A-Body Shootout Thread -Who's in & What have you got?

I am definitely in on an A Body Shootout. I would bring out my Dart and the Brick will get there one way or another.

I see a few different scenarios...

1) Have an East and West coast event. Winner from either event travels to the other. Travel fund generated by all participants to fund the fuel bill for the traveler. If it costs me an extra $100-$200 to support somebody traveling cross country, fine with me.

2) An event for all Mopars to decide each body line. Competition broken into classes by body (A,B,E) and that's it... no other rules on the car, maybe a tire rule to eliminate slicks or something. I think this is the most feasible and could even be similar to #1 with an East/West event. You could draw decent sponsor funding since it opens it up to lot's of vendors. I'm sure we could get MA involved and have something similar to their Drag Race Series. Lot's of options with this one... Open it up to LX stuff and the car count would go even higher.

3) Single event, A Body only, would have to be centrally located. Hallet, Kansas and that general area is the middle ground. Just under the 2k mark from the Northwest and about 1400+ from the East Coast. We could piggyback on an open track day, or probably easier to just get in on a NASA Time Trial event. Might not all be in the same group, but simple to organize. Rocky Mountain Region has events all over Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma.

4) As much as I want to get a car to CA, I'm not footing the bill to just have an open track day... sorry. If we got one truck to haul 6-8 cars, that might be an option. There would have to be multiple pick up points starting on the East Coast. Bill would still be minimum $1.5 - $2k per car. Again, that's a lot for a track day. There would have to be more in it for me.

5) A USCA event is fine with me, but there really aren't any centrally located. You could do the East/West thing again and have a travel fund. They do have a group rate to get an entry discount of $100/per. That could be set aside for the travel fund. This is probably the easiest since the event will be organized and we would simply be running an event within an event. Since it would be 2015, we'll have to see if the series is still alive next year.

After all that, the scenario I would like to see is a East/West dedicated Mopar event for all body lines. Travel Fund for each body line to send the winner to the other side of the country. Minimum travel fund would be $1,500 and max $2k. Have some kind of graduated scale based on car count and/or sponsor funding. This would have a primary focus on the "major" lines... A, B, E and LX. The others are more than welcome to participate, just get the count up enough to fund the travel for the winner, or bring a sponsor to fund it.

This scenario would allow a fairly central point for each coast to have their event. Yes, it would be a dedicated track day(s) and I would plan on a budget similar to USCA of around $500 including the contribution to the travel fund. I would use the Motorstate Challenge as an example of a good event...

Day 1 - Afternoon/Evening meet and greet, food, shop tour if something is close

Day 2 - Week day open track event (cheapest option and easiest to schedule)

Day 3 - Autocross and awards

Typically this would mean 2 days off work, but you could skip the evening and show up at the track. I like to travel on Thursday morning, track on Friday, Autocross Saturday and then travel home on Sunday. Makes for a decent work day on Monday and not dead when you roll in at 2am from the late night haul. I would like to have an event within 12 hours of the participants if possible.

Let me know thoughts on the ideas. Let's keep it "big picture" and try not to get mired down in any minor details at this stage.

I like #3, central location for initial event, AND IMO it should just be open to all body styles, the bigger cars with bigger motors will have some advantages in road course and the smaller cars will have some on AX, etc. Its mainly just fun, a chance to measure one's car, but mainly have fun, with bragging rights as dessert, right?

Being initially over ambitious might sink the whole idea, which sound good.

East coast event and West Coast event would be the way to do it, IMO. Piggy back on something big and fun like MATS and Carlisle, so no one has an excuse to not show. Linking in stootout for suspension companies makes it easier to generate sponsorship/press and funds. Has to include all other Bodies to be successful, IMO. A bodies are an extreme minority.

I like the idea of all body styles. Winners for each category, and an overall winner. Not to mention, there can be some great trash talking and teamwork among the body styles.

I would prefer one event. For me, it's going to be a long haul to either event. Might as well have everyone in one place. Course, if I'm the odd man out wanting one event, then I have no problem with a two event plan. If possible, maybe a 3rd event could come together in the central US - unlikely there are enough interested participants to make that happen though (there's plenty of LX's, not sure about the rest).

If there are two events, Steve already has a West Coast event that will fit the bill.

As far as rules - I'd vote no rules for the first year. Run what you brung. That way no one needs to go out and buy a new set of tires to compete. And because I want to run this set of $450 slicks I have on the shelf.