Just to play devils advocate, and point out some irony. Mr. 115% finished 1 position behind Jim Drago on Sunday, and in front of Sterns, Rutherford and Novak.
I feel that we have a perfect storm created by the SCCA higher-ups. The Runoffs are at Indy, and it is a very expensive venue to rent. Thus the club needs as many participants (revenue) as they can get. So they made it easy to qualify for the event. This gives guys like Mr 115% the opportunity to run a bucket list event. Although under a points based qualifying system, he would not be invited. Just as any good racer, he found the loop hole in the rules and is exploiting it to his advantage. I believe this driver would not be running Majors if it was not for the Indy Runoffs.
At many Majors, and some Divisionals, the SM group is accustomed to running by themselves. Thus very little lapped traffic to deal with. With exception of SRF, every other group runs mixed races. Try being the B-spec running within 1 second of the track record, while being passed by 2 Porsches in T2. As long as the slower traffic is polite, holds a normal line and is predictable, I have no issues with slow cars on the track.
Call me old school, but, I do have issues with our single tier licensing. I talked to a gentleman at MO that had not raced in over 10 years. Without even hitting the track he was granted a full comp license. I regularly deal with people coming out of Skippy or other school programs that, for a fee, are given full comp licenses. Having never attended an SCCA race as anything but a spectator. Never done a real race start, and without full knowledge of the flag/signal rules. Let's at least see them in a real race before granting access to the top level competition.
If Mr 115% wishes to change his car # to 115, give me a call and I will make new graphics for you, no charge.
dave
Dave Wheeler
Advanced Autosports, the nations most complete Spec Miata shop
Author, Spec Miata Constructors Guide, version 1 and 2.0
Building Championship winning cars since 1995
4 time Central Division Spec Miata Champion car builder 2012-2013-2014-2017
Back to Back June Sprints Spec Miata 1-2 finishes 2016 and 2017
5 time June Sprints winner in Mazda's
6 Time Northern Conference Champion Car Builder
2014 SCCA Majors National point Champion car builder
2014 SCCA Runoffs winner, T4 (Bender)
2014 Central Division Champion, ITS (Wheeler)
2013 Thunderhill 25 hour winning crew chief
2007 June Sprints winner, (GT1, Mohrhauser)
Over 200 race wins and counting.
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