priapism wrote:Ok, I'll kvetch. It is the first day of haunakah after all. Whats the reason behind making licensed racers pay 50 bucks to race?
Coupla reasons.
First, we had absolutely no problem with licensed SCCA/NASA/etc (we'll call them "ABCD") drivers who had an up-to-date license on hand. Problem was, the percentage of guys who actually delivered on that promise was pretty low. There was always a "I have a license, they haven't shipped me the card yet," or "An ABCD card is exactly the same as an EFGH card, why won't you take it?" Even giving those guys the benefit of the doubt put us in a tough situation--worst-case, if there was an on-track incident, and we were asked about a specific driver's license status, we would have felt VERY uncomfortable saying "The guy told us he had a license, they just hadn't shipped him the card yet."
Second, the whole process of having that discussion always brought the license line to a grinding halt. We felt that was unfair to the guys who paid their fifty bucks and didn't have any asterisks next to their name.
In short, the ABCD guy who brought their up-to-date hard card to every race is in fact getting screwed by the new rule. But, like I said, that's a really low percentage. Whether that breakdown was the fault of individual drivers or the sanctioning bodies--that wasn't something we wanted to make into our concern.
(As a final note, most of the licensed drivers who took issue with the $50 fee weren't as concerned with the money as they were with us not recognizing their Fangio-like status of being a ABCD-trained Club Racer. Never mind the fact that ABCD drivers cause as many--likely MORE--on-track incidents than your crew chief's sister-in-law who has never driven on track and just learned how to drive stick last Tuesday. Just sayin.')