Rationalize the classes

[Blue]

OK, I'm donning a fire retardant suit and putting on a face mask here...

From an "outsider's" standpoint, the current classes of LSR have little correlation to modern (last 20 years) of other motorsports.  Why can't the LSR world correlate their classes with other sports racing bodies (SCCA, IMSA, etc.) and retire the roadster-hotrod-studebaker classes that on one hand, dilute the potential of modern participation and on the other hand marginalize the participation of modern types of racing.

OK, these are controversial opinions from a newbie.  Flame on.

Realize that I am a wee bit experienced in other motorsports and my perspective is one shared by people the LSR world wishes would participate.

[Nortonist 592]

I see this is your 13th post.  Unlucky for some.  The SCTA has the roadster-hot rod-studebaker classes because thats the way it is.  Thats the way its wanted.  Thats the way it should be.  I can't speak for other raceers but I don't have millions of dollars to pour into a GT prototype and if I had it I wouldn't waste it on sports cars.   Snooty bunch.   Come out to an LSR event and meet real people who build and race real cars.  Hell, theres motorcycle s at these event that would blow past your GT prototypes.  Why would you want to go watch slow cars?

[1212FBGS]

You mean like when Honda brought a gazillion dollar F1 car over and it didn’t go as fast as the barnyard bomber..?.....oh.!.. And then they went back and told the world how great they were and they set some kind of record.... in there own mind.....hey blue no problem, bring on your modern stuff.. We have classes for them to fit into... but tell your snooty richey rich punk buddies to be prepared to get the smack down from a bunch of garage shop amateurs.....I don’t know you or your motor sports involvements/accomplishments, but is sounds like you and your buddies were sitting around drinking a 40, sharing perspectives, and it was "you" folks who were wishing "you" could be involved... but quietly you were afraid that your high dollar racers would be shown up by some old clapped out roadster.... in clinical psychology I think they call your statement "penis envy"... I prefer the statement "there are those who dream of land speed records... and then there are people like us that stay up sleepless and make it reality"
Kent
ps. any of your rich buddies wanna sponsor my 'liner

[dwarner]

Each racing body has their own set of rules/classes. What we run in the LSR format is based on tradition. See the hot rod history books. Other types of racing have cars that turn left and right, stop, etc. Why would you want to run a car that is designed for different paramaters in such a simple venue as LSR?

There are places to run in Texas, Nevada, North Carolina and others. Run there. Too far away? Find somewhere near to you and form your own sanction body and rules base. Buy a bunch of hats, any color you want, and have at it.

If you want to run on the salt because it seems the thing to do you gotta meet the rules. I don't think our car would be allowed to enter Le Mans or some tv channel support event.

What is the agenda here, please expand on your ideas.

DW

[JackD]

Follow the retired NASCAR folks that have already done a lot of work towards the subject.
If you wish to go Electric, the Panasonic project comes to mind as does the Lloyd Healey little machine that was faster.
The Buckeye Bullet is the fastest.
Get in line.

"Don't date out of your species."

[dwarner]

I have another thought.

Each racing organization has a goal; drag racing is et, road racing is lap times, lsr is top speed.
These goals are met by the design criteria and rule requirements. That is why the Russian space shuttle looks like the USA space shuttle - the design works.

Again I ask, why would you want to run a car designed for a different goal in a lsr context?

DW

"Find an unused mile, buy a bunch of hats and go for it." (me)

[RidgeRunner]

Blue,

     Take off the mask and suit, jump on in, might take a little getting used to but think you will find the water just fine.  More real people in this venue ready to help than any other I have observed/experienced in over 50 yrs of following al types of motorsports.  Don't believe there is any other where you can go faster for less $$, get to go broke [#1 given when fooling with any form of motorsports] at your own chosen rate, and have as much fun.

     Was fortunent enough to to run B'ville a couple of times years ago, found it one of the most humbling yet satisfying experiences of my life to date.  Currently playing every hand that life deals me for the chance to return and run again at the Holy Grail of Top Speed.  Meantime quite satisfying to get fix's in by helping out some buddys on safaries to Maxton.

     Dilute the potential?  Increased salt events with increasing entries over the last few years....multiple courses to meet the demand......increasing entries and longer wait lines at Maxton.....  Looks to me like growth is here and now, not a potential.  Wonder to me the elders haven't shut the door already, just shows me how real the people are that volunteer [and are willing to increase] their time to keep this form of motorsport going.

     Little corelation to modern?  Last October's event at Maxton I observed a competitor, having conversation on cell phone between shoulder and ear, typing a change of tune with a laptop on the fender hooked into components under the up lifted hood.  Barring the advisor/tunner using radio-remote to recieve data and make changes from miles away directly, how much more modern can it get with present technology?

     If you want flame, and work at it, you can propabley find it here.   Most would much rather devote time and energy to help you and others have fun and go fast safely at a reasonable cost, the common goal.

                              Ed

 

     

[Stan Back]

". . . my perspective is one shared by people the LSR world wishes would participate."

The LSR gurus are working hard at trying to decide how to limit the number of participants.  It's gotten unmanageble at a couple of venues.  They're really not wanting to increase the numbers or add to the mix.

