Ladies and Gentlemen:
LET’S GET REAL HERE! I hear a lot of sidestepping the issue and until we address the White Elephant in the room we’re all just flogging a dead horse and wasting our time.
That said; let me lay down some background here in this post. This isn’t a knee jerk reaction but a genuine effort at trying to do the right thing and I’d like to think I’ve got the stones to call it like I see it. I’m not trying to say X is a butt head or Z is a jerk or live in the past. Let’s work on TODAY so we DO have a future.
FACTS about me:
-Mike Jansen is a passionate karter and businessman who has “no dog in this hunt” but wants to see 25+ fields in TaG Masters and in other classes like there used to be. I used to get excited coming down the dirt road to IMI and seeing the parking lot overflowing and 160 was the max entrants I’ve seen excluding Rmax Nationals @ Centennial
-Mike Jansen has been Karting for over 5 years and has seen many racers and families come into this sport and leave this sport for various reasons good and bad
-I saw Rick Schmidt and Roman STRUGGLE behind me and in the true sense of the sport would tell them EXACTLY what I was running (we both ran rotax) to help them get their game up to MY level. I wanted to kick Roman’s butt and I did each and every race but I wanted to beat them from a gladiator standpoint (I’m a better driver and your second best) and not from a “my engine and gearing is better than yours” standpoint. Same thing with Ron Reed and Rich Vito and Lee Gagna (for those of you who remember him) Jack Warrington too for that matter in his quest for #1
FACTS as I see them about Jim Keesling (since K comes before L)
-Jim is the new track owner and in a SHORT period of time has rocked Karting here in Colorado. Cases in point: Rotax Grand Nationals in his 2nd year of existence; Television coverage of said race; Television coverage in the local news of his track and Gas station promotion. Track sponsorship I’ve only seen at a European Kart level, Formula One level or Indy racing level.
-I knew of Jim when I lived in Southern California by name because of his organization of J class sailing regattas. So when I met him and put that together he had my respect from the get go.
-Jim’s pockets are (in my opinion) deep and he has a LEGITIMATE concern towards safety and preventing lawsuits against himself and his family. Do you blame him in this litigious society?
-Jim (at times can be a little abrasive in his reactions to situations. I experienced his wrath 2 years ago and I consider Jim a friend. I was breaking in a piston and had my nose glued to my Mychron and not watching him flag me to say my session was done two laps earlier! He had words with me once I came off and I took it like a man and said nothing. I went back to him 20 minutes later and told him of my inattentiveness towards flaggers and was more concerned about my engine being broke in and I was at fault and sorry. He’s always treated me fairly and even in this case he might have been excessive but he called it like he saw it at the time and there are no hard feelings.
-I always get a “thanks for coming out, we appreciate you being here” when I leave from Jim’s. It’s corny but it ALWAYS makes me feel good going home.
FACTS as I see them about Brad Linkus (because L comes AFTER K)
– Brad is the Horatio Alger story in that you look at what he started YEARS AGO and what he’s accomplished to this point. For that he has my respect and he’s always treated me fairly
– Brad used to race and he’s experienced the pain of losing to someone who’s cheated and if you look at the actions he took to start the kid class with the HONDA engine you see that he’s vowed to not let cheating happen if he can help it. He practically GAVE kids the engines to race with. A racers racer. Nuff said…
– Brad is innovative, thank him for bringing 4 stroke engines here to America and improving the product. A few years from now we all might be racing them just like they do in MX.
– Brad’s got the shop that carries everything and he’s willing to help you if it’s appreciated. I can’t tell you how many times I was at his shop after hours while his crew worked on my engine or he was putting a weld on my seat stay that broke from racing at Bandimere. He’s probably forgotten more than many shop owners KNOW. I brought with me several times beer to say I appreciate your dedication to being here and helping my butt out. A little goes a long way and it was always the least I could do.
