspeed Protégé to 2668 points.

The
E Stock trials and tribulations were well covered in the event summaries, but how did the series turn out? With only one trophy on the line, Kevin Venisnik triumphed over Lee Imler by 2 points! The pair split victories with two each, but Venisnik managed 2763 points in his Miata. When the season started, who could have predicted Scott Meyers would have won
G Stock? Although he was late to the game because he didnt even own the Nissan Sentra SE-R when the season started, he figured it out fast. Meyers managed 2848 points to claim first place. Kevin Gleaton picked up the second trophy by driving his Neon to 2819 points. Dane Campbell and his MINI were just out of the trophies. G Stock will be entertaining next season. Will Meyers buy a new car? Will Campbell pick up some sticky tires? Robert Freeman ran unopposed for most of the series in
H Stock, using two Volkswagens to accumulate 2590 points. The Jetta seems faster, but you never know what his cars will evolve into.
Looking at these results, one might think Street Prepared is a lonely place, but that is not really the case. Although there were many single car classes, these folks were pushing just as hard as anyone else. It is not their fault no one wants to compete against them. For instance, Joe Moritz ran unopposed in
A Street Prepared with his Corvette Z06, finishing with 2617 points and a first place trophy. Derrick Disharoom found himself in a similar situation, running unopposed in
B Street Prepared with his Corvette. Disharoom is scheduled to pick up a first place trophy at the banquet with his 2705 points total. Over in
D Street Prepared, Ben Clement will add another trophy to his collection after his fine 2828 point season. Brian Wiekert and Richard Rippy had a go at it in
E Street Prepared. This season saw Weikert just barely in front of Rippy at each event often times singe digits PAX points separated them. Weikert picks up the well-deserved trophy with 2811 points. Ross Meyer had a scare earlier in the year when a couple of national trophy winners came to town, but he prevailed for the season 2744 total in
F Street Prepared.
Dont mind the tumbleweeds in Prepared, there are really some fine drivers here. Greg Duncan can wake anyone up after a ride in his
A Prepared Fiero. He managed 2826 points for the season. The blue Datsun 510 in
E Prepared saw several drivers throughout the series. Brent Rederick was the most consistent and will collect the trophy for his 2549 total and an honorable mention goes to Dick Lowell.
When the
C Modified drivers get together, you never know how it will turn out. For this series, Ken Edney captures the first place over Alan Wagstaffe with his 2590 points total. The wrenches never stopped turning in
D Modified. Don Sattler scaled back supercharger development plans on the Miata to finish the series in class with 2757 points and a first place trophy. Car owner and coconspirator, David Lahey, claimed second place with 2656 points over Joe Curry and his Spitfire.

With five regular participants, there were two trophies up for grabs in
Street Modified. With 2785 points, Larry Petrucci and his Firebird retrieved first place. Geren Smith and his WRX put up a good fight and claim second with 2715 points. Will Esker and his Honda Civic were just out of the trophies. Brant Bauman will collect the trophy in
Street Modified 2 with his hot rod Miata and 2724 points. Ron Huber was the man to beat in
Street Tire S, winning every event on his to a 2859 total. Evidently, part of the series qualification for this class was a Subaru Impreza RS. Bud Caldwell prevailed over Kris Castner, both in Imprezas, to take second place. The outcome in
Street Touring X was never in doubt Josh Sorter was going to win. There was no touching his 2903 points total (on real street tires for crying out loud!). The best of the rest was Jeremy Galo with 2717 points and a strong fourth event. Todd Houser gets the honorable mention.
It can be tough to win when there is a National Champion in your class. Such was the case in
PAX Ladies with Dawn Maxwell driving the MINI to 2912 points. Mindi Cross showed remarkable improvement in the Lotus to claim second place with 2693 points. Right behind her was Glenda Meyers, who never seems to have an opportunity to get comfortable with a car. Dont show up for the
PRO class unless you have you have run out of space on your trophy shelf, have national aspirations and are in the 2900+ club. These guys are serious and contribute to the infamous September Effect that plays havoc with PAX scores as Fall series kicks off. Mark Huffman continues to squeeze more speed out his yellow Elan and he needs it to stay in front of Ted Lewis and the green Elan. Huffman finished with 2961, Lewis with 2954. Not more than five points separated these two at any event! David Rock manages to keep these guys in sight, with his everyday street car and on real tires.
Some drivers belong in the PRO class, but prefer to have flexibility in run group choice. One of those guys is Steve Eymann. He accumulated 2978 points this season and is the Fall 2003 PAX points leader. Think of it this way, he only missed 22 possible points over three events! He obviously finished first in
Sportsman class with his Z06, but it wasnt as easy as it sounds. Not when he had Dave Young, Brian Peters, Tage Evanson and a whole cadre of competent drivers chasing him. Dave Young, who scored in the high 900s at every event and accumulated 2933 points finished second. Good thing for those two that Brian Peters chose not to drive his own car at each event as he managed 2917 points. Evanson also borrowed a car for part of the series and squeezed in a 2909. Finally unveiling his new ride was Mark Shaw, just out of the trophies.

