Hey, Jim. I'm not offended at all; I asked for feedback, and you gave it politely. I hope nobody else is offended either.
A whole bunch of ideas in your post, so let me try to separate them out.
1) TAs, AARs and Hemis and shakers do get a lot of attention, you're right. But I think that both of the years in which I've been involved have had some reasonable number of late-models chosen as well. I would hazard a guess that most people are picked beautiful shots first, and then the cars they like second. Take a look at FentmMax's (I may have spelled that wrong) white, later year Challenger, and Goodys Cuda.
2) A few members volunteered to not enter this year after winning spots last year. I have mixed feelings about that. It was very gentlemanly for them to do so. On the other hand, I worry about diminishing the number of quality shots we get, but frankly, if anything, I think the quality of shots this year was a little better than last year, so my concern may not be warranted.
3) I have a 73, and once I get paint and body complete, I'll have no qualms about submitting it, and I'll take my chances. Again, I think that if the quality of the shot is good, it'll stand a fair chance.
4) Lots of folks expressed the notion that they didn't think their cars were good enough to warrant a spot. I've seen a lot of these cars at Carlisle, and some of them are indeed 20 footers in person, but you'd be surprised what a camera and lens will hide.
So, short form later years still get respect, it may be an idea to have folks sit out a year (everybody feel free to comment), and even if you think you car isn't good enough, a good shot will make it a contender.