And we race the vehicles we want to race.  We run the show.  We write the rules.  (With the help of our Benevolent Dictators.) 

By the way, over 25% of the Bonneville entries are roadsters.  They're certainly not lacking in numbers and apparently that's what a large group wants to race.

[dwarner]

". . . my perspective is one shared by people the LSR world wishes would participate."

Who would that be? I have seen Jeff Gordon, AJ Foyt, Dale Earnhardt, Dan Gurney, et al. in their specialties.

Why do I want to see them in ours?

DW

[836dstr]

Blue,

From my perspective, one shared by people in the LSR world,  wish you would participate in other venues if you do not like our classes.

Why not have only the NASCAR "Car of tomorrow" used in all forms of racing? Standardization should reduce costs, right?

From a Roadster driver that woundn't drive a closed car, period!

[Jonny Hotnuts]

". . . my perspective is one shared by people the LSR world wishes would participate."

Who would that be? I have seen Jeff Gordon, AJ Foyt, Dale Earnhardt, Dan Gurney, et al. in their specialties.

Why do I want to see them in ours?

DW

I am staying out of this one but:

D. Garlits, AJ Foyt (honorary), M.T. (and I am sure other people who made a name for themselves in other forms of motorsports) are all 2 club members.

[1212FBGS]

you guy keep saying NASCAR... sorry this "Ahlstron" guy's name doesnt ring a bell... what form of racing does he think he's famous from? people with money have showed up and left.... happened before and will happen again....usually with there tails between there legs...
kent

[Dean Los Angeles]

You have a typical outsiders viewpoint. It does look like a bunch of outmoded vehicles in some antiquated racing format.

But only to someone that superficially looks at it without bothering to attend a race.

There are competitors running flathead engines that were manufactured long before they were born and couldn't be happier. Some of the flat head guys run on a shoe string budget. Some have huge budgets.

There are also multi-million dollar operations that have gone twice as fast as a NASCAR stocker ever thought of.

NASCAR, NHRA, F1 all have a rule book that would choke a horse. Come on over and run streamliner. Basically engine size and safety rules are the only restrictions.

This is the only form of racing where the little guys and the big guys can stand together and be on equal footing. The 400 mph record holder and the 100 mph record holder both hold records, don't they?

I wouldn't trade this form of racing for anything.

[Stan Back]

Let's all quit being nice.

Let's all quit inviting people to join us.

Let's all quit explaining ourselves to those that don't get it.

Let's all try to be assholes (yes -- I think it's been easy for me already).

Between the environmental and safety concerns, I agree our days are numbered.

Let's just party on as long as we can, and if some of us fall by the wayside -- good.

We need less of us to survive.

Hope that pisses someone off and they go somewhere else.  I'm sure they will get the last word in as they hopefully slam the door.

[Stainless1]

OK, I'm donning a fire retardant suit and putting on a face mask here...

From an "outsider's" standpoint, the current classes of LSR have little correlation to modern (last 20 years) of other motorsports.  Why can't the LSR world correlate their classes with other sports racing bodies (SCCA, IMSA, etc.) and retire the roadster-hotrod-studebaker classes that on one hand, dilute the potential of modern participation and on the other hand marginalize the participation of modern types of racing.

OK, these are controversial opinions from a newbie.  Flame on.

Realize that I am a wee bit experienced in other motorsports and my perspective is one shared by people the LSR world wishes would participate.

Blue, I tried to get the SCCA to take all the turns out of their darn races because I wanted to race my lakester in one of their events, wanna guess the outcome...
Every form of racing has a set of rules and requirements, this one was born in hot rodding, guys building something they thought would go fast, then racing it to see if they really did.  All you need to do in LSR is find a class (God knows there seems too be a million of them) you think you can go faster than the guy already did, build to the rules and race to win...  That is what most of us do in this sport.  We bitch about the rules changing, the weather, the scta, the BNI and the guys we think have to be cheatin' cause they went faster than us... if we lose our record, we figure out how to go faster and go back again.  If we don't set a record we figure out how to go faster and go back again.  It is the sport of very patient people... people that also want to go very fast, that is what binds us together and builds lasting friendships with people we only see once a year. 
So do I care if there are roadsters or not, sure, some of my best friends run roadsters, but I don't, same for Studebakers and all the others that don't run in my classes, they are my friends because we landspeed race together.  There is plenty of modern participation, show up at an event and you will see it, any event, there are lots of them these days, each venue with a set of rules, with the same basic premise, go fast, be safe and have fun.
Please feel free to join us in our quest to go fast, but don't try to get us to fit into the mold of some other motorsport because it suits you better. 
If you want to race on the salt with some other type of motorsports vehicle, and don't want to comply with the BNI rules or restrictions, rent the salt from the BLM, set up a track, get someone in there to time it.  If you want to run during one of our events, build something that fits one of our many classes.
If you are trying to get us "flaming" you will find we are a passionate bunch when it comes to LSR, but we welcome all like-minded to our  sport.  We are family. we will fight among ourselves, but don't come in and try to change us, especially if you haven't been to the salt to experience our style of motorsports   
Come on in and see what we are about before you try to reinvent us...

Wow this took a while and more was added, but it all still applies