I have no idea what Matt wrote in response here but, Matt did write me and I found his email to be good. We still disagree on things but I think that is ok. I do want to say that he corrected my interpretation of his comments regarding the sealing of his engine. I misunderstood what he was saying. The other points............well him and I just disagree.
On other points from the weekend.
NASA and SCCA are just different. NASA is customer driven and is my racing home. The times I have driven with SCCA I found the people wonderful. For many reasons though I drive with NASA and always will. Being customer driven I feel they do everything they can to try and make people happy including the way they handle tech. I like that!! Sometimes though it means they deviate from the published rule book in order to do the right thing. And often in trying to do the right thing for one person they do the wrong thing for another. I think what gets lost sometimes is INTENT. I don't agree with the Sunday qualifying decision. I think it was a mistake; primarily because NASA yielded a position they could have taken that would have left them able to righteously defend their decision. What is not in question with me however is their INTENT. They intended to lessen the damage from a series of problems for competitors that did nothing wrong other than trying to do their best. Those decisions though impacted others and maybe in ways they didn't foresee. Putting aside the issues that Matt had for a moment, I don't see YET how those impacts significantly changed the season outcome for others. That isn't a statement to try and justify anything. It is a statement meant to bring into perspective the overall scope of the issues and to see if our reactions to it are in proportion to its impact. That is all. Maybe the high drama around this is warranted. Maybe not and it is just the natural close to an intense year.
All I know for sure is that the TMC drivers as a group showed without a doubt that they are accomplished and competitive drivers. They showed professionalism and poise that few of us possessed when we were at that stage in our lives, as well as showing us that they are as human as we are. I stand by them not as a patron, but as a peer, and with the associated respect given to a peer. And TMC is a bit of a misnomer in that their are some drivers that are also legal adults. To those drivers I am especially cautious of sounding condescending to. With that though also comes a higher expectation of understanding of the politics necessary to make it in this endeavor of theirs. The politics are not some evil thing. At the end of the day, everything is about people and not your driving. Successful people drive pro. Talented people drive if they are also successful people. And if you have both, then you can become an Alonso and have the clout to bad mouth your engine supplier at their home track. Till then................. I don't care how good you are, you will need many around you including the unwitting cooperation of your competitors in order to make it.
“Even the finest sword plunged into salt water will eventually rust.â€
“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.†Sun Tzu