[SCG] [Corsabod] concours class name

Sat Jun 21 12:16:07 EDT 2014

As an aside, I did see some Autocross results that listed some "improved" class results.

Karl Haakonsen
CORSA Eastern Director

-----Original Message-----

From: airvair at earthlink.net
To: corsabod at corvair.org,njdl at sympatico.ca,vairmech at aol.com
Cc: scg-list at tiger.skiblack.com,whubbell at verizon.net
Sent: 2014-06-21 11:59:07 GMT
Subject: Re: [SCG] [Corsabod] concours class name

All,

This is interesting. I just downloaded the CORSA concours rules off the CORSA website, at the mention from Karl Haakonsen that he would like to know the classification rules. According to the download, dated May 2014, the classes are: Class  1 Factory Stock (subdivided into original and restored), Class 2 Modified, Class 3 Engineering. No combining of classes, and no other classes listed. Primary and Seniors divisions remain.

No “improved” class.

Hummmmm. News to me. Maybe I’ve been out of the loop with this.....

My apologies to all if this has taken any unnecessary time from you. Looks like the situation may have been remedied.

-Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Corbin <airvair at earthlink.net>
To: CORSA BoD <corsabod at corvair.org>; Jim/Norma Diell <njdl at sympatico.ca>
Cc: Kent Sullivan <kentsu at corvairkid.com>; Bill Hubbell <whubbell at verizon.net>; Stock Corvair Group <scg-list at tiger.skiblack.com>
Sent: Sat, Jun 21, 2014 3:06 am
Subject: [Corsabod] concours class name

Before I get to the point of this post, I’d like to state that regardless of the way I may state something in a typed letter or post, or how anyone might THINK about the way they are taking what I am saying, I am in no way, shape, or form making any kind of “personal attack” against any individual or group. If I happen to mention the word “people” or its equivalent in any form, I am making reference to an ATTITUDE or THOUGHT that may or may not be held by any individual or group, specified or not. Or I may simply be making a statement of obvious, observable fact, like saying that a black man is, well, black; and not passing or even implying any kind of judgment in the said statement. And I am NOT in any way personally referring to that or any other individual, person, or group. Simply put, I may not write well, but I am NOT making any kind of “personal attack”, period. Anyone taking it any other way is misinterpreting the statement. I want to make that point crystal clear right off.

The reason for that disclaimer statement goes back to the reason I left VV and will never go back. At one point, some (censored) dropped me a private email and plainly stated that he was making me his personal vendetta, that essentially every time I mentioned the word “people”, even if it didn’t concern him in the slightest, he’d cry and whine to VV’s thin-skinned moderators, screaming “personal attack!, personal attack!”, as if I had PERSONALLY assaulted him PERSONALLY. That kind of personal hate campaign I have no use for, and will not stand for it.

That said, I’d like to begin by saying that some people have given me a hard time about my mentioning about proper terminology. They just don’t understand that there is great power in words. He who controls the words used in any given debate controls the outcome. Wise politicians know this, or should. They call it “spin.” For example, it’s why the “anti-abortion” side of the argument chose to rename themselves the “pro-life” side. That’s because the former name was deemed “too negative.” The other side chose the same path, renaming themselves ”pro-choice” for similar reasons. Both sides wanted to appear positive, which attracts support, and not negative, which repels.

The power of terminology is also seen in the CORSA concours rules. Several years ago I and others protested the name change for the class 3 cars, when they were suddenly and unexpectedly rename the “improved” class. When I wrote the original CORSA rules, Woody Schwartz and I sat down and discussed what to call the various classes of cars. And yes, the word “improved” was considered, but quickly discarded. The reason is simple – it is insulting. Its very nature implies that there is something deficient about pure stock cars, that they NEED some kind of “improvements” to correct those deficiencies in order to be acceptable. While this line of thought may seem ridiculous or unimaginable to some, it is quite real to others, particularly owners of stock cars. To those who love them, there is nothing about stock cars that “needs” improving. And changing something from stock may not necessarily be considered by some as an “improvement”. Woody had surveyed quite a number of people about this specific point, and they all concurred. But it seems as though there is a large and/or influential part of CORSA that really DOES look down on stock cars, and this dates back to the earliest times. When we laid out those classes, a large part of the board wanted to water down the definition of “stock” and I had to fight tooth and nail to preserve a strict definition. The credit belongs solely to me for initially preserving the true definition of stock in concours. And those original class names Woody and I chose have withstood the test of several decades of usage without complaint. Regardless of who changed the class name from what we had laid out or what their misguided and poorly thought out reasoning was for doing so, one fact is inescapable. THE WORD “IMPROVED” IS INSULTING. I know that I am insulted, and I know that I am not alone. The name flat out needs to be pitched, no if’s, and’s, or but’s about it.

I would like to know, when will this insult ever be corrected? And will we ever get a justly deserved and long overdue apology? I am therefore asking that the CORSA board to address this issue at their convention meeting, and present their answer to the membership at the annual meeting.

-Mark Corbin
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