Gearheadotaku, Thank you, I think you get it. You are right, it would be hard for us to make just the rednecks equal and fair. Unless you have a book full of rules, everyone has their own plans, ideas and talents, Deals and parts buddies, etc. The producers had everyone do time trials and matched everyone up according to that. The results depended on talent at that point.
No, no casting call for the rednecks. The producers either knew us or in some cases we recommended some names of people that had a decent car, could do the track racing and could take time off to film. The rednecks were on site for almost two weeks. The "punks" were there for the one time trial day and then on the day they raced so it wasn't too much of a strain on them, time off wise.
Dean you are right, racing preference is almost like politics or religion, chances of changing someone from one form to another form is hard to do, especially drag racers. I happen to come from drag racing but found it boring. 10-12 seconds (in my case) of pure adrenaline rush then 2-3 hours of waiting for next run. Once I tried Road Racing and autocrossing, I was instantly done with drag racing. So much more seat time, plus left and right turns, not just straight line. But, if you have never done anything but drag race, no way you will even listen to what I just said. While drag racing is easier to match up cars, it is hard to make it exciting TV. I know I will need a flame suit for this, but drag racing to me is like watching golf on TV. I love the actual racing, but it is the down time that bites.
wbjones wrote:
BillHowell wrote:
wbjones wrote:
BillHowell wrote:
April 20-21 is Detroit Speed Southern Slam and you can bring your import, we don't discriminate. for more info, check out under 2013 events on my website... americanstreetcarseries dot com.
Bill, I looked at your rule set, and while I'd love to see those cars of yours run .. even to get a chance to be on track with them ... I can't see purchasing a set of tires for just one track session .... by that I mean all I own are 140 tw used exclusively for a-x .... ( not going to use them up for a track weekend ) otherwise I'm on DOT R-comps ( Hankook Z214 C51's)
might come down anyway just to see the cars ... I've seen some of them at one of our a-x's ( Z-Max dragway last summer ) they truly are some awesome cars
I understand and there will be others there with less than TW200 tires running that weekend. That is fine with us, we just separate you guys with <TW200 into a different run class so we know at the end of the day who was on R compound tires. It will disqualify you from the overall win and OUSCI invite but come on and have fun with us. The RUFTAR show had the same requirements and BFG gave everyone a legal set of tires so that would not be a factor. We all know, as racers, that tires make a huge difference on the track and are a good equalizer when HP differences are present. Come on to the event, we would love to have you.
Bill, I've been looking at the web site ... I saw the reg. and price .. but no mention of how many sessions on Sat , and no mention of how long the sessions are ... is there a standard or does it change depending on how many are there ?
I was on the phone today with DSE and Brian Smith, owner at CMP. Don't hold me to that as an absolute but at Southern Slam, we think we will have 60-72 cars. If we put 12 cars in a run group, that would be 5 or 6 groups. Run sessions are usually 20 minutes so figure everyone gets a session every 2 hours. More than I got as a NASA deal at VIR a couple years ago and usually all anyone wants in one day. Then the autocrossing on Sunday will just be a bonus. I really think we can get everyone four sessions, so 1hour and 20 minutes total track time as long as we don't have much track cleanup. We have a decent timing system ourselves or may use track transponders. not sure at this point. We have a rfid system that just means a credit card size sticker on your windshield with instant results for everyone to see.
forgot to ask ... do we provide our own transponders ? or better question ... what timing method will be used .. looking forward to fixing the schedule to be there .. no matter how badly outgunned my little car would be .... LOL
and when is the cut-off for reg. ?
BillHowell wrote:
AN OPEN LETTER to the Classic Motorsports / Grassroots Motorsports
community:
Thanks for doing this. This sort of interaction between producers and audience was unheard of a decade ago. Now we can gripe in a forum and get feedback within a week. Amazing!
When pitched this way, the show does sound great. You want it to be a competition, so you want it to be hard; that means the contestants are the underdogs and the final round "we pick the car" rule makes way more sense.
