Hi Brian,
Not trying to be sour, I'm just trying to be realistic. I spent 5 years in ITC and got a good feel for the IT racers. They are a good group of racers who tend to race on a very limited budget. The ones I raced with who are still in ITC love it, and aren't really interested in the financial commitment of national racing. It's VERY easy for some one to come on a web board and say "Sure, I'd race at the Runoffs" without thinking it through. There's more to it than just one "national championship race". I think Greg Amy would agree with me on this one.
A good example of this in practice is the ARRC. It certainly has the potential to spotlight the very best IT drivers in the country and could even be called the "national championship" of IT racing. But the attendance at the ARRC outside of the SEDIV participants isn't as large as it could be. At the SCCA Runoffs, the SEDIV or CENDIV, or even NEDIV don't make up the majority of participants. At the ARRC I would say the SEDIV racers make up the majority. Why don't more IT racers from the NEDIV, CENDIV, MWDIV, SWDIV, etc. come to the ARRC? I can only assume that it's because the expense involved, both in terms of time and money.
Although it would be nice if IT was represented at the Runoffs, the politics involved pretty much guarantee that it won't happen anytime soon. Especially now that there are new national classes such as SM, T3, and perhaps BP and DP (former World Challenge GT and TC type cars). So there are at least 27 classes vying for 24 Runoffs slots. Less of an obstacle but still a significant one is that I also think that the logistics/rules makeup of IT make it unattractive for a Runoffs type event. The teardown/compliance verification of cars up to 37 years old could be a logistical nightmare. Yes, it's done at the ARRC now but how many people TRULY believe or trust it? (Be honest...how easy is it to verify OEM camshaft profiles on late 60's or early 70's cars? Valve jobs? Cylinder heads?).
I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade. If anything, the moving of the Runoffs to Topeka is a golden opportunity for someone to try and organize an IT national championship event at Mid-Ohio. Keep track of the NARRC, MARRS, SARRC, CenDiv, PCRRC,etc., champions in each class and invite them to a "true" national championship event a la the Runoffs. If you're waiting for the SCCA national office to do it for you, it isn't going to happen. In fact, the ARRC at Road Atlanta as we know it now evolved from the IT Festival that was held at Heartland Park in the late 80's early 90's. (Ironic isn't it, given that the Runoffs are going there now?).
You can hate me for saying these this, but the fact remains that if IT competitors won't go to the ARRC in Atlanta (which is the de facto IT national championship event) even though there are no qualification requirements, why would I assume that these same competitors would go through an even MORE difficult and expensive process to qualify for the Runoffs?
MC
