"Capt. Rob" wrote
While many racers prefer ....
...... This may sound trivial, but serious races are all about
the 1/2 second advantages .....

Two important things happened back in the 1960's. Roe vs Wade legalized
abortion and birth control and intellegent people began limiting the number
of children they produced. This meant that relatively fewer intellegent
children were born. Simultaniously, LBJ's Aid to Dependent Children (ADC)
program began paying stupid folk, village idiots, and others with defective
genes, to have as many offspring like themselves as possible. The two
quickly produced a big "hump" on the low side of the IQ bell curve with the
effect that the whole US population has been "dumbing down" for almost 50
years. The results are plain to see - the resurgence of fundamental
religion, the triumphs of faith over reason and logic, the election and
reelection of politicians like Bush, and the popularity of racing things
like lawn mowers, stock cars and sail boats.