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Is it just me?  While I applaud SCCA's commitment to combining classes, I think the time it will take to do so will create a number of casualties: i.e. cars currently raced that will be hopelessly outclassed...and how much fun will that be for their owners?  And given the SCCA's track record of equal competition adjustments Ithink that even in the end that the classes will suffer from the same overdog/underdog cars...well, I've had fun racing with SCCA for 39 years, but I did not renew my membership this year...time to move on....what follows is what I feel is the typical problem with SCCA:

 >
> > ________________________________
>
> Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 14:53:06 -0600
> From: srossand@gmail.com
> To: crb@scca.com
> Subject: SSB Camaro Suspension
>
>
> Dear CRB -
>
> Last weekend at the Miller Motorsports Park double
> national I ran the exact same lap time as last year when I set the track
> record (3:31.3) At that time, my closest competitor, Mike Pettiford,
> also in a SSB Camaro, ran a 3:35.8 lap time.
>
> This year, Mike Pettiford in a shiny new Solstice with a
> ZOK full race suspension BROKE MY TRACK RECORD BY FIVE SECONDS! That's
> right, an individual driver picked up nine (9!) seconds by switching
> from the SSB Camaro to a car with your approved suspension parts. Bob
> Schader also was there in a new Miata MS-R and he was also running in
> the 3:26.9's as well!
>
> We need you to approve some suspension help for the SSB
> Camaro NOW! or we (the six or so SSB Camaro owners/competitors) will no
> longer be able to compete and will have to either sell our cars or take
> them to NASA. You have given significant help to every other car in the
> class and only given our cars 2mm front and 4 mm rear larger sway bars.
>
>
> Please approve the Eibach Springs on the current Meeting
> Agenda and the Tokico shocks that have already been submitted and
> dyno'd. Or please provide guidance that our cars will have some weight
> added and be classed in SSC for 2009. Thank you in advance for your
> consideration.
>
> Sincerely,
> Ross Andrews
> 335240
>

 

-----Original Message-----
> From: Richard Pryor [mailto:nostalgiabooks@hotmail.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 4:12 PM
> To: Club Racing Board
> Subject: FW: SSB Camaro Suspension
>
>
> Sirs: I received the letter below sent to you by Ross
> Andrews...there are now 2 less SSB Camaros in the San Francisco
> Region...we grew tired of waiting for equitable adjustments...we are now
> running NASA in their Prepared class and having a revelation at how fair
> their classification with weighted points for modifications are...with
> the splitting of SSB into T3 and SSC you have a chance to put the few
> Camaros left in SSC with restrictions because as a T3 car they will be woefully misclassed..but given your history..well....Richard
> Pryor...ex-member 133996
>
>
>

Subject: RE: SSB Camaro Suspension
> Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 16:11:46 -0500
> From: jbauer@scca.com
> To: nostalgiabooks@hotmail.com
>
> Hi Richard,
>
> We received your letter, and forwarded it to the Club Racing Board and
> the appropriate advisory committee for their consideration.
>
> Your input will be placed on the next available Club Racing Board
> agenda. The CRB generally meets once a month, however some issues
> require additional consideration that may include a request for more
> information from you, the advisory committee, a manufacturer, and/or the
> membership at large. An official response to your inquiry will be
> published in FasTrack News, which is posted to the SCCA website
> (www.scca.com) on the 20th of every month.
>
> As a member-driven organization, we appreciate your interest and
> involvement.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> John Bauer
> Technical Assistant
> SCCA Club Racing
> PO Box 19400
> Topeka KS 66619
> (800) 770-2055
> jbauer@scca.com
>
>

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Racing in 5 different decades!

I don't think anybody in SSB will miss Ross.......

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Brett Mars
ALLEGHENY-TRUCKS.COM/Kryderacing/#05 T2 Nissan 350Z
Proof that wrecking at the Runoffs does not get you TV time!!!

I don't think anybody in SSC is going to miss Ross either, and for that matter neither will my car!

I say that out of personal experience.

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GinoC#59
ERC Motorsports LLC
#59 SSC
2004 Mazda 3

As unforunate as Ross's early "contacts" were, you'll find that he has matured into an incredibly clean and good racer...he had two 2nds at the Miller Nationals this past weekend after race long, side-by-side battles with Jeff Jensen and Mike Pettiford..all clean..he beat Mike by a fender in the first race and Jeff by an inch in the 2nd race after race long position swapping and multicar wide racing...I'd put him in one of my cars in an instant if I wanted someone who can win..and won't trash the car...everyone learns as they go along..some quicker than others...RP

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Racing in 5 different decades!

Richard,

Richard,

Just to get back to the subject you started with on this thread....

Certainly I agree the ADV Committee & the CRB tends to miss by a mile in these classifications.  But, did I miss something in the translation here?  The first post says the Camaro was 5 seconds back of the Solstice & MSR in qualifying....Based on this, I would have guessed the Camaro must have been lapped (at least once) in the race.  But this latest post says the racing was side-by-side, and the Camaro was 2nd by a fender and an inch.....

And for this you guys are quitting?  Maybe something got lost in the translation of this coming back East...out here, it sounds like you had a Race. 

