“We all pay the same dollar per minute, regardless of how many cars are on track, so this continuing debate over groups 3 & 6 is quite irritating to me at this point.”
Your above quote spells it out completely, especially the first part regarding the cost per minute. Yes, we do all pay the same.
However, due to some outstanding success in recruitment and organizational leadership, some groups are so damn oversubscribed they are outright dangerous.
I have listened to this debate about 3 and 6 being combined for what, 4 years running or longer? I have heard the promises of “next year more will show up”. For chrissakes, lets act like adults here. Not one person who attends any number of conference races would say that group 3 or 6 is well subscribed. Hell, I have to wait to get on the track in group 4 along with 45 other people, so I have a ringside seat to see all three of them, every frigging race. And guess what, I get the same privilege watching group 6 from the grid, and frankly, without Norm and his outstanding clan of Legends, there would not even be a group.
The closing speed argument is done, over, moot. The Group 1 and 4 closing speeds are far greater, with a far higher population on track, than any of the open wheel groups. Not only is this dangerous, it is patently unfair. To reserve a group for 4-6 entries so they can have a low priced lapping session is absurd.
Wes, your participation and length of conference involvement is well documented and equally well recognized. But it seems you are so convincingly stuck in the past that you cannot understand the present business situation. To make a comment on an open forum regarding private financing is the epitome of rudeness, and to further allude that “your groups” should share equally as damn insulting. The group 3-6 combo did not make any surplus for the club(s), so how is it you justify that they should share in the rewards?
I am not sure how some of the most educated people I have met (Conference members) can get so dull on this topic. The business choice is so obvious it is biting you in the Ass.
Do you really think NASA became the powerhouse it is today because it followed a formula that used to work in the late sixties?
I too am tired of this debate, combine them, give Pro 3 the group they deserve for their efforts, and commence to be financially stable. I have no elected position to lose, nor any political correctness to stop my comments. It is time to combine and move the frick on.
RP