[Myron Piatek]

My position is not to "have to always placate to the “new” guy". But I'm suggesting that things don't get harder for a "new guy" to get involved.

"New guys" (and girls) are needed. You can't rely on the current racers to maintain the number of participants due to a variety of attrition. Not everyone can buy-in into a fast car. Starting from scratch and the rate of performance gains vary from racer to racer. People may want to get involved, but lower indexes can erase any progress or make some uncompetitive - like the 3 tenths certainly did. Slow, but under the index, already has several disadvantages - in heads-up races, HP hits from faster same class combos and just running the index under the worst conditions after getting there elsewhere. But there are people who still want to support the class.

Class can remain "performance based" and there still are some incentives. But putting too much emphasis on performance only will slowly raise costs and reduce the numbers, like Modified & Pro Stock. There will always be qualifiers at the bottom and those that have little chance at winning class or a heads-up, and that is incentive to go faster, as it's affordable. But at least new racers can still get involved and have a shot at winning the event. The indexes (minimum performance standard) still have to be met and aren't easy. National events take a lot of work and racing to get into and those with the resources can do it. Lower indexes will make it harder to race even at divisionals. I would hate to see them get lower and Stock become an exclusive club. Hoping for other options.