The problem, then, has nothing to do with the racing, or even the format of the show, but simply the marketing. If the show were called "Are you faster than a pro-touring racer?" and pitched budget-oriented enthusiasts against high-dollar racecars, it would be a solid show. Get rid of Jon Reep and the entire redneck angle and there's no beef. Hell, the show could be "Are you faster than a NASCAR driver" and I'd have no complaints, even though the racing would be horribly lopsided. Well, it might get boring after all, but I'd love to watch plucky amateurs make a valiant effort at taking down a pro driver.
I'll continue watching and just fast forward through the horrible redneck oriented humor and sleeveless flannels, now that I know what the producers were going for.
Reading back thru let me answer a couple questions.
1. We will have timing, no need for your transponders
2. All cars welcomed, if you are not on TW200 or greater you can still run, just not eligible for overall winner or OUSCI invite. you would be in a different scoring group.
3. Registration is open until we reach 60 cars. At present we have 35.
Steronz you are correct, interweb has certainly changed how business is done and if you can get interaction with producers, etc, makes it easier for communications between all parties.
If the show were called "Are you faster than a pro-touring racer?"
...you'd be one of about a dozen people who watched it. The other eleven of us are here on the board. 
Cotton
SuperDork
3/1/13 2:00 p.m.
aussiesmg wrote:
BillHowell wrote:
Reading back thru let me answer a couple questions.
1. We will have timing, no need for your transponders
2. All cars welcomed, if you are not on TW200 or greater you can still run, just not eligible for overall winner or OUSCI invite. you would be in a different scoring group.
3. Registration is open until we reach 60 cars. At present we have 35.
Steronz you are correct, interweb has certainly changed how business is done and if you can get interaction with producers, etc, makes it easier for communications between all parties.
Except a V8 swapped RX7 
He is talking about an event they are hosting, not the show......
Bill,
Thanks for getting the Producer to chime in. There take on the show makes a lot more since. I agree drop the whole redneck thing and the dumb redneck humor and promote the "are you faster than a pro" or nascar driver or ????
Thanks again!!!! One of the reasons GRM is top shelf in my book is the accessibility of the Owners. There willingness to chime in here in the forums and even answer personal email from a no one like me is huge in my book. You and the producers have just moved up quite a few notches in my book.
yeah Bill ... thanks for the producers comments ... doesn't change how I feel about the show ... but I understand it a lot better now ... hope for their sake it does ok
hope I get to see you and all the great cars in April
I watched the first two episodes yesterday, thanks to Bright House On Demand. I must say, it was entertaining but the host was certainly going out of his way to be obnoxious. Bill, you might want to tell him that some of his audience thinks that toning down the sarcasm just a little would make the show more appealing, at least to me.
And what was up with that Torino? Talk about bringing a knife to a gun fight. It looked like it had far more power than its chassis or brakes could handle.
In reply to steronz:
While it's nice that the producer chimed in to inform us a little better, it was obviously more of a form of damage control. The last thing any producer wants is a fairly well-known car forum trash-talking the show; especially if the info was not 100% clear (no offense Bill).
Caveat venditor....
-Hamid
Well just watched the first episode on the uh...DVR And I think it could be fun to watch. Twinkie was DUMB to go up against the recent Mustang, doesn't he know those things are quick in a straight line and have decent handling from the factory? Then I was rooting for anyone to take down Howard because he seemed like a dick with more cash than skill 
Yeah Jon Reep is pretty obnoxious...but the show does have real racing in it. I'll have to see the second one before I can start to get a feel for how fair it is, the final match in this episode did have two pretty evenly matched cars.
Thanks guys, Yes, we can't all like the same thing, that is for sure. You either take the show for what it is, comedy, with some real racing thrown in, and enjoy it or you don't like it.
For the producer to come in and explain their idea about what the show is I think was cool. At least, whether you like it or not, you know what they had in mind.
