Hyperfest Registration

[G.Irish]

The Toyo deal doesn't screw you guys over because

A. You are in a spec class and your tire size is abundant (for the most part).

tire availability is certainly a valid point. when SCCA went to spec toyos nationally, they worked into the deal a legally binding commitment for Toyo to produce enough tires to fill demand. NASA would be stupid not to have done something similar.

It seems like they didn't have that clause in the contract and even then, that still doesn't solve the problem of cars with 14 and 13 inch wheels.

B. The spec tire deal doesn't make it more difficult for SM people to crossover from SCCA. A lot of HC entrants are ITA, ITB, or ITC crossovers.

perhaps, but scca crossovers are almost definately not the core constituents of a nasa field, you have very few scca racers who run a full nasa season, and thus it is not who nasa is marketing to. I dont blame them. You cant make large business decisions based on a few racers. Remember, the toyo deal is for all of nasa.

That's the thing, HC wouldn't have grown so quickly without the crossover. I know NASA has this thing about not trying to follow SCCA but bottom line is that its easier to attract people who are already racing elsewhere than it is to convince who aren't racing to make the investment to get into it. It doesn't make sense to force customers into an either or choice when you are going to be the loser. Its kind of like how Sony tried to push Betamax, ATRAC, Minidiscs or now Blu-Ray when they are obviously going to lose.

NASA has to think about all of the classes true, but part of the reason they got the deal in the first place was because of the two most popular classes: American Iron and HC. If that were not the case Toyo probably wouldn't have cared if HC did something different. SCCA SM has a spec tire deal too but you don't see SCCA forcing EVERYONE to use Toyos. You don't see the FIA forcing spec Bridgestones for WTCC and WRC because Formula 1 is going to spec tires (although I wouldn't put it past them).

Why should a series that overwhelmingly doesn't want a spec tire be forced to use one so that a bunch of smaller series can get the deal? Seems to me that the smaller series would be getting a deal they didn't deserve to the detriment of a series that was already popular.

C. You didn't have a good contingency deal in the first place.

and like i said earlier, there was no gaurantee that the kuhmo deal would have continued.

If the Kumho deal didn't continue you still could've gotten contingency from Hankook, or Hoosier, or even Toyo. I don't have a problem with contingency, I have a problem with the spec tire. Even if no deal were to be had people still wouldn't be pissed.

D. You haven't had to endure 3 years of NASA National dicking around with the rules and screwing something up that was already successful. A lot of the discontent has to do with the way rules have been dropped with little notice and no official member-driven input process. Sure, its their for-profit organization, they can make whatever rules they want but if you're gonna have a motorsports dictatorship you'd better make sure you get the rules right.

completely off the subject of tires. valid points but it has no bearing on the tire issue. If thats of concern it should be addressed separately (although along with)

The thing is that there was already a problem with the rules and this whole thing exacerbated that problem. Kinda like how the colonies were already having a problem with British rule but the Tea and Stamp taxes pushed them over the line.

E. Spec Miata in NASA was never as big as ECHC was. If you guys lost 50% of your field you'd be upset too.

thats not a good comparison. ECHC is 5 classes, SM is 1. I dont think ECHC has ever consistently had 12 cars in a single class like we do in SM.

It would be one thing if people were having financial trouble but the simple fact is a lot of people got tired of the B.S. and went to ITA.

the thinning of the classes started before most of the "B.S." (especially in h4, where there has been minimal rules creep) so I dont really take nasa as the lone reason for that

The BS was a lot of things that put people off. It didn't have to be a rule change or nonsense that affected your car specifically, just something that shook your confidence in the leadership and direction of the series. There's a reason 944 Cup opted not to be a national series.

Taken individually they might not have been a big deal but a lot of people looked at all of the stuff they disagreed with and decided they didn't wanna deal with it. Its unfortunate, especially for our region because it is run very well overall and its great group of people. I hope the momentum can swing back the other way but its not going to happen overnight.