[AlDelattre]

Great thread -should inspire lots of (emotional) debate, since there is no "right" answer and any changes to the current world will result in someone screaming...

My $0.02....(as a perpetual non-podium sportsman guy...), with some West Series bias

1. If I recall right, every weekend this year (and last) has been one champ group and 2-3 sportsman groups.
2. Our West champ group has a core group of fast guys - Tom Roberts, Tim Traver, Jeff Kaiser, the occasional Dom Bastien...however, we seem to always have some new superstar (Alex Rossi, Goring, etc) who runs away with it....and if Roberts can'd podium, what chance is there for us backmarkers?
3. In the Sportman groups, I'm not sure how Randy Buck picks the groups, but they are pretty well balanced -some fast guys, some middle, some new/slow. I would say that on most weekends, you could compare one sportsman group against the other and they are pretty fair mixes....(I'm assuming that's the intent...)
4. However, I often wonder if TO GET BETTER RACING - instead of a parade - we should group people by average times in qualifying - eg faster with faster, slower with slower.
5. I recognize everyone does this for different reasons - some for a career, some for ego, some for trophies, some just for fun (i.e me). I know last year when Randy tried to juggle the groups, there was an outcry from the ego/trophy seeking crowd ("there are too many fast people in this group!"). I would go for the closer racing, myself.
6. I agree that running with the fast guys is GREAT in terms of decreasing lap times and learning - IF I can keep up for long enough! (I'll run a champ group extra practice every now and then for additional education and humility).