Now the White Elephant as I see it and I’m not going to name names but many of you already know the cast of characters:
The uneasy alliance between track owners. One has a “we’ve done it this way and it’s always been good enough” vs. a “this is great but we can do better”. That progresses to the infamous meeting last year that got out of hand and was pathetic at best. Nuff said, the marriage is broken now let the divorce begin. I’ve always been of the opinion that if you’re at fault then man up and say you’re sorry so you can move forward. REMOVE THE “E” OUT OF EGO AND WE ALL GO FORWARD. Am I getting through? Helloooo…
The arrogance of the opinion that we the kart racers are stupid and will put up with your crap is nonsense and it shows in the attendance of both series. Prior to the season I heard numerous people saying that they were siding with X’s series because of (fill in the reason). I heard a few teams say that they were taking their team to Y series and then bad mouth the other series. I heard innuendos that Y series didn’t have their insurance; leases signed; race directors, etc. That makes me saddest of all because we are grown men and not teenaged kids. What ARE we teaching our kids? PATHETIC and you know who you are. You have contributed to this mess. I hope you’re proud of yourselves. Let’s Look in the mirror and honestly ask the reflection, “Did I contribute to this mess?” Glad I run my business opposite of that and NEVER badmouth my opposition. It’s called professionalism.
You all laughed and snickered when the numbers came out for the Race the Rockies #1 race. Now we’re all snickering about the numbers of the CSC’s initial race. Bottom line is we all should see it for what it is and that’s a reincarnation of the Indy Racing League vs. Champ Cars. DIDN’T WE LEARN ANYTHING FROM THAT? Or were people too arrogant to say, we’re different that doesn’t apply to us. Reality checks now that we’ve had round ones of both series wouldn’t you agree?
Some say economics and I say you’re kidding yourselves. Fess up and be honest: I’m not racing 2 series because that’s what we had a few years back when we had 9 races at the state level. I have a job and other responsibilities and I don’t want to win the alphabet soup but I do want to win at the PEPSI center and if anyone can pull that off its Jim. So there’s my reason to race RACE THE ROCKIES. CSC, I know what I get and I have the “been there, done that” attitude and if I’m going to drive at a track several times due to the lack of usage of Colorado tracks then I’m driving the track that has more of a challenge (only my opinion) and I love the bus stop and the first and last corners. PERIOD.
Kiss and make up and someone needs to swallow a little bit of humility. I feel grateful and blessed to know that I’m not fighting for my life in an intensive care unit like my fellow Masters karter Rich Vito. HOWEVER I do feel used when a post is made that says I’m a loser because I didn’t race in CSC and support Rich Vito. I also felt angry to have it played that way. RV51, how much has been raised by that? T-shirts, how much in that? CSC how much in that? Every little bit helps but don’t EVER place us (actually me) in the category of loser because we elected to race in one series and not the other.
I’m still dissapointed with the sponsorship money raised last year vs. the return to the karters. That was suspect at best. There it’s been put out there. Did the CSC ever say thank you in written form to the sponsors? Did they feel appreciated?
The other white elephant in the room that needs to be squelched: Have either series “sponsored or paid entry” for certain drivers to show to ruin the other series. If that’s true, that’s the track owner’s prerogative and has NOTHING to do with us common racers. If it is true I think it’s a pathetic and desperate ploy. And my entry fee was paid by myself thank you for asking.
In closing I’d like to bring to attention the reasons why we race and why we put ourselves in harms way when we drop the visor on our helmets: We love the camaraderie; the competition, the quality time we spend with our family as a family. I’ve seen Tate and Lauren Holleran grow up, David Zippie go from average student to honour student with a passion for life and school. I’ve drank beers with the best of the bunch and those who just love this sport. I’ve got memories of my first P1 result; my first accident; being locked in a port a john an everyone thought it was funny but me; had a zip tie attached to my drive shaft and pulled over only to say, “I’m going to get that Schmidt if it’s the last thing I do”. If this can’t be fixed then I hope one series wins and wins quickly or perhaps EVERY track owner in Colorado come to their senses and realize a symbiotic relationship is best and only brings more kart buyers off the spectating sidelines and into the fray of kart RACING. If I wasn’t passionate about this and trying to get things resolved it wouldn’t be 1:50am and here I am writing this message.
Hopefully the white elephants have been identified and we can move forward to resolve this MESS to get back to 150+ fields and 20 lap mains with a straightaway full of TaG Masters competing to beat each other on the track and swapping stories and laughs afterwards.