[Dwight Southerland]

Bill -

Some of the reason (although there seems little reason to it now) goes back to the period shortly after the index system was initiated. The first index lists were "even" from class to class, then adjusted because of the number of competitors in certain classes who were disproportionately faster than the rest of the field. During those times, adjusting power factors was not popular at all, but adjusting indexes was more accepted (a strong pride factor was involved). It is leftover evidence of early attempts to level the playing field.

The top classes always were penalized. Some of the justification was the performance levels of the participants in those classes; some of it was trying to make those classes less attractive to allow the "little guys" more chance to win (according to Farmer). It worked for a while, but $$ and egos combine for quite a force.