Gloomy Forecast

"Gloomy" didn't just describe the weather at the DC points event today. After hearing several versions of the "OMG your AWD is going to dominate today," I was ready to leave even before the event was temporarily suspended due to lightning.

Gabe showed up during the downtime, and after much discussion, we decided to bag it. He didn't feel like hanging around all day to see if we'd even be able to run (SCCA safety regulations mandate a certain wait time after the last lightning strike), and I had come to the conclusion that, like at Toledo the previous week, I couldn't win.

In this case, the despondency stemmed not from a literally inability to win. Once I found out that, yes, my rain tires actually were on site, I could have bolted them up and run. But I wasn't wasting my Hoosier radial rain tires on a local event.

No, my despair was at the fact that no matter how I did, I "lost." It was like the complete opposite of running Mark Davis's car last month in Atlanta, where if I didn't do well, it's because I wasn't used to running an MR2, but if I did do well, it was in spite of it. Here, if I did well, it would be said that I did so simply because of the WRX's AWD and the wet course conditions. If I didn't finish well, it would be said that I must not be a very good driver if I couldn't use the AWD to my advantage.

So, I decided to go FTW and pack up my car and leave. Yeah, the fact that I wasted all morning and the entry fee doesn't sit well with me. But it's better than having to listen to yet more belittling and borderline cruel comments. :(