There is a guy at my local track that takes his 17.5+ second Ford truck (6 cylinder) to the winners circle all the time in Sportsman...but he really knows how to drive the stripe.
On the flip side...I may or may not have been "that guy" who dials 12.0 in Sportsman (with my 10 second car) and catches the competition by the 1000' marker and holds them off by a fender for the W.........with that said, no matter how you chose to drive your car (dial it hard, or soft), you MUST cut a good light to be competitive, and you MUST learn how to drive the stripe if you want to have an edge on the competition and not have to rely on your car running the number.
For the record....I only did that a hand full of times when I didn't feel like running Pro...some of the Sportsman guys gave my grief about switching classes, others said BRING IT ON!...it was all good fun. My friend in the 17+ second truck sent me home early a few times.