What's Bubba been drinkin'? 

LD71 

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LD71

I am new to this site so be easy on me. I would like to make a couple of pionts. I believe that everyone on the SS/T comittee believes that the SSB F-body needs a little help. The comittee would have approved front springs for the car months ago if someone could submitt a readily availible max 320 ft/lbs spring that does not lower the car more than 3/4". The spring packages whitch have been submitted were either to heavy or discontinued by GM. Time is short, becuse it has to be done by the July Fastract.

Secondly, it looks like most of the classes broke the track record at Miller last weekend.  PK

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Peter Keane
SCCA CRB

LD71...ahhh, one of the "mysteries"  of racing results...lap times vs. finishing results...in the first race when Ross was 2nd and Mike was 3rd Ross's lap times were click, click, click consistent...tenths variation over a 3 plus mile track..Mike's were all over the place...mechanical? driver? Ross was never faster than Mike, just more consistent and by the end of the race, that's what counted.. in the Sunday race, Jeff Jensen and Ross battled as Mike pulled out a GIANT lead..whatever his Saturday problems were had been solved...or was he just playing with the CRB having already won 6 nationals or so?  I expect Mike to run top 5 at the Runoffs no problem...as to parts being submitted to the CRB...I could be wrong but I believe a readily available set of springs and shocks was submitted in a timely fashion...but even that wouldn't be enough for this car with the Solstice running faster than ever....Mike is a smart competitor and he bought the car needed to win the Runoffs....I'll accept that the track may have been faster, but a 9 second differential between Mike's times last year in his Camaro and this year in his Solstice?...that's way too much to assign to track conditions...I've said it before..if you want to win just open your wallet and buy the car of the month, year, whatever...the winning competitors at the Runoffs know how to play the game...it's the rank and file with limited resources and a blind faith in "them" to equalize the playing field that are deluding themselves...me, I quit the SCCA because the races in the classes I competed in (SSB, T2, AS) are now just an "open track" event here in the San Francisco Region...let's see...first (and only) National this year in the SFR....ZERO cars in these classes...Laguna Seca Regional - 1 SSB car, zero T2, AS......no, it's not the economy or the gas prices that caused this paucity of entries...they were not much different all through 2007...it's the long term "chickens coming home to roost" policies of the SCCA BOD, Comp Board, etc..in my humble opinion...since I've got a garage of spares and decades of knowledge of one particular set of cars I've simply dropped the SCCA "test sessions" and will only be racing NASA, where the Camaro Mustang CHallenge will have between 20-25 entries at Sears Point next month...the SF region is a great region with great people and race tracks...just no racing in the classes I like so I've gone from concurrent SCCA/NASA events over the last 10 years to exclusively NASA now....for me it's no fun racing against myself and/or having to buy new equipment every year or two to remain competitive (although maybe those days are long past and I'm just deluding myself and open tracks are more my speed)...RP

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Racing in 5 different decades!

 

Hey Gino!

I've grown weary of you using every chance you can to pipe up and slander me... enough is enough. 

Why don't you tell the full story buddy?  Tell everyone about how you started and I quickly ended a street fight in the pits at Road America.  Tell everyone how your competition license got nailed by the SCCA after you tried to ASSAULT ME!  Let's hear it!  

Ross

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2007 Rocky Mountain Division SSB National Champion

LD71:

Richard,

Richard,

Just to get back to the subject you started with on this thread....

Certainly I agree the ADV Committee & the CRB tends to miss by a mile in these classifications.  But, did I miss something in the translation here?  The first post says the Camaro was 5 seconds back of the Solstice & MSR in qualifying....Based on this, I would have guessed the Camaro must have been lapped (at least once) in the race.  But this latest post says the racing was side-by-side, and the Camaro was 2nd by a fender and an inch.....

And for this you guys are quitting?  Maybe something got lost in the translation of this coming back East...out here, it sounds like you had a Race. 

What's Bubba been drinkin'? 

LD71 

 

Larry -

 Miller is 4.5 miles, so 5 seconds isn't going to get you lapped in a 10 lap race.  And it was a GREAT race... one of my best ever... with the well driven 4th place RSX of Jensen.  Yeah at the start it was fun going door to door sandwiched between the solstice and miata for the first couple laps with no contact... but... lap times?  Inevitability.  Pettiford had an OBDII problem in the middle of his race Saturday and ended it breathing down my neck for the last third of the race... only to lose by two tenths at the checker...  Sunday poor Bob had a problem with the new Miata...  so Jensen and I got to duke it out for second... and I got that one too.  The results with lap times Sunday:

1. Pettiford - Solstice - 3:26.9

2. Andrews - F-Body - 3:31.5

3. Jensen - RSX - 3:31.1

4. Schader - MX5 - 3:26.9 (Mech.)

Again, I know what it costs to go racing as well as anyone.  Nobody in their right mind thinks they are going to be on a completely level playing field with brand new 30-40K cars with their old rat box Camaro.  It sounds like from what Peter is saying that we might get some reasonable springs (Peter I sent you a PM!) 

So NO! I am not done terrorizing you old guys yet!!!

Ross

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2007 Rocky Mountain Division SSB National Champion