Chuck -- Amen Brother!! That was sort of what I was implying in my recent
posts..we have a class of cars that is unique. When I asked that question
about FV vs FF Eric's response was that FV was so different in so many ways
that FF wasn't a threat to them. I too was forced by the economics of
getting 3 kids through college and married off (1) to drop completely out
from 1992 until 2005. When I decided to get back into racing my favorite
class S2000 was way too expensive even for
the "vintage" cars. F500 seemed a good value for the money spent and I think
we should keep emphasizing that aspect...go real fast real cheap!!!!!
Ed Capullo
From: "McAbee, Chuck" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: [F500] The future of F500
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 03:45:44 -0400
Re F1000 and who is getting screwed....for the past 7/8 years there has
been a bike engine FC running in SCCA utilizing a 'loop hole' in the
rules that has existed for the past 10/12 years. The individual who was
running the bike engine FC finally got the combination developed
sufficiently to win a National or maybe 2 and qualified for the 2005
Runoffs....This struck terror in the hearts of FC and SCCA as the loop
hole granted the car a weight break over the traditional FC's. At the
last minute....after the last National and before the Runoff's SCCA
invoked a 'competition adjustment' to add 150 pounds to this car and the
hoard of cars that SCCA 'thought' were being constructed to take
advantage of the loop hole. This ARGUMENT encompassed 90% of all the
discussion time that was allotted in the Open Wheel Comp Board meeting
at the 2005 Runoff's. The outgrowth of this appears to be F1000.
After having participated in Club Racing for the past 18 years, I have
observed that a number of participants have a 3-5 year participation
span. They come, they play, they find out Bernie E and Roger P are not
going to anoint them with the next BIG TIME ride and throw fists full of
money their way and they move on to other hobbies that are easier to
succeed in. The thing to remember about Club Racing in general, F500 in
particular - IT IS A HOBBY. While F500 has had it's share of drivers
that have managed to successfully move on to other forms of motorsport
(Andy Lally & Elivan Goulart come to mind) for the vast majority of our
participants, the cost of competition has to be weighed against all the
other family financial obligations.
The only things that sets F500 apart from the plethora of other open
wheel classes are the two-stroke engines, CVT Transmission and the
rubber suspension medium. Without being unique, F500 with 4-stroke bike
motors, geared transmissions and hydraulic shocks & springs would be
just another class with overpriced and complex components lost in the
welter of all the other 'similar' classes and it would loose the class's
advantage of 'bang for the buck'.
The participation problem that the class is currently experiencing is
not a function of too few cars available to compete, it is a function of
too few drivers having the financial wherewithal to put the cars that
they currently own on the track. Making major changes to the core
principles of the class is not the way to get more cars on the track,
but it is a way to drive today's participants into other activities.
The market potential for F500 is not the 'hot shoe' karter that is
looking for the way to make it BIG in racing...the potential of our cars
is way beneath such an individuals perception of his skills as very
little short of Formula Atlantic will accommodate this persons
perception of his skills (his accountant may disagree). Our market, is
the young (and sometimes not so young) family man that has some
disposable income, the need for speed and the understanding that real
race cars don't have fenders or doors. Our market is for an individual
with 'some' mechanical ability (at least the knowledge that a wrench and
a screw driver are different tools - and that in most cases -
right=tight....left=loose) beyond that wrenching these cars is a
learning experience - an experience that our 'newbie' will accept and
grow with.
While all classes need tweaking from time to time, tweaking does not
encompass dumping all the principles that the class was built around.
Chuck McAbee
SEDIV #16
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Chris
Reinhardt
Sent: Monday, August 21, 2006 11:04 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [F500] The future of F500
Chuck, in a perfect world that's great, but point of everything is that
something needs to change to make the class grow. We can be really,
really, really optimistic and try and change the perception of the class
to get more people in, or we change something on the car to make it more
appealing to people. Personally, I don't think that suspension change
alone will have people lining up to buy these cars, but I think the
motor change alone would make a huge change in perception.
Getting back to what happen to F1000, you know who got screwed the
worst? The FC guys that had a chance to elevate thier class, they had
hope that more people would come into the class with the new engine
package. That might happen to the F500 class if the oportunity slips
away.
Chris R.
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