Respect Part 1: What would you say you do here?

What...what would you say...you DO here?
- Bob Slidell - from the movie Office Space

I had an email exchange with a former sport compact owner and I’ve had other exchanges and discussions on the same line as well as seeing this repeatedly on message boards. It was civil discussion in all cases.

And it doesn’t apply to compacts either, it can apply to a broad level to any “support” class, but in the real world, that class comes up in the discussion of “respect.”

It seems they don’t get much.

So, outside of making money for the promoter - what else is there? Is this the only argument? It seems to be the go-to argument whenever a fan of the class feels slighted.

Let’s start with competitiveness.

You could argue that at some places - Eagle had many different winners and the championship came down to the final night. At other tracks though, it seems the titles were well in hand before the final night - look at Beatrice and Junction Motor Speedway. The competition factor is track and season dependent. Some places and some years it’s good, others not so much. And, you could say that with any other class.

Next up: I’m a fan of everyone because I’m a TRUE RACING FAN!!!”

Oh really? This is my favorite. And it seems to be told to the guy who says he doesn’t like the “cheaper” class. No, the guy who rags on the expensive class is treated like a hero, a man of the people. Stickin’ it to the elitists.

In my experience, people who insist they believe that are as phony as a three dollar bill.

Let me ask: what do you think of that battle between Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber in Formula 1? How about the rise of Sebastien Ogier in the World Rally Championship? What do you think of the new F1 track in Texas? How about the new car in the IndyCar series? Been to the SCCA Solo Championships in Lincoln yet?

What? Boring? Don’t pay attention? “Rich boy racing?”

I guess you’re not a true racing fan either.

Finally: What about that “racing spirit?”

No matter what class, anyone who is willing to put time and effort into a car and take it out every weekend has that racing spirit. Top to bottom...all the way up from compacts to sprints and late models.

In the end, I don’t begrudge the compact class itself or the concept. It’s an entry point into the sport, it gives young drivers and novices the chance to learn the etiquette of racing (if not the actual car control for rear wheel drives), it gives the less-heeled a chance to run under the lights, and the pit gate money collected versus the low purse paid helps fund other classes’ purses (read: Sprints, Super Late models, and maybe even “A” Modifieds).

If not for them, keeping those other classes on the track would be much harder for the promoter. Supporters may see the class as key to a show’s success, detractors may call it a necessary evil.

This is what they do here.

But to me - that’s all it is. Nothing more. I understand the need; I respect that. The support classes have a lot in common with the more expensive divisions. They have the right to be there.

But there are differences. I’m not going to put the accomplishments of the entry level class on the same level as the more expensive ones above it. If that’s the “respect” you want, then I have none for you. The money, the complexity, the road to success, the skill level, the work required are much harder and to me that translates into the accomplishments being greater.

I have been on both sides, even at my own track. As 360 sprints, we were the kings of the show one Saturday, and "f-in 360's" when the Outlaws came to town the next.

To grow the sport we don’t need less elitism. We need more of it. I’ll explain in part two.