Originally Posted by jiml
Despite what anyone tells you, stock was always supposed to be the beginner or entry level class.
Who told you that lie! The NOVICE/amature/begginers class was for the new guy. But at a NATIONAL event there are none of those classes. So By Default every one "WANTS" stk. to be for the new guys...ITS NOT, not at a national level! At the Club level yeah I will give that one too you.
To me the problem came when MOST tracks stopped having a NOVICE class, and then everyone thought by default that STK. was the "NEW NOVICE" or begginers class.
When I started racing, at my local track there were 4 classes:
Novice
Stk.
PRO. Stk.
Mod
To move from Novice to stk. you had to win 3 A-mains on the weekly club races, to move from Stk. to Pro. Stk you had to win 5 A-mains. Mod was still pretty much open to anyone that wanted to run it. But the track owner wasn't gonna let you run Mod. your first race day there that was for sure..LOL
WEll after a few years some of the "new" guys coming in didn't like the "Novice" title since they had been "playing" with RC stuff, planes, boats what not. But had NEVER competed at a "TRACK" they felt they were not "NOVICE" you know they were better than that...
So the track owner to make them happy just did away with the "novice" class and it was now just Stk., Pro. stk. and mod...then when the entries started to fall off, for what ever reason it went to just stk. and mod. Well fast forward a few years and 19t entered the picture.....
Then the classes went to stk., 19t and mod. and it was open for anyone to enter any class they wanted. The "Pro Stk" migrated to 19t and the newer guys ran stk. Now you have the guys that have the "stk. is for the new guys" attitude......
And now here we are! After EVERY big race we see these threads!
NOW do I feel that after you have won the same STK. race 2-3-4 years in a row should you move up! YES, but it should be because you want to BETTER yourself! You know the "push yourself" thing. To see if you can actually move up and compete. Which most that do/have, have done so with great results.
Also if in the same year you win stk. TC at more than one of the "big seven" races you should want to move up...but really should you be forced too...maybe, maybe not!