<CORSA Chapters> DMM Award

[Bruce Schug]

Upon hearing of this motion, my first reaction was to suggest it be  
tabled for a year. My reasoning for this was because I presumed this  
motion was the result of Donna Mae's recent death. Often times, upon a  
death, someone suggests something like this. I don't think it's wise  
to make commitments soon after a death. Sometimes this is referred to  
as a "knee-jerk reaction" to the loss. It's usually better to wait a  
year, then re-visit the suggestion.

After hearing that the motion has been in the works for some time, I  
realized this was not the case. Nonetheless, her death is recent and  
may cloud the judgement of some. For this reason, I think the matter  
should be tabled for one year.

Understanding that the rules need to be reprinted and others may not  
agree with me, I will make further comments on the issue.

I agree with those who have suggested the elimination of ladies  
classes in the autocross. I have never understood why women couldn't  
compete with men in an autocross. I don't see any reason why a woman  
can't drive a car as fast as a man in this type of race. Some comment  
that they feel as though women won't enter if they have to compete  
against the men. They just seem to feel more comfortable in their own  
class (where there's little or no competition). I would remind you  
that these rules are primarily for the national or international  
convention events. As such, I don't think the rules need to cater to  
novices or those who aren't comfortable competing against others,  
regardless of their sex, or other factors. Convention events should be  
national championship-calibre events. If someone isn't comfortable  
competing at this level, then they shouldn't. Lady's classes can  
always be added to the class listings for club events, if the  
organizers wish.

We have had several woman compete in our autocross, "Corvairs in the  
Curves", which we have run 19 times in 21 years. Several times we have  
had a special award for the fastest woman. This has been well- 
received. The only question has been whether it should be a pure  
fastest time or fastest as a percentage of the winning men's time.  
Note that we don't have classes at our autocross. We concentrate on  
having fun, not on splitting hairs, although I would not suggest this  
for a convention.

Some will wonder what a discussion of eliminating lady's classes has  
to do with the motion at hand. The answer is that perhaps nothing  
would honor Donna Mae more than to level the playing field and  
eliminate the lady's classes to put CORSA autocross rules in the same  
class as the rules that Donna Mae raced under. Let woman compete  
directly against the men, as Donna Mae did.

Some have referred to this as a "sticker" placed on the award. The  
award has been presented as a metal plate, not a sticker; big  
difference in the level of quality here.

I do have some concerns about this whole thing. First, I do not  
pretend to be an expert on Donna Mae Mims and her accomplishments. I  
never met her or spoke with her. But since her death I have read  
several articles about her which reviewed her accomplishments and  
racing experiences. What struck me about reading these, and watching  
the excellent Racer's Reunion video, was that her experiences with  
Corvairs did not seem to be her primary racing experiences. She was in  
a pink Corvette, not a Corvair, in the funeral home. Most of the  
conversation about her racing seems to center around her Corvettes and  
her Bugeye Sprite, not a Corvair. Her pink car was a Sprite, not a  
Corvair. I understand she worked for Yenko and several Corvair guys  
dealt with her and so forth, but this is how I see it. Again, my  
judgement may be flawed here as I admit to not being a racing historian.

What I'm suggesting is that maybe Donna Mae meant more to Corvair  
people than Corvairs did to her. Then again, even if this is true,  
except for Yenko, Cole, and Mitchell, who was more significant to the  
Corvair? Fitch? Fiore? Langworth? Maybe, at least in regard to racing,  
Donna Mae is the most significant person we have to choose from.  
Denise McCluggage is another woman racer who comes to mind, but she  
certainly drove lots of other cars and didn't seem to have any  
affinity for Corvairs.

I think that if folks still want to go forward with this award it  
would make an excellent award for the fastest woman driver at a  
convention. What is the significants of tying this into the IS cars?  
And why were the FC's not included? Yes, I know she didn't race an FC.  
She didn't race an IS car either.

If the board goes ahead with this it wouldn't upset me. I've won three  
first place IS-3 awards. They look pretty good on my wall just as they  
are. I think that if they had this small pink plate people would  
wonder what it meant. Does it mean I beat all the women in my class? I  
just don't see much of a tie-in. Donna Mae didn't race an IS-type car.  
Did she drive a Corvair on the street? It sounds to me as though she  
drove a Corvette. She raced a competition-type Corvair not an IS  
Corvair.

Maybe this award should go to the fastest vintage-type Corvair, the  
winner of CC-V. If there's a good Specialty or CC car at a convention,  
the CC-V car isn't going to win FTD. This will usually be the case.  
This would be an opportunity to award something special to a vintage  
racer, a car like Donna Mae drove, back in the day, who can't really  
win against a good CC or Specialty car for FTD.




On Oct 27, 2009, at 9:09 AM, Brian wrote:

> Rather than put some small pink sticker on some class awards--do it  
> up right.  Develop a DMM award to recognize the best overall  
> performance by a woman during the convention. Points could be given  
> for particpation and performance.  This might get more women to  
> drive in events. If that seems too hard then have some other  
> criteria to recognize a woman of the year type achievement.   
> Innovative thinking is needed!
>
> ---------- Original Message ----------
> From: "Kinzelman, Andy" <akinzelm at greatnortherncorp.com>
> To: "chapters at corvair.org" <chapters at corvair.org>, "corsabod at tiger.skiblack.com 
> " <corsabod at tiger.skiblack.com>
> Subject: <CORSA Chapters> DMM Award
> Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:43:36 -0500
>
> To all,
> After having read the clarifications, and multiple responses during  
> the day - I think I better understand the intent of these awards.   
> Surely Donna Mae deserves recognition for her achievements -  
> especially to Corvair afficionados for her Corvair exploits.  Adding  
> a DMM award applique to the trophies for the winners of the IS  
> classes - both for men and women - honors Donna Mae's memory of her  
> Corvairness; while helping the class winners identify with her  
> competitive spirit.
> Although a class winner could remove the applique if they wanted to  
> - I doubt anybody would choose to do so (pink color notwithstanding).
> Thanks,

Bruce

Bruce W. Schug
Treasurer, Membership Chairman
CORSA South Carolina
CORSA member since 1980
Performance Corvair Group
Stock Corvair Group
VirtualVairs
FastVairs
'67 Monza, "67AC140"
bwschug at charter.net