What would a USCA pro-touring class look like??

[DBasher]

Looking at the sponsors from this year most of em sell to the muscle car crowd, doesn't it make sense to ad a class? Call it muscle car and put a year break in....done. No more rules just another class, the rules get refined every year, or at least the rule breakers get frowned upon
The other thing is the "PT" crowd needs to stop talking about it and go do it! I'd hate to see this turn into a tuner, AWD, new car series.


Dan

[TheJDMan]

As everyone knows, a true race car is built to conform to a pre-existing set of rules for the class in which in which it will be competing. As a result these rules are typically very specific in nature to deal with specific issues that have come up previously.

The problem here is that we are discussing a set of rules which need to cover an entire segment of cars built to what ever level using what ever parts the individual owners chose. The result is that pro-touring cars have no commonality of parts or form. From that stand point any competition rules must of necessity be general in nature. This is why, IMO, the SCCA CAM class makes so much sense.

I give SCCA a great deal of credit for recognizing pro-touring and pro-mod as an emerging automotive segment which emphasizes well rounded car performance not just straight line speed and which did not fit well into any of their existing competition classes. It is apparent that SCCA is actively attempting to attract these pro-touring cars to attend their events with the introduction of the CAM class.

IMO, the obvious solution here is for the USCA to simply adopt the existing CAM class rules and run a CAM class next year in addition to the current classes. I see no logical reason to spend a lot of time and energy to reinvent the wheel that SCCA already has in place. It also seems to me that NASA, GG, etc. would be smart to adopt the CAM class rules as well which would go a long way to creating a uniform set of rules which would allow PT cars to compete in multiple events across multiple organizations.

[Vegas69]

This is going to be unpopular but I don't see this deal getting that big or gaining that much traction. It's time trials with no engagement for the fans. The crowds aren't big enough to support the secondary vendors pocket books.

Step back and take your personal interest to run or root for a competitor out of the equation.

I do think it has the capacity to prosper with Optima footing the bill. I'm just not sure they won't find a better place for the resources at some point.

Hate to be a pessimist, that's just the way I see it.

[DBasher]

"Every party needs a pooper that's why we invited you, party pooper"
Well except you're right. I can only hope that the people that are being paid to promote this can get'er done next year.

[James OLC]

Originally Posted by DBasher

Looking at the sponsors from this year most of em sell to the muscle car crowd, doesn't it make sense to ad a class? Call it muscle car and put a year break in....done. No more rules just another class, the rules get refined every year, or at least the rule breakers get frowned upon
The other thing is the "PT" crowd needs to stop talking about it and go do it! I'd hate to see this turn into a tuner, AWD, new car series.


Dan

Sponsors:

OPTIMA Batteries
BFGoodrich
Detroit Speed
Jet Hot Coating
K&N Filters
Lingenfelter
Red Line Oil
Ride Tech
Wilwood
Holley
Intercomp
Snap-On
Racing Junk
Showtime Motorsports

Which one is dependant on Pro-Touring? Yeah... none of them.

I for one hope that we never find ourselves competing to be the "Ultimate CAM or CAM Equivalent Street Car"

As Greg said with support (fan support included if this year is any indication) the OUSCI event is not going anywhere for a while.

[DBasher]

Originally Posted by James OLC

Sponsors:

OPTIMA Batteries
BFGoodrich
Detroit Speed
Jet Hot Coating
K&N Filters
Lingenfelter
Red Line Oil
Ride Tech
Wilwood
Holley
Intercomp
Snap-On
Racing Junk
Showtime Motorsports

Which one is dependant on Pro-Touring? Yeah... none of them.

Never said anything about dependent on PT. Quite a few have a specific line of parts geared toward what most on this site are doing though. James, just because another class exists doesn't mean you'd be pigeon holed, stay in the GT class and continue having fun!

[SSLance]

Originally Posted by TheJDMan

It is apparent that SCCA is actively attempting to attract these pro-touring cars to attend their events with the introduction of the CAM class.

IMO, the obvious solution here is for the USCA to simply adopt the existing CAM class rules and run a CAM class next year in addition to the current classes. I see no logical reason to spend a lot of time and energy to reinvent the wheel that SCCA already has in place. It also seems to me that NASA, GG, etc. would be smart to adopt the CAM class rules as well which would go a long way to creating a uniform set of rules which would allow PT cars to compete in multiple events across multiple organizations.

