Grassroots Motorsports

Grassroots Motorsports

Editor	David S. Wallens
Categories	automobiles, motorsports, do it yourself
Frequency	8 per year
Circulation	60,000+
Publisher	Tim Suddard
First issue	1984
Country	United States
Language	American English
Website	grassrootsmotorsports.com
ISSN	1047-0298

Grassroots Motorsports (GRM) is an American periodical devoted to low-cost performance cars, driving skill improvement, and amateur motorsports such as road racing, autocross and rallying. It was established in 1984 and is published eight times a year. The magazine’s parent company, Motorsport Marketing Inc., based in Holly Hill, Florida, also publishes Classic Motorsports magazine.

Grassroots Motorsports focuses primarily on how enthusiasts can have fast, fun cars for very little money. It also discusses how to build a race car and participate in motorsports events, provides coverage of amateur motorsports in the United States, and is the official publication of the National Auto Sport Association (NASA), Rally America/RallyCar, NARA and the ChumpCar World Series.

Project cars

The editorial focuses on a wide variety of staff-owned cars, usually with a very hands-on, do-it-yourself point of view. Recent GRM project cars have included a Mazda MX-5 autocrosser, a MINI Cooper S race car, a Saab 99 rally car, a Volkswagen Golf track car and a LeGrand autocrosser. One of the most famous project cars in the magazine's history is the Ro-Spit, a 200-plus-horsepower, rotary-powered Triumph Spitfire.

Grassroots Motorsports $20XX Challenge

The magazine holds an annual competition called the $20XX Challenge. The main goal of the Challenge is to demonstrate that fun, capable and attractive cars do not have to be expensive. The total budget for entries cannot cost more than the year in dollars (i.e., $2005 in 2005). The competition consists of an autocross competition, a quarter-mile (0.4 km) drag strip time trial and a concours d'elegance.

A special points system determines the final rank of each entry based on its performance in each segment of the competition. Along with first-, second- and third-place trophies, other awards are distributed to deserving competitors, including “Most Spectacular Failure,” “Challengers’ Choice,” and “Worst Attempt to Persuade Concours Judges.”

The first Challenge event was held in 1999, before the “year as the budget” policy was instituted; the budget cap for entries in that event was $1500. The second Challenge event was held in 2001 with the budget cap set at $2001. The event then became annual, with the budget cap increasing by one dollar each year.

Recent Challenge winners include Wreck Racing's V8-powered Mazda Miata, Andrew Nelson’s home-fabricated, Chevy V8-powered Volkswagen Beetle in 2009 and the Hong Norr team’s 1986 Honda CRX in 2008.

Ultimate Track Car Challenge

In 2007, Grassroots Motorsports added another competition to their lineup with the Ultimate Track Car Challenge. The goal of the UTCC is to discover the fastest track car in a field governed by minimal classifications, and the event is run under the National Auto Sport Association's Time Trial Rules.

Thirty-six cars competed at the Virginia International Raceway North Course in 2007. The overall winner was a Dodge Viper Competition coupe with pro driver Tommy Archer at the wheel. In 2008, the event moved to Buttonwillow Raceway Park, and Bart Carter took first place overall in his Radical SR8. In 2009, the event was held at the Virginia International Raceway Full Course; Marc Goossens beat out a field of more than 50 cars to take the overall win in his Riley Technologies Track Day Car. In 2010 Pirelli became the title sponsor of the Ultimate Track Car Challenge and continue as the title sponsor of the event in 2011.

Internet forum

The Grassroots Motorsports online forum is a section of the magazine's website which allows discussion on almost any topic - Automotive or other. There are multiple sections designated as Grassroots Motorsports - discussion of all things automotive, Sprockets - bicycles, motorcycles etc., The 200x classifieds - a for sale section for tools, parts, or whole cars, An Advertisers section - an area for GRM advertisers to post about there wares or receive feedback from customers, and also an off topic section - discussions that do not fit anywhere else. Posters can also schedule gatherings of forum users, information about race dates, or other events on the forum.

Users must complete an online registration and create a username to post to the forum. The forum is moderated by magazine staff. Users gain "Dork" status as their post count raises.

The "Ignore" thread and the "Hotlink" thread have reached 200+ pages of posts by regular and new users alike. As of August 2011, the "Hotlink" thread has reached 844 pages with 21,100 posts. There are many inside jokes specific to the GRM forum that have evolved through regular postings by some of the most prolific users. Several thousand posts per user is not rare, and are often racked up in less than a year.

Memes

There are several Anagrams used for common phrases in the website. YMMV means Your Mileage May Vary, or "your experience may be different than mine", SWMBO means She Who Must Be Obeyed, or "your significant other", IIRC means If I Remember Correctly.

-E36 M3: As in "the (sh)it", a euphemism for the foul language, automatically replaced in discussion board postings, but more commonly inserted manually by forum regulars.

-Berkley: A euphemism for the "F" word. See above.

-Bob Costas: A euphemism for the "P" word in the context of the female anatomy. See above.

-Canoe: used to label spam posts inserted by bots or other non-regular post methods.

-Shiny Happy Person: A euphemism for a slang term for the rectal sphincter

-Flounder: a person or post that pushes a political ideology, but doesnt necessarily add to the thread or topic - a type of political rhetoric spam. Based loosely on the National Lampoon's Animal House character

External links

• Official Site
• ChumpCar World Series Official Site
• $20XX GRM Challenge Information
• GRM Project Cars
• GRM Ultimate Track Car Challenge Site