2004 Colorado Sprint Championship series suggestions

Scott,

First off, where has that manic Vandenberg been?

Second on out-of-staters – I think we should allow anyone to race at any event, especially those who want to commit to the series, like people from New Mexico and Utah. I don’t like the idea of a Bobby Wilson coming in for 1 or 2 races and walking away with the money. I’m all for the Bobby Wilsons, and the Joe Janowskis coming out here to race, but I feel money raised for the series should go to those who commit to the series. So if Jon Betts comes out and has committed to the ’04 series, and comes in first at a money race, hell yeah, give him the money. If somebody brings in a hot shoe for the race and they win and never come back, to hell with ’em.

@Scott Kiefer wrote:

Heya All,

Had a blast at Steamboat, really fun. Finally had a pit crew (family) compared to the rest of the season running solo. No injuries (except for a terminally bent Rotax and bruised egos). Great Wx and a great town to have a race in, since there wasn’t a Vintage Race.

+ This is a follow-on from the eKarting thread, but if I hadn’t tried a rental a few times and become fed-up with it that it ‘wasn’t enough’, I would never have even thought karting existed. (Boy, wish I knew about this when I was alot younger, but now being 36 and married with a 2-year-old isn’t a good mix for building a life around racing!)

Of the three people I personally know that share this burning desire and started looking at it at about the same time as I, all tried the renters first, saw how fast the shifters smoked us, our fangs started hanging out and the rest is history. Dennis ‘Duff’ Dyer (Rotax Masters, mainly at CRE), Dane Buckley (who won the last RMax race at CRE) and Thatch Vandenbergh (another Novice 125 outta ActionKarts).

+ Thanks for letting me run the 80cc in the 125 class until I got my sierra stacked together to put a 125 in the kart!! It was an interesting view from the back of the pack, but not a place I want to stay ;).

+ One CSC Race per month was great, it allowed me to race all season without undue tension on my wallet (except July), especially with a wife that got layed-off in May. Let’s keep it that way. If we get more tracks involved, then let’s extend the season a little to get them in, rather than cutting down ont eh number of races per track.

+ If we want to add a couple races and make the season a little longer, hopefully adding CRE and/or Meade or Second Creek into the mix. Try to keep it to one CSC race per month, though.

+ I like the Colorado Only series, due to budgeting constraints having more than one track to race at was great since I can’t afford to get serious in SKUSA.

– Why let the Non-Colorado racers in on races only because there is money involved. Haven’t the Colorado drivers worked hard enough to have a shot at some $$? Both races with a purse were won (by the same guy) by someone external to Colorado. If you want to allow them to race, then for any race with a purse, the driver must ‘qualify’ for it by having competed at, at least, ‘x’ number of CSC races previously.

– I like the Novice Class, but it needs to be a well-defined Novice Class or maybe turn it into a ‘Spec 125’ class, instead. Stock Engines and ignitions, max carb size, spec tires, weight limit, etc. need to be the rule rather than the exception and observed/enforced. Teching the top few karts randomly as a ‘spot check’ would be good. Later this season there were guys running in ‘Novice’ that had dumped enough money into their engines for them to keep up with Pros, but are they going to run with the Pros next year? I doubt it. I know that those of us in the middle-to-rear of the Novice pack are all running stock engines (maybe with the power ports plugged, but otherwise stock).

We want to race, win and have fun, but we want to shift, too. We can’t spend giga-bucks to try to ‘Keep up with the Jones” (or the Wall’s, Mc Graths or Scarberry’s). We don’t want to drive TAG’s, even if they’ve got two gears. Anyone else want to see a ‘Spec 125’ class in place of, or in-addition-to the Novice?

+ Definitely try to piggy-back CSC kart events with a Denver GP, Pike’s Peak speedway and/or the Rocky Mountain Vintage Auto races, maybe even some SCCA/Miata stuff. Because hyped fans may not know about karting as ‘cheap’ racing or disgruntled Miata drivers, tired of paying too much money, may see karting as a great alternative (Duff Dyer did and he bought two karts!!).

+ Before, after and during lunches at the races, having ‘exposure’ or spectators karts running around isn’t a bad idea, because it gets them hyped. But just like Indianapolis around race-time, average ‘Joes’ could think they’re Super-Drivers. That could be good, that could be bad. Not for me to say, but it definitely exposes people to it.

Thanks Angie for the spot to say all this!! I’ll probably think of more, but it just isn’t in the foreground right now.

-Scott (#7)

I don’t give a cr@p about the money!!!! All I care about is to be able to to go somewhere where my son can race the kart and not be part of a follow the leader game. I haven’t decided 100% yet but the chances are we will support the CSC next year.

As for big money races thats how you attract more (and better) competitors if you make up rules so that the winner doesn’t get the money then guess what?? they won’t come!!! How about giving money prizes for the complete series winners AND also for the Steamboat springs event?

As for the novice 125 class. We have been running SKUSA FMX for the last 2 years and after a dismal year last year,this year we are somewhat competitive on a national level. All I did for steamboat was put on the stock box and we were WAY OFF the pace!!! Still I understand the need for a novice class that caters for the used kart market, But this is NOT novice!!! Stock classes are impossible to police so I think it is a moderatly good compromise. maybe increase the head volume for next year? Going for the SKUSA ignition box would be a good move but thats probably impractical.