The problem I see with that is...the same thing happened at the SCCA CAM Pro-Solo invitational. Some race cars on street tires showed up and dominated all 3 classes giving the larger numbers of real PT street cars a sour taste in their mouth.

The SCCA has realized this and that is why they went to OUSCI this year and are working with OUSCI and GGs to find a solution to this that will hopefully give all of the above cars a fun place to compete on level playing fields.

Maybe "sour taste" is a bit of a stretch, we all still had a blast. Probably not unlike how the bottom half of the OUSCI crowd felt. A long time veteran of the SCCA asked me though during the Pro-Solo if "this is what I envisioned the CAM class becoming" while watching the race cars on street tires...and I replied "No". But with just one or two simple rules, the race cars can be split from the street cars by class and we all still get to go out and have fun and put on a show for those watching.

[ironworks]

Originally Posted by Vegas69

This is going to be unpopular but I don't see this deal getting that big or gaining that much traction. It's time trials with no engagement for the fans. The crowds aren't big enough to support the secondary vendors pocket books.

Step back and take your personal interest to run or root for a competitor out of the equation.

I do think it has the capacity to prosper with Optima footing the bill. I'm just not sure they won't find a better place for the resources at some point.

Hate to be a pessimist, that's just the way I see it.

I think your forgetting that this is on TV. The vendors are looking for exposure through that and will get it.

Just like off road racing, the best thing that ever happened to that line of racing is TV exposure so guys can get multi million dollar sponsorship deals. Gilla Monsters and the citizens of Mexico could care less about the whose name is on the side of the truck as it goes by at 100 plus mph.

[SSLance]

Alright, how about this:

3 classes of cars for USCA, one determines the Ultimate Street Car Champion, the other two let the under series cars and drivers compete against cars like their own for their own trophy and recognition.

..................

Street Car Unlimited = Current OUSCI rules, winner determines the Ultimate Street Car Champion

Classic American Muscle = American made, factory steel body, 1989 and older, 200 TW tires with 275 or smaller front tires, stock appearing or fully finished interior, minimum weight 3000 pounds

Classic American Muscle Extreme = American made, factory steel body, 1989 and older, 200 TW tires any size, minimum weight 2800 pounds.

..................

These classes could be used at all of the USCA qualifying events and the Invitational, replacing the GTK2, GTK3, and AWD classes.

The Classic American Muscle and Classic American Muscle Extreme ruleset could also be used in the SCCA for their CAM classes. The cars in Street Car Unlimited generally already have appropriate competitive classes to run in with the SCCA.

The Classic American Muscle and Classic American Muscle Extreme could also be used in the Good Guys but change the model year to 1973. They could also do their PRO and truck classes, or whatever else they do (I'm not that familiar with the Good Guys ruleset).

..................

How the OUSCI distributes their points during the events can remain pretty much the same or be tweaked upon a bit. The only change I'd like to see is maybe a the number of total points available be as much or more than the number of entrants in any class so there aren't a bunch of cars with 1 point per event.

..................

The above class structure would put all of the late model Corvettes Camaros and Mustangs in the same class with the fast imports at the OUSCI. It would also let the PT cars run in one of two classes depending on their level of prep. Clean simple easy...yet fair and level playing field for all three groups.

[96z28ss]

Originally Posted by James OLC

Sponsors:

OPTIMA Batteries
BFGoodrich
Detroit Speed
Jet Hot Coating
K&N Filters
Lingenfelter
Red Line Oil
Ride Tech
Wilwood
Holley
Intercomp
Snap-On
Racing Junk
Showtime Motorsports

Which one is dependant on Pro-Touring? Yeah... none of them.

I think you have some on that list that are dependant on pro-touring and majority of there revenue is vintage cars pre 1989.

I can't believe you listed DSE. I'm guessing 95% of there business is pro-touring. They only have late model Camaro stuff. 5 pages out of 125, of their catalog.

Ride tech they have systems and components that work on everything that has wheels on it. I bet most of their sales is in the pro-touring and vintage car market.