When you run in the biggest class of the series, you know the competition is going to be intense. 15 drivers were eligible for the series in
Street Tire 1. Lou Young faced some challenges but emerged in first with 2719 points with his Honda S2000. Craig Meyer put his F Stock Mustang in second place with 2656 points. Just 9 points back was Kim Kemper and his Corvette with 2647 points. Clint Child made the last three events to qualify for the series, only 10 points behind Kemper, at 2637. Chris Noyes 2620 could have been better if not for the tight start on Event #4, but he ends up in fifth place. The final trophy spot in the uber-competitive class goes to Ron Adcock in another Corvette. But the competition does end there - just four points out of trophies was Pat Soukup and only one point behind him was Steve Mott. A very tight group! Maybe real street tires promote tight competition. Over in
Street Tire 2, 9 drivers qualified for the series. Chad Mizner barely hung on to first with a 2786 total in his Del Sol. Only 4 points away, at 2782 was hard charging Ryan Yantzer in his 240SX. Jay Balducci held down third spot with 2754 points. Out of nowhere, David Webb vaults past several drivers to claim fourth with 2754, with an awesome last event. Christopher Vasilakos managed to take home three 900+ PAX, but found himself one out of a trophy spot. Robert Rose repeats as the
Street Tire 3 king with 2615 points. Elaine Soukup was the only woman to qualify for the series in
Street Tire Ladies driving her Corvette, but always turned in a good performance nonetheless.
Everyone in grid was a novice at one point, but not many came out of the blocks as fast as these folks. Troy Messina and his Firebird will have to move out of
Novice 1, thanks to his 2639 points and newly acquired first place trophy. Not far behind in a Camaro with 2593 points was Travis Berry. Derek Slife manage 2550 points in his S2000, just 7 points in front Darrell Coverts Z06. Ryan Sotak made the treks from Flagstaff in his WRX worthwhile, claiming the last trophy spot with 2537 points. Honorable mention goes to Gabe Ortega, just out of the trophies. Jason Miller missed the first event, but his last three were strong enough for the win in
Novice 2. His Golf was unmistakable as he three-wheeled around the course on his way to 2756 points. Aric Trust improved substantially at each event, but there just werent enough events to catch Miller. Trust drove his MINI to a 2723 point second place. Jesse Silva captured third place in his Civic with 2692 points. Brad Owen is pushing the Sentra harder at each event, enough to claim the last trophy spot. Lee Nicely and his Sonoma were just out of the trophies. Also going faster each time was Richard Vela in the
Novice 3 240SX. He ended up in first with 2667 points. It wasnt easy and Jon Wing was right behind him, at 2655 in his Integra for second place. Champa Phetsomphou and his 240SX will go home with a third place trophy, just 9 points in front of Cameron Damavandi and his Integra. George Capito and his SE-R Spec V were just one spot away from glory.
Novice Ladies was a fun class to follow through the season. Even though Lindsey Maxfield never finished first at any event, she always turned in strong PAX numbers and totaled 2394 points. On the basis of the last event, she jumped ahead of Lorena Porter to win first while Porter hung on for second with 2294 points. Kendra Albers was just out of the trophies. These drivers are only going to get better, look for them in a class near you!
Street Tires at Solo Tour, or Not
by D.N. Effer
ARIZONA REGION
Unless you've been hiding your head in county hearing reports, you know that
your regional Steering Committee has been hard at work, preparing for
the first of the 2004 SCCA Solo 2 National Tour events, to be held at Arizona
Motorsports Park in late January.

Well, your unofficial Braking Committee has been awork, too.
In particular, we asked whether or not that Tour event would include Street
Tire classes.
The answer received from the National office was:
"No, NO,
No, NO."
And that was from their e-mail autoresponder!
Reminding the National office that Street Tire classes were invented in the
Arizona Region was of little avail, but did elicit the explanation that
those capable competitors who autocross on street tires are just not in the
National office's target demographic.
The plea that this was an opportunity to encourage more National-level drivers
to graduate from racing tires to real tires fell on deaf ears, except
for the grudging agreement to allow drivers to compete on street tires in the
standard National classes (where race tires are de rigeur).
Complaints that this would disadvantage street-tire competitors were ignored,
until a group of those competitors threatened to compete on race tires instead,
which earned the concession that the National office would extract street-tire
times from the overall results and PAX them.
No trophies, though.
But don't give up!
There are other National Tour events.
So talk up street tires at this Tour!
If you find people who are especially opposed to the idea of Street Tire
classes and you can't turn their minds around on the issue, then help them
turn their ankles by tripping them over one of the ubiquitous floor jacks
being used to install race tires.
Then the rest of us will know them by their limping, and can approach or avoid
them as we choose.
But whatever you do, do not ask competitors if they're running on street
tires!
If they are, they'll tell you.
If they aren't, you'll just embarass them, and that's not consistent with
Arizona hospitality.
Best Wishes for Happy and Healthy Holidays
from the Arizona Region Solo 2 Steering Committee
Thanks to Erin Trust and a friend of D. N. Effer for contributing photos to
this issue!
The on-course photos in the article on series standings were taken on
December 6th.
(Posted 19 December 2003.
Reposted 20 December 2003.)
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