I won't be around to race for awhile. I haven't seen a single Mopar here in Baghdad yet!
But,...
I am still a fan of the Regional idea to get more beginning racers into the series. There are surely a lot of current and potential Slant Six racers out there at local tracks that will likely not make very many if any of the big points races. But just like anything, if you get one guy interested and give him a little attention (like maybe a regional section in the newsletter) he will tell someone else, etc. Maybe "Hometown Racer" has a friend that has the means and ability and is just looking for a new and interesting way to race. He sees "Hometown Racer" getting all excited about seeing his name and maybe even a picture in SSRN and he says to himself, "By golly, I think I'll build myself one of them there Slant Sixes. These fellas seem pretty nice." The next thing you know we have a new competitor in the Big Points Race and even more support at the regional level. Like the guy that built Norm's Challenger. He almost entered the series, but I think wound up building a Viper instead(?) The guys at the hometown track will bug their buddies to build a slant six car because it's easy and less expensive and they need another slant six car to race against and there's this really cool newsletter,.. and....
It was really exciting for me to hand $100 to that guy Matt down at Reynolds last year with his whole family watching and cheering him on. He just had a bone stock Duster running 20 second quarter miles and he was just tagging along because someone else in his family was a racer. That day he was the 'Big Dog" though and his whole family was up in the stands hooping and hollering when he won. They all asked if we would be back next year and were planning on bringing the Duster and talking about other slant six cars they knew of that could be made into race cars. That's the kind of racing I love!
I'm a "Hometown Racer" kinda guy that loves this stuff and has had the wonderful opportunity to meet several of the people I've been reading about for years in the old Slant 6 News and now SSRN. That's the beauty of this series. You don't have to be a big money, devote your life to the racing kinda guy. You're accepted and recognized just because you share the same slanted attitude as everyone else. That's what won me over years ago and what really impressed me at the banquet last year. I had only been to one real Slant 6 Race and barely even made that one, but I felt like I was welcome and that my thoughts and opinions were welcome. That's what makes this series and all of you so special.
I think the Regional Series deserves more thought and effort, even if it doesn't mean more entries at the "Big Races". Every "Big Race Series" that I can think of has more than one smaller race series that recruits and grows people for the big one.
Sorry to ramble. It's late, I'm tired, and feeling a little homesick. Just needed a taste of the "Slanted Thing" and decided to post.
Enjoy the banquet and be safe.
Rob
that has the final say on things.