Not ashamed at all Kyle. The A6 is legal. My crate motor is legal. I am well within the rules and happy with my finishes. I tested the A6 this season back to back with SM6 on advice from other GREAT LAKES REGION SM racers. The A6 at Mid Ohio are about 0.7 seconds per lap faster at a cost difference of $275 per set and 10 fast runs vs 15 to 20 fast runs for the SM6. At Grattan and Gingerman, the A6 was only 0.3 sec faster. With my test at Mid-Ohio, if the region holds the open tire rule, I'll probably run A6 tires. If that puts me in the mix for the regional championships, others may do the same. Just brought it up because it can be avoided if the region chooses to write the rule. As for rains, with the open tire rule, we could also run Hoosier dirt stockers like many do in the IT classes.
SM is a spec class and should have a spec tire in my opinion. I was surprised that the handful of respondants in this thread were so on the opposite side of this issue from me. Just seems that if we can keep cost down in such an easy to tech way, we should be doing that. What I am hearing is, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The conversation on the Waterford Hills site is to spec both Toyo's and SM6 for next season to allow the budget guys to use up all the old Toyos and be open to run NASA too. I think that's pretty smart. I'm just challenging the region to think about the tire rule for 2012 rather than just be business as usual. It almost feels to me like the region's way to thumb their nose at national and show that they know better.
I'll write a letter to the group that Jerry posted. Feel free to write yours too.
Keith,
First, let me clarify something that you and several others seem to have confusion about. The Regional Championship Series is put on and administered by the Great Lakes Division, not any specific region. The Division is comprised of 19 independent regions, all of which are welcome to offer up a representative to the RCS Committee. Each regional race that is put on by a GLD region, has the choice as to if they want their race to be part of the RCS. If they do, then they have to go by the RCS rules, one of which is that currently, SM is open tire. If they choose not to be a part of the RCS, then they are welcome to write whatever they wish into their Supplemental Rules.
You say "The conversation on the Waterford Hills site is to spec both Toyo's and SM6 for next season to allow the budget guys to use up all the old Toyos and be open to run NASA too. I think that's pretty smart.". So what is not smart about the RCS having an open tire rule? The budget people get to use whatever they can afford or latch onto, and the tires they have to run in NASA or MCSCC are OK to run in GLD regional events. The "win at all costs" people will spend whatever they feel gives them the best advantage, be it the A6, SM6, or Road Handler.
If SM was truely a spec class, and we didn't have pro motors, or we had a reasonable tech process that looked for some of the gray area violations, I might have a different opinion about a spec tire for regionals. The BOD has choosen to leave the SM regional tire up to the locals to determine to allow flexibility in local programs. But as Denny said, "that gennie is out of the bottle". And from what I heard, the bottle got broken in a drunken brawl.
Debating this subject here does little to change things. If you, or anyone who races in the Great Lakes Division wants their voice heard, please send your thoughts to the GLD Regional Championship Series members listed in one of my earlier posts in this thread (preferably prior to the 11/5/11 Roundtable Meeting).