Let me look at this another way... Pareto's law says that 80% of your
entrants are cannon fodder. The top pilots will always win, the 80 % guys
will always lose. The BIG BUT in this is the unrecognised fact that the
race is built on the backs of, and funded by the guys with no chance to win.
Excluding these people is not the way to grow the sport. The guys on top
need to recognise this, and while I respectfully disagree with both groups
because they are drawing lines in the sand in different places, NOBODY has
address the real fact. This race looks to be a priveledge instead of a
right........... So why can't you have "qualifying" for Parawon. Seeded
pilots have a process to do this at a national level. Region 9 pilots might
want to consider a method to seed themselves so the guys putting in the time
to "earn" the entry get in. As magnanimus as it sounds, the race is open to
everybody, and maybe THAT in itself is the issue. There are some, like ME,
a very low time beginner that could write the check to enter this thing, and
probably have a great time, that are the wrong guys to be there. Gently
filtering them out is critical to growing the event. Contests of this
caliber are for competent cross country guys, not guys like me who just
haven't got the experience........ Regional pilots need to be seeded and
the organisers just need to ask how many of the local guys get slotted
before accepting out of region contestants. It IS there contest after
all...... I see the issue being Region 9's lack of a seeding process, and
the non-9 pilots hard feelings at being excluded by the numbers. Both can
be worked on..................... What does a guy like me do? I'm calling
Karl to set up a "talking ballast" day.....
Enjoy the new year.
Scott.