Quote:
Originally Posted by 71RS/SS396
Dannie, imho the reason you're not seeing the vintage cars out in force is, most know they have no chance of being competitive driving old iron. It's sad to see the genre of cars that built this series dwindling in participation. I think it will continue in this direction until this is just another racing series with late model cars competing. I understand why Optima is doing it this way, they want to sell batteries to the largest audience they can and there's a larger pool of late model cars than vintage cars.
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I have to disagree here. I think its more of a numbers game. There just arent as many of us out there as we'd like to think. As mentioned earlier in this thread about Goodguys autocross participation, (quoted below) just add the cost of attending these events, the stigma of "my car isnt good enough", purchase a helmet, fire extinguisher and other gear, the increased wear and tear on the vehicle, the fear of damage... and you see how the pool of GTV cars shrinks even further.
Before you go off in the direction of what a great value these events are, consider this... Most of the GG autocross participants are paying nothing to autocross. Outside of the Pros/Sponsor cars, most of them are at GG anyway and are doing the autocross just for the heck of it. If they only get to make 4-5 runs a day, that great! They're not seriously racing anyway and it costs them nothing in addition to do it.
Looking at it this way, I understand the numbers. Its going to take some time to build the Pro-touring base to the levels we are expecting at these events. Until then, lets keep the GTV class alive by ensuring the participants' efforts are acknowledged. It takes more to bring a GTV car to the event than any other class. The other classes all start off with performance. Just upgrade tires (or dont) and you're ready. A GTV car is a re-engineered and built car. (on a side note, shouldnt the D&E scores reflect this more? Really... we swap out our suspensions, motors with EFI, cooling and fuel systems, interior functionality and creature comforts, body mods... and we're scored within a single point of a late model with upgraded tires and lowering springs???)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chad-1stGen
Regarding the number of GTV guys... The population of protouring cars in general is already a fairly small segment of the overall car hobby. Look at Goodguys events. These events are targeted towards older/vintage cars and draws thousands and thousands of cars to each show and when you walk around how many of them are trully build with a focus on protouring/handling beyond some big wheels and bling?. I'd say well under 10%. Of that group less than 100 actually participate in the autocross portion.
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