My Suggestions for next season.

1. Please, Please have a drop. My Brother and I would have tried to run all year if there was a drop. A blown motor at the first race or errant hay bail cover at the last really put a hosing on the potints 😕

2. The “A” team is a must if you want the series to grow and become more stream lined. I’ll Volunteer if I stay unemployed and broke.

3. Now that you guys in control know your class structure and vauge sechudueling (ie. you know what tracks you are going to) E-mail registration forms and race day event sechudels to the racers a week before the race. Or make them downloadable from CO. Karters web-site.

4. I’ve Heard some dont want SKUSA involved with CSC ….BUT…

-If you don’t find a compromise you are forcing racers into a choice between the two series, history proves that when racers (no matter how small the number) have a choice it is adverse for the series in the long run. Remember we live in Colorado not California, we can’t afford to devide the allready small number of racers into another faction. I believe there is a easy way to to intergrate SKUSA’s points into CSC.

Durdin does not want to intergrate and look how well it’s paid off for him. Please don’t be stubborn.

-If you dont intergrate you force the regional director to sechudle his own races. Even if they die on the table a weeks before the CSC season begins it will still confuse new people coming into the sport and give them the impression that SKUSA is bad some how. I think that is bad for all vendors in Colorado.

Please don’t be stubborn find a way.

Thanks Josh.

BTW The Log-in is still acting up.

Test,test,test

Chaz, That actually was a test I had problems posting, but Angie got it fixed. My two cents on the series,we have a great series that can only get better with input. We do need an A team for tech and track personal,wich will cost extra money. Who would object to increased entry fees (a few dollars more) to get the qualified personal and tech tools to make the racing fair and consistant? I hate to see racing getting anymore expensive than it already is,but it seems that it would be worth the money to keep everyone in check. We all seem to want better tech and to keep the same track personal at each event,but nothing is free. With the amount of race entries we have had in the CSC,would a few dollars more per entry, cover the cost of keeping qualified personal? I also feel the driver meetings could focus a little more on saftey issues,like drivers responsibilities on passing and being passed,it seems some people have adopted the attitudes of, if they can’t pass you clean the’ll go through you at any cost,very dangerous IMO. I saw one black flag this year and that was for a mechanical infraction.I got ran over a couple of times,yes I have a bone stock motor and am working on my driving skills to get better, like some of us in the Novice class,but not a reason to be ran over by the next wanna be Mario Andretti. If they think there that bad-ass go pro and Mr. Walls and others will probably put you in your place! If you can’t make a safe clean pass don’t do it I’m not pointing fingers,but the speeds that we achieve in a kart,it’s not a contact sport,it could be your life. Live to race another day is my motto,and works for me and others in the sport. Which brings us back to the need for more qualified and trained track personal(flaggers). What’s it worth to us? All in all it was a great season,me and my girls had a blast racing the series. Thanks to all the track owners,track personal,sponsors and of course Angie for all there hard work. The name brand sponsors that came onboard for a state series was amazing. We got a great thing going, lets work together to make it even better. I also like the schedule the way it is,to many races could hurt the series and make it to expensive. For us, its everything times three,it gets pricey. A drop would also be nice, even though it would have worked against me in the overall standings. As for CRE, why support a track that doesn’t want to support us, the racers. George doesn’t want to play. STICK A FORK IN IT!!! 😛 Brad Fleming

$20 Ha Ha , last race down here in the dessert cost us $116 and the racing is not very good either.

Add another $5 for tech and race director, these are issues that need to be attended to at any cost, if they are not then people will start to become pissed off with racing against people they THINK are illegal and go race somewhere where the tech issues are addressed (like CRE).

I don’t even think that our tires where check for correct compound for the class at Steamboat!!!

@Jon Betts wrote:

$20 Ha Ha , last race down here in the dessert cost us $116 and the racing is not very good either.

Add another $5 for tech and race director, these are issues that need to be attended to at any cost, if they are not then people will start to become pissed off with racing against people they THINK are illegal and go race somewhere where the tech issues are addressed (like CRE).

I don’t even think that our tires where check for correct compound for the class at Steamboat!!!

I think we might need to consider a bit more than 5 buck, but not more than 10.

Here’s my thinking. There are certain key individuals we should have at all races. These are Race Director, Tech Director, Timing/Scoring, and the head flagger. Each of these people should be compensated. Lets say we break it down like this:

Race Director = $200
Tech Director = $175
Timing/Scoring = $125
Head Flagger = $125
Total = $625

If we have an average of 100 entries/event and charge an extra $5 to the current entry fee we’ll come up $125 short. If we tag on $10/entry we’ll have a $375 dollar surplus. That money could be used to compensate other important functionaries on race day, such as corner workers, announcer, regsitration pre-tech and scale tech. on a 7-race schedule that’s less than 100 bucks/racer/season. To help ensure we have consistant, and well-run events I would consider that money well spent.