To address John Cooks misinformation on facetubes...

You are gonna be 60? I thought you were some mid 20's spoiled brat by the way your posts go.

 

Ok....I have no dog in this fight but..........

 

I think the flip side to the point you are making is how the open nature of the championship is elevated due to its nature. The fact that the fastest racers from all over can show up and earn their spot, makes it all the more impressive to be able to win to me. It says, bring your best and we will take them head on. I see your point, but I see the other side too.

 

This dude is associated with Dunlop Racing now?

Holy shit who thought that was a good idea?

 

I had conceded to the point and moved on, but this is ridiculous. Nobody said anything about "participation awards". Did you skip over that part where I said I wouldn't care who entered, up to and including Rossi?...as long as they were regular supporters of WERA like we are?

WERA has had a ton of fast racers over the years. May, Knapp, West, Ethridge, Bemisderfer, Stokes, Kraft, Hunt, Jensen, Lynn, Rojas, Dwyer, Whitey, Turner, Mesa, it goes on and on. Not once have I ever heard a negative comment about any of those guys taking National titles. They are/were (for the most part) regular WERA supporters and everyone loves(d) racing with them.

As far as the "best of the best from around the Nation" point goes, that's already covered. As logic and the name suggests, you race all year and battle for Sportsman Regional Championships. Then at the end of the year, the front runners (in the past it was the top-15) from each region all met at the GNF in a race of the "best of the best" to be declared the Sportsman National Champion.

There was no "who is this fucking guy?" at the GNF. You watched other Regions all year to see who was leading those and compared lap times at tracks you shared. You knew going into the GNF who your competition was going to be...and was pumped. Tension built all year, some trash was talked, etc. leading up to some EPIC battles with close rivals (who were also often good friends) at the GNF.

Even now, if you look at the Regional Points Standings page, there is still a cutoff line under 15th place.
http://www.wera.com/points/showpoints.asp?x=1098&s=71515680964&rg=3&c=8

The way it used to be, you had to pay CLOSE attention to that line all year and do whatever you had to do to be above it, that way you could earn an invitation to the GNF and be classified as "one of the best" in your Region, so you could race against the best from the other Regions. Even just getting an invitation to the GNF was something to be proud of. You were still racing while the other guys were sitting at home. I remember racing at Nashville towards the end of the season and hearing guys talking about already having an invitation to the GNF wrapped up, and other guys saying "Im not going to get one". But now the cutoff line is irrelevant, anyone who does just one random round can race at the GNF.

I was simply stating my opinion that I think it should be the way it used to be (you had to support WERA all year and finish the regular season above the cutoff line in order to race for the National Championship). Mongo said that he would also prefer it to be the way it used to be. However, the market/industry/etc dictates that isn't the best financial move at the moment.

From a business perspective, I completely understood where he is coming from, conceded, and dropped it...until you came with this participation award bullshit.

 

Rename it : WERA Open Invitational, take the 'championship' aspect away and market it as a shootout for the fastest and bestest.

p.s. I have no experience in such things and am not in anyway suggesting Mongo hasn't already thought of this as a way to further destroy road racing.

 

i totally get your point, just consider one thing... i know Mongo will ultimately make the decision on what makes sense for his business and what fills the grids, but strictly from the racers perspective... which one you choose to agree with probably depends on what you want out of racing, no? if you want to have a clubhouse, gang of friends feel and battle your buddies or be a big fish/small pond kinda thing and keep it tight like a traditional series would be... your way seems best. if your goal is to beat the best of anyone around with hopes to make some kind of pro-career out of it or use it as a stepping stone (which you've seen a bunch of those guys you named do, or kids like Lewis/Gerloff have done), it would seem that you would just want to take on all comers as to leave no doubt to your awesomeness and pedigree, yes? which one you're after would seem to determine how you feel. its definitely probably easier to feel deserving of sponsorships or a pro-ride chance if you've left no doubt that you're the baddest muh fucka around.

 

There are many inappropriate venues for you to channel your sensitive emotions.

 

...or this...

I have noticed that my posts are much longer in the morning (my morning, not yours). I reckon I drink too much coffee and get too excited. My posts get shorter as the day goes on.

 

Whatever amount of coffee you drink in the morning you should cut in half..... or hit yourself in the head with a baseball bat.

 

I dont know about as a replacement for the Sportsman National Championship, but that actually sounds cool. Like if the GNF could be 1 day longer, there could be an entire day of open winner-take-all races.

In that scenario, even the 1-race requirement could be removed. Make it so there there is no requirement.

People can race with CCS, CMRA, AFM, whoever...and then if they want, they can come to the GNF to try to take on WERA's best and earn the title of "Fastest Amateur ___cc Novice/Expert Racer in the Nation".

That might draw in even more people that cant make a WERA race during the year because of their own orgs schedule.

But I know the GNF is long and the schedule is packed already. Not to mention it is already expensive as is. But it does seem like a cool idea.

 

The thing is, I only drink 1 cup every morning. I reckon I should just take a few sips and shut it down.

 

Chris, I looked at one of those F type suvs with the big ass motor and it did sound cool but holy shit, it was uglier than a bucket full of smashed assholes.

Good luck with that,

 

For serious?

I think they look badass. I haven't seen the SVR, but there is an F-Pace that parks beside me at the apartment. It is white with tinted windows and black wheels, I think it looks badass. I have to assume the SVR version would look even badasser.

 

It was parked next to an X5 M and one of those $100K Range rovers. It was like being at the lockerroom at the gym with 3 old guys walking around naked with the low hanging berries and bending over to show you their portals to another dimension.

 

WTF

 

Huh... I always thought they looked cool..... but then again, I like our X5M too.... and I'm sort of an old guy.....

 

This is just plain wrong. Honestly, I think my wife and daughter move very slowly and quietly until I've had at least three cups of coffee.

I know for a fact my students live in fear of me without coffee.