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Originally Posted by Joeyy
Is there a real push to drop PAX? I enjoyed the additional results other then with my class. Dropping PAX would ruin auto!..
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The real issue is that back in the day (before I was racing) there was a Driver of the Year award that was subjectively voted on by the Board of Directors. People felt it was unfair, so the PAX championship became the "objective" replacement for DOTY. I guess it work okay because no one bitched about how unfair PAX was when they chose it as the way to select the "best" driver.
Now, as new cars (like our WRXs, STIs and EVOs... as well as the much improved C-5 and C6 Vettes) join the fray and start beating the old guard, many of the past DOTY contenders are finding themselves out of contention. Many of them believe that it's due to the new cars having a PAX advantage due to our altitude.
What's important to remember is that to us newbies, top PAX was *never* the "driver of the year"... we've only know it as just the PAX Championship, and for the most part I think we all understand that PAX is flawed. Plus, most of the new folks drive newer cars that are simply faster and easier to drive than the old class killer Miatas. But put yourself in the other folk's shoes: you're a contender, you don't feel like you're driving poorly, but you can't seem to keep up with the n00bs and their turbo cars. Experience should trump technology, right? So what's the problem? It must be the PAX factors.
To be frank I can't really argue with that logic. PAX is unfair, and there is plenty of good physics behind why our altitude would make PAX even less fair. But I don't care. Partly because PAX and altitude work to my advantage, but also partly because I recognize that PAX is what it is. If I drove a Miata I'd like to think that I'd recognize that it's a poor car to go after the PAX Championship with and not worry too much about where I place. I certainly wouldn't want to kill PAX and ruin the fun for the people that enjoy it. But that's just me speculating. I'm not driving a Miata.
Unfortunately, a solution that makes everyone happy is impossible. Hell, even a solution that makes half the people happy seems unlikely. There's talk of having two championships: High Horsepower PAX and Low Horsepower PAX, and split the classes up. IMO, it's a bit of a cop-out as well as a new can of worms when it comes to picking which classes are in which PAX. But also the best compromise I've seen yet, because the other options seem to be either leave it totally unchanged or drop it completely.