Has anyone checked the record books and win sheets to see if being a "Team" driver has any distinct advantage?
Steven Vaccaro
www.OffshoreElectrics.com
Looking at the results of races would not give you enough information to make a fair judgement on that. There are too many factors, most of which are not even mentioned in the standings.
No one can tell from the final standing whether there was even a possibility of there being an advantage for anyone in particular, in any particular class.
Coming out to the races and seeing things as they are is the only fair way to tell.
In some cases it may look that way. In other cases, it may not. Sometimes it may seem that way yet, there may be no way of finding out what the real truth is.
For one obvious case, there is a tactic of "team" racers using manufactured hulls which have been laid-up at a fraction of the weight that the same hull weighs when bought off-the-shelf.
Is that an advantage for the "team" racer? Same hull as eight other racers in the class but, 1/2 a pound less weight.
I think it is but, I would be far more disturbed by the apparent lack of ethics on the part of some maufacturers. If a manufacturer touts the hull by saying somthing on the order of: "My new hull just smashed the oval record by 20 seconds! Come an get 'em", and fails to point out to the buyer that the production hull weighs alot more than the record-smasher, that shows very questionable ethics.
On a far less-than-obvious case: What if the motors, or most of them, or even just the best of them, where sold only by the sponsor of one of the teams. And if this team sorted through all of the motors that where distributed before the buying public even saw them and cherry-picked the very best motors for "team use".
Is that an advantage for the "team" racer?
At the same time, it would be virtually unproveable.
There are many reasons why people will go to questionable ends to win. One is the drive to sell products and the need to finish high in the standing to promote those products.
The real question is: Does the presence of teams, and possibility of distinct advantages being had by them, dissaude some potential racers from diving in?
It is like the Baby Ruth candy bar floating in the pool in the movie
"Caddyshack". People don't wait to see what that funky matter is bobbling on the surface, they get the heck out of the pool!
KW
