[B-Line]

My .02,

I am a new racer. As such, I might have a slightly different point of view.

It's easy for you veterans with trophies all over the wall to suggest eliminating trophies for the sportsman group. You have your trophies, Your checkered flags, your moments of glory.

Us new guys, we want our trophies also. We want to come home after a race weekend and make our friends believe we're the fastest guy out there. Little do they know what a four second diffence means between champ and sport.

Some of us may never be as fast as the kids coming from Karts or as fast as the drivers who are very experienced or spend thousands and thousands on computer cars, lead follows, coaching, extra lapping, etc. So does that mean that we don't count? That we should not have the opportunity as a hobbyist to relish in a podium position? -- If this was PRO racing, I would agree. Everyone is equal. But we are all just trying to have fun out there.

But you are going to push away new drivers if they don't feel there is any real possibility of a podium/trophy. I could spend a lot less money on a track weekend with a drivers ed if all I'm doing is fast lapping.

My point is, SBRS needs to award the new guys as well. Otherwise, we just won't come. If I have lost the race before I have even strapped in, then there is no point in showing up.

Now, what grinds my gears, are the guys racing in sportsman that should be in champ. You know, the guys that are running 2 sec. a lap behind the fastest guy in champ.

So here is what I propose.
1) Sportsman get trophies for races, but have no championship standing.
2) Any sportsman that podium's 3 times: P1, P2 or P3 has to move up.
3) Maybe there can be two diffent levels of champ, Rookie and Veteran. This way the new champ guys are also fighting for some sort of win further promoting people in Sportsman to move up.

Again, what's best for racing is not always what's best for Skip Barber's business. If we want to increase the amount of drivers, lets continue to allow people to earn some reward at various stages of their progression.

But that's just my opinion.
B