Earlier this month, a bit of text interpreted from a months-old, 629-page proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation caused a huge outcry in a section of the automotive world.

On Feb. 8, the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), a group that advocates for the automotive aftermarket industry and hosts a hugely popular auto show every November in Las Vegas, came out with a press release titled, "EPA Seeks to Prohibit Conversion of Vehicles Into Racecars." It begins with a bombshell for many car fanatics and weekend-warrior racers, "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ... has proposed a regulation to prohibit conversion of vehicles originally designed for on-road use into racecars."

If true, and the EPA regulation becomes final, it would have a massive impact on the amateur and club racing industry. With the proposed EPA rule concerning emissions, SEMA is concerned that emissions-related parts that help convert vehicles to race cars will be outlawed.

But the alarm bells sounded by SEMA may not be entirely accurate.

Tech website Ars Technica insists, "No, the EPA isn't making it illegal to turn an old car into a race car." Automotive blog Jalopnik took a more analytical approach with the long and winding regulation proposal, finding a lot of contradictions.

EPA deputy press secretary Laura Allen clarified the rule, "People may use EPA-certified motor vehicles for competition, but to protect public health from air pollution, the Clean Air Act has — since its inception — specifically prohibited tampering with or defeating the emission control systems on those vehicles."

In all, Ars Technica concludes, "Nothing has meaningfully changed."

To SEMA's credit, the July 2015 wording in the EPA rule, published in the Federal Register, does say, "Certified motor vehicles and motor vehicle engines and their emission control devices must remain in their certified configuration even if they are used solely for competition or if they become nonroad vehicles or engines."

Understandably, that was part of SEMA's big concern. The Jalopnik analysis also points out that traditionally, cars used for racing are exempt from certain emissions requirements and have been for a long time. Meanwhile, there's also the huge impracticality of EPA enforcement, as the agency is probably not going to be able to visit the country's many racetracks and drag strips where cars modified for racing are piloted every weekend.

In fact, by the pure letter of the law, the modifications SEMA maintains the EPA is trying to ban have probably always been illegal under the Clean Air Act, but never enforced. The real impetus for the controversy and the EPA's clarification can likely be found in one of last year's biggest automotive industry scandals.

Around the time the EPA was formulating the regulation that worries SEMA, it was also testing Volkswagen's 2009-15 model years TDI diesel cars that came with a defeat device to bypass emissions tests. The agency's clarification to the SEMA press release directly references devices that tamper with emissions controls.

The situations aren't completely similar, as VW's infractions had to do with inaccurate emissions being reported during mandated tests, while the racing crackdown has to do with defeat devices being installed to bypass stock emissions controls in cars converted to racing. However, it's clear that after the EPA was misled so thoroughly by VW, defeat devices of most any circumstance will be in the agency's crosshairs.

In the aftermarket supplier world, there might be some reason to be concerned that the EPA might crackdown on some of those products. But if you're simply a weekend racer who's made some modest modifications to an old car to get it on the track, the feds probably aren't coming for your ride.