Corvair Attributes Re: <VV> Vega

[John Kepler]

>
> This can be blamed in part on the SCCA, which in the interest of TransAm
> competitiveness, set the American auto industry back decades.

SCCA couldn't/can't run a Pro-Racing series to save it's ass!  Waaaay too
much of the old "Scotch and Soda Gentleman Racer" influence in the upper
echelons of SCCA to understand the economic realities of Pro racing!

The
> SCCA, which was really out of its league running the TransAm, feared
> that Penske/Donuhue/Chevrolet would put a Corvette rear end on their
> Camaro and gain a further "unfair advantage."  The SCCA pre-emptively
> banned IRS in TransAm.

SCCA and "The Captain" locked horns almost continuously.  So did I come to
think of it!  Bob Tullius and Parnelli Jones were SCCA's vision of a
"winner"....Penske wasn't, so Penske got a weekly anal-rectal exam, while PJ
stole the Trans-Am Championship at Lime Rock with SCCA's "blissfully
ignorant" blessing!
>
> In spite of claims that racing improves the breed, stagnation is often
> the case in many (US) venues.

Depends on who's running the show!  The Mazda's are a prime example of just
how the attitude of the sanctioning body can either innovate or stagnate.
SCCA effectively eliminated the Mazda Rotarys by kissing BMC/British
Leyland's fundament.....IMSA welcomed the RX-2/RX-3 in the RS Series and
spurred the innovations that turned the Wankle into a real racing engine!

I recall the SCCA trying to keep the
> Corvair from competitive club racing until Yenko shoved their rules down
> their throats.

Yeah!  I LOVED how SCCA would do whatever it took regarding Classes to keep
BMC/British Leyland cars competative/dominant....up to and including such
transparent manuvers as shoving both the Yenko and Datsun 240Z's into CP
where a 2.7 liter pushrod 6 and a 2.4 liter OHC 6 got to run against a 4.2
liter OHC Jag....while that slug of a TR-6 had DP all to itself!

All of this is why John Bishop joined forces with Billy France to form
IMSA.....which really was a "Pro" organization!

John