The Magnuson Community Center race program continues to pull through the typically lean weeks of the onroad season. We had 51 entries across our usual classes, with Stock Touring once again topping the list for interest.
I'd like to talk about Stock TC for a moment, as it has been on the collective mind of the competition committee for some time. For the past few years, it has been a piece of received wisdom that “Stock is too fast,” and needs to slow down. This line of thinking has appealed to me at different times because when I look at the speeds on track, and I compare against my own recollection, and also with past race videos, ours and others, it is obvious the current 17.5 Stock touring car is a rapid beast that has left its forebears in the dust. My concern goes beyond mere continuity with the past, as too many things have changed to make that a sound basis for decision making.
My concern is rooted in wanting to
ensure that the dedicated sportsman who comprises the core of the sport has a consistent class to call home over the long run. The notion that we must all be on a path “ever upwards” to the modified classes is nonsense. Modified does not serve as the natural home of the dedicated sportsman. Don't misunderstand me, modified racing is fantastic, but I don't personally uphold it as the universal aspiration of all who race, and I get annoyed with moralizing scolds who bang on about veteran Stock racers “sandbagging” or being in it for the “easy win.” If anything, Stock has been and continues to be the most consistently competitive and deep field at local and national races. It is formidably hard to win Stock at big races. And yet that difficulty does not seem to be a deterrent to participation.
So, where am I going with this? It is clear, looking at races nationally, that the Stock class is migrating to 21.5 motors. Looking at the class lineups at Snowbirds
2018 Snowbird Nationals On-Road :: 2018 Snowbird Nationals :: TQ List :: LiveRC, Cleveland
U.S. Indoor Champs :: 2017 U.S. Indoor Championships :: TQ List :: LiveRC, and Las Vegas
IIC Las Vegas :: 2017 IIC Las Vegas :: TQ List :: LiveRC, when race organizers refer to Stock, it's the 21.5 spec they are going with. So, naturally, it's reasonable to think that our Stock class should also be 21.5--when one goes looking for confirmation of a bias, it can almost certainly be found. But then I look a little closer, and I invite you to do the same. Despite the earnest good intentions of those who know better (those guys, right? whoever they are), 17.5 continues to pull hard. When it's offered, it's the big one. Even at Vegas, where one can be fooled into thinking 21.5 was the most popular when it was really just the same thing offered three different ways, 17.5 was the biggest.
Maybe--and I am checking myself up from a headlong roll I was most definitely on—maybe 17.5 continues to be America's favorite touring car class, and wouldn't it be a shame to abandon it for the sake of good intentions and personally held convictions about what's good for others? Particularly since it's our favorite class, too. Facts are stubborn things; I am beginning to think the dedicated sportsman racer is consistently showing us exactly which class he or she wants to call home over the long run. And it looks an awful lot like a 17.5 touring car on rubber tires, whether we call it Stock, Super Stock, or just plain 17.5 Touring.
This is not to say our race program should not go under regular review and adjustments made to keep things fresh and appealing.
Anyway, something to think about.
Here is the link to RC Scoring Pro where everyone can see the lap by lap and blow by blow performance of every single entry:
RC Scoring Pro | Saturday Club Race February 10th 2018 Results | Seattle RC Racers
Results attached.