Having been born in Pomona California in 1960, and experiencing the fact that my younger brothers didn't know there was a mountain range there, and then driving in the same area and experiencing the significantly cleaner air, I'm not one to bitch about the EPA and CARBS efforts to clean the air. It was necessary and has produced tangible results.
That doesn't mean that I think that the rules that are currently in place are reasonable or fair when it comes to our favorite pastime. Today's rules are arcane at best and unfathomable at worst. Why I can't run what I want if it meets todays standards is, frankly, absurd. And we automotive hobbyists are an easy target for the latest politically correct green-weenie that wants to get elected. Not that we don't make ourselves easy targets with the improperly tuned, unmuffled, eye watering crap that passes for what we like to think is our automotive "right." We need to clean up our own house before someone else just flat legislates our pastime right out of existence.
Mark, I think the rules should apply to everyone uniformly. One of the great injustices in California has been that the San Francisco Bay area was not required to have bi-annual inspections but the Sacramento Valley was required to have the inspections. Guess what, the ocean breeze blew all the crappy air from the Bay Area into the valley where it would sit against the foothills. The worst smog was in Auburn and Placerville.
Folks, tune your cars up, put a Cat on the car (yep you can do it without losing performance, do some research) and join SEMA's action network.
And make certain to read the final adopted version of the bill, what's introduced is almost never what gets signed into law. I used to work in the California legislature and could tell you plenty of stories as to what actually happens.
That doesn't mean that I think that the rules that are currently in place are reasonable or fair when it comes to our favorite pastime. Today's rules are arcane at best and unfathomable at worst. Why I can't run what I want if it meets todays standards is, frankly, absurd. And we automotive hobbyists are an easy target for the latest politically correct green-weenie that wants to get elected. Not that we don't make ourselves easy targets with the improperly tuned, unmuffled, eye watering crap that passes for what we like to think is our automotive "right." We need to clean up our own house before someone else just flat legislates our pastime right out of existence.
Mark, I think the rules should apply to everyone uniformly. One of the great injustices in California has been that the San Francisco Bay area was not required to have bi-annual inspections but the Sacramento Valley was required to have the inspections. Guess what, the ocean breeze blew all the crappy air from the Bay Area into the valley where it would sit against the foothills. The worst smog was in Auburn and Placerville.
Folks, tune your cars up, put a Cat on the car (yep you can do it without losing performance, do some research) and join SEMA's action network.
And make certain to read the final adopted version of the bill, what's introduced is almost never what gets signed into law. I used to work in the California legislature and could tell you plenty of stories as to what actually happens.
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