Today happens to be my 55th birthday and a group of us are going to Cartersville, Ga. to see his show. I will tell him to check out this thread. I did listen to his podcast the other day about the show and he admits to playing the RedNeck card, so maybe he will tone it down next season.
jstein, the fairlane is a pig, and as you can see, the lambo had me four car lengths before the first turn. It did make for funny video though and yet again showed that there were not do overs, if you went in the sandpit, you blew your race. Cleaning all the sand was a different story though..haha
I want to Jump on bills side because the show wasn't rigged. the final match ups were decided based on lap times so in the spirit of competition they gave someone with good lap times a muscle car that was going to give them a challenge. I don't really like how everyone calls it amatures vs pro's because a.though there were professional driver on the muscle car side there were also amatures and vis versa, although I may not have years and years of track experience I really would consider myself an amature in the skill department, there's a lot of guys that just have more money then skill so they buy a car and race. I thought the show was a blast although since I'm currently deployed I haven't got to watch any of the episodes, but I hope everyone enjoyed.
04trailsti wrote:
I want to Jump on bills side because the show wasn't rigged. the final match ups were decided based on lap times so in the spirit of competition they gave someone with good lap times a muscle car that was going to give them a challenge. I don't really like how everyone calls it amatures vs pro's because a.though there were professional driver on the muscle car side there were also amatures and vis versa, although I may not have years and years of track experience I really would consider myself an amature in the skill department, there's a lot of guys that just have more money then skill so they buy a car and race. I thought the show was a blast although since I'm currently deployed I haven't got to watch any of the episodes, but I hope everyone enjoyed.
YOu are on right now. Be safe my friend and we will see you back here soon.
Slapping is cool now?
Just saw a promo on SpeedTv's Facespace advertising the show, but they chose to sensationalize a moment a driver slaps another driver while he is still strapped into his car, didn't see the episode and not sure I want to now. I know it's supposed to be a comedy, and I have purposely avioded comment as I have yet to get a chance to watch the show, but what the heck is up with slapping another driver? In the my world, this just perpetuates the negative stereotypes I have to live with about people in the south everyday of my life. I guess my real concern is, was this they best moment for speed to use as a still frame marketing picture.
I caught the show one of of the TVs at a brewpub last Friday for the first time (I don't have cable at my house so I am pretty out of date on TV). Only half paying attention and not really being able to hear I thought the show was hilarious because of how bad some of the driving was. A lot of people here seem to be taking it more seriously than they should, it is after all a TV show meant to entertain.
LopRacer wrote: Slapping is cool now?
To the show's credit, the slapper was disqualified.
Watching the show now with the producers' thought's in mind, and fast forwarding through the trash talk, it's a much better show. I actually found myself rooting for the rednecks against the GT-R, and the M3 driver was the Spec E30 National Champ last year, so neither car was terribly disadvantaged.
As for the wreck that led to the slap, I grabbed some screenshots:
Image 1,
Image 2,
Image 3.
There's not a whole lot to work with, less than a second of footage, but you can see daylight between the two cars in the first frame. I don't see how the Camaro expected to be able to stick the turn.
There's a discussion on bimmerforums about the wreck, and the general consensus is that the Camaro was at fault, but the M3 probably would have been more cautious if there hadn't been $10k on the line and 1 lap to win it.
After Bill's responses and a review from a car buddy who's seen more of the show, I've decided to give it another chance.
This time, I'm drinking more beer though.
Matt B wrote:
After Bill's responses and a review from a car buddy who's seen more of the show, I've decided to give it another chance.
This time, I'm drinking more beer though.
LOL, now you are getting it. Don't judge the show just on the racing, or lack of, but take the whole show in stride as a comedy. The interaction between Reep and Ken Squire is classic.
Thanks for the better explination of the slap. I was confused at best by the single picture on Facespace. I still plan to watch the show before making any serious judgements.
