1st: this has nothing to do with RULES, so the creep issue is moot, no?
Wrong. See Section 9, Sporting Regs. The issue of rules creep is ALWAYS there. IT was conceived as a Regional Class. Change something that ingrained in the foundation of the class and you'll be sleeping with camels - or so I have been told by the rules creep jihadists. The same people who think that allowing an allowance for a single car thrown down a class to keep the wheels they already purchased would have us racing full-blown GT cars in IT before next Tuesday.
Given the history of rules creep with virtually every national class, I find that it strains creditability for you to maintain that the rest of the IT philosophy will remain as pure as the driven snow. Those that have already succumbed to Runoffs (tm) Envy will develop a full blown case of Rule Creep Influenza as sure as the sun rises tomorrow.
2nd: You are just assuming the new drivers are poached. They may be FORMER members who have not renewed, they may be FORMER members who now run with NASA because they like a National Championship, they might be NEW members who were considering NASA for it's National Championship, they could be members who were THINKING about not renewing because they can't deal with the constant turmoil that is Prod and GT...and yes, they could be members who are migrating from other classes...members whom we might have lost should they have not found a home they like.
Pot, I would like you to meet the kettle.
You also have assumed that a
de jure championship will attract new competitors or preserve old competitors. IT already has a
de facto championship that carries considerable bragging rights. Some meaningless stamp of officialdom from Topeka won't add to that prestige. In fact, the "outlaw" aspect of the ARRC adds to its mystique, IMO. That meaningless stamp, however, will allow Topeka to take its cut, stick its fumbled fingers into the IT philosophy and generally turn a successful class into another SM cluster or Production/GT/Sports Racer wasteland.
I'll contribute $20 to buy ayou a gold medal if you win the ARRC this year.
Before you go mucking around with something that works very well and makes a LARGE number of SCCA members happy, I would suggest that you do some market research as to whether it will add new competitors to the club and find a way to prevent the poaching of competitors from many succesful Regional racing programs for the benefit of Topeka and the National System it allowed to rot.
We can design a better way to qualify for the Runoffs - especially is the Nat/Reg designation goes away.
Then give the specifics as part of this
proposal and make it indivisible because as sure as night follows day, Topeka will cherry pick IT and keep Regionals and Nationals.
We can (and will) have the RO at a better location in another year.
Topeka already has a verifiable record of screwing up the location of the Runoffs both in terms of member input and in making its input-less decision. Should the Runoffs move to a better location, it still addresses only one of the issues I raised. The rest of the rot with the National program remains.
The IT Rules are what they are. That is why the class is popular. To change that would be a sin. I doubt it would. The CRB members thinking about this fully understand why IT is popular and other classes are broken.
You mean the same decision-making body that gave us tube-framed
less expensive GT cars? The same decision-making body that created the $10K Spec Miata motor? The same decision-making body that gave us the Shelby Can-Am? The same decision-making body that let in a Neon racecar into Showroom Stock and fixed the problem with Trunk kits? The same decision-making body that added even more open-wheel classes to a diluted open-wheel set of competitors? The same decision-making body that allowed the hard top solistice to compete in violation of the category's rules/philosophy? The same decision-making body that wouldn't allow racing seats into SS for decades?
How could I ever doubt the decision making abilities of that august body when it comes the National racing program and please forgive me my hesitancy for considering what will happen to IT when the same Runoffs attitude and mindset develops.
Figuring out how to fix the other classes is the issue. Too many people who won't let go of their old stuff/ideals/perceptions.
If that is the issue, please explain how adding IT to the Runoffs addresses that issue. Don't "solve" the Runoffs problem on the back of IT. Fix the problems there before asking us to join that cesspool.
