GTA ROADRACING 101

Reverend, Associate Pastor of the First United Church of GTA , Butch Kummer on

GTA Rules enforcement

When I left Sebring a couple of weeks ago (Feb. 22-24), there were two major topics rolling around in my head.  The first was the perceived competition between proponents of the SPO and GTA classes to attract new racers.  I wrote an article on that subject stating there IS no “war” and explained the various reasons someone might choose one class over the other.  I posted that article on both www.V8StockCar.com & www.GTARoadRacing.com and it’s been read by almost 100 people with no comments, so either people agree with what I wrote or don’t give a damn what I think.  Either way, I can live with that.

The second point of concern was the almost constant “discussion” (a polite term) at Sebring about the GTA rules and questions about what Butch Kummer is going to do about people that are cheating.  Granted I’m the leading proponent of GTA in SEDIV so I brought much of this on myself, but it still caused me a great deal of consternation/frustration until I figured out a response to those questions.

The Rules Making Process:

The SEDIV GTA rules are voted upon by the SEDIV Regional Executives at their mid-year meeting in July of each year.  The rules are developed by the SEDIV GTA Advisory Committee, which is made up of GTA racers from across the Southeast.  That package is then reviewed by the SEDIV Planning Committee, the SEDIV Technical Committee and the Race Directors of the SEDIV racing regions before being submitted to the REs, so they have to be pretty much ironed out by late June to have time to go through the review process.

SEDIV GTA Advisory Committee:

. Greg Cecil

. B.J. Holley

. Steve Magowen

. Dave Price

. Steve Tye

Other areas of the country also run GTA, and a National Advisory Committee has been formed to keep all our rules as consistent as possible across each division that runs the class.  As a result, these people also have a degree of influence in the rules-making process:

National GTA Advisory Committee:

. Jeff Bailey – Florida

. Ron Cortez – West Coast

. Bryan Dobyns – Northeast

. Ron Keith – MidWest

. Butch Kummer – Southeast

. Gregg Rodgers – Texas

If you have a question or suggestion about the GTA rules in your area, you need to express those thoughts to these people.  They will be at many of the races you’ll be attending in the next couple of months, plus I’m including each of their e-mail addresses in the “cc:” area of this note.  By all means get with them as soon as possible so your concerns can be addressed.

The Rules Enforcement Process:

While it’s a fact of life that racers push the limits of the rulebook, I also believe most racers will follow them if they have some degree of confidence those rules will be enforced across the board.

In the SCCA Club Racing world the Tech Inspectors at each event are charged with making sure cars are in compliance with the rules, but with forty different classes and literally hundreds of different types of cars at our races things will be missed.  At most events minimum weight and maybe one other item will be checked, and even then the GTA class is so new many Tech officials aren’t sure what they should be looking for.   They need our help in policing the class.

The people that know most about our cars are the racers themselves, and a process is defined that allows us to assist the event officials in enforcing the rules.  If you’re concerned that someone has stepped beyond the rules the first step is to approach them in a non-confrontational manner (with assistance from an Advisory Committee member if desired) and ask about the rule in question.  Many times the driver isn’t aware they are outside the rules, the car was that way when they bought it, and/or their interpretation of the rules may indeed be different than yours yet still valid.  In either case, the issue is discussed rationally and steps are taken to level the playing field.

If that technique does NOT resolve the situation to your satisfaction, section 8 of the GCR defines the SCCA protest procedure.  It costs $25 to file a protest at a regional event, but there are also time limits depending on the type of infraction observed so it behooves every competitor to be familiar with that section of the rulebook.  Granted no one wants to be the bad guy and call out a fellow competitor, but someone that is blatantly cheating is driving away other racers and that is not good for our class.  And it’s not like they’ll get sent home either – they can always go race in SPO with the other drivers that don’t care about rules.

Now as far as what Butch Kummer will do about people that are cheating, count on four things:

1. I will continue to help educate the Tech Inspectors about what to look for on our cars.

2. I’m more than happy to act as a mediator in any discussion about the rules.

3. If you want to file a protest, I’ll help you understand the process and fill out the form.

4. If you’re cheating and you outrun me, rest assured I’ll have NO reservations about protesting your car in a heartbeat!  If you plan to run at the front, make damn sure your car is legal.

See y’all at the track…