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Couple more thoughts….
Last year’s track was popularly criticized for being way too dangerous and a bit boring to drive. I would agree with that. This year’s track, however, was a massive improvement; fun track to drive that promoted great racing. They still used those damndable car barriers, but there were no incidents. There was a lot of runoff engineered to the corners that needed it (as opposed to virtually none last year) and I wouldn’t have felt unsafe racing on it, plus no silly bus stop corner this year. Tom Kutcher pointed out at the end of the weekend that the ambulance didnt roll once, there were only a couple of red flags, and no injuries. That’s worth applauding alone. :clap:
Jansen hit it exactly taking about how good the guys who run up front here are. You can learn a lot just by watching them, if you want to raise your game at home this is the place to do it, even running with the backmarkers would teach you so much. Take the TaG seniors or S3 drivers for example. Only 40 made it into the final, but that doesnt mean the other 40 are slow, probably more unlucky than anything.
This is really what karting is all about. This is such a cool event because it’s a big damn deal, has to be to attract a billionaire to race in it. How cool is it that there was a bit on the SPEED Report and WindTunnel later that night covering a go kart race? Seeing all these superstar drivers free of sponsors and media and obligations is so cool, they’re just there to race. I saw a 7 time world champion working on his own kart, lifting it off the stand, taking tire pressure readings, and chatting it up with his fellow superpro drivers. I watched heat races standing next to an Indy 500 winner. Seeing these guys come back to the place they got started in is very refreshing, and it says a lot about the sport. They’re here because they want to be, not because Home Depot, Red Bull, Old Spice, Budweiser, Kellogs, Marborlo says so. How cool is that?
Anyways, I took about 600 pictures there, here’s a link to about 250 of them.
Alll I have to say is WOW! I went to last years race and was blown away, but this year’s running made ’08 seem like a club race. I was fortunate enough to spend a lot of time on the superpro grid and I had to keep pinching myself…the level of talent standing around me was just Insane. Schmacher and company not excluded, the fastest karters in the world were there. Multiple world champions and some Guys I’ve never heard of mixing it up with Schumacher, Thonon, Matos, kozlinski, Ardigo, Fore…wow! The superpro guys are truly something amazing to watch, they seem like they’re in a perpetual state of sliding, yet they’re so fast! Awesome racing all around, not just the superpros.
If you’re a karting fan you HAVE to make it out to the SuperNats one year, even if you don’t race. Though, after watching from the sidelines for 2 years I have an itch I need to scratch…
Awesome! Sounds like a fun time, shame about the bad luck but it sounds like you still had a great experience. Thanks for sharing!
This event is going to be AWESOME, no doubt about that! The superpro lineup alone is worth it. I’m leaving for the airport soon, i’ll try and post some updates & pics throughout the week depending on my internet access. I guess EKN is doing a live web cast at http://www.eKartingNews.com/live starting on friday if you want to follow at home.
Viva! :dance:
If I eat my wheaties over the offseason, can i race with those guys? They certainly lived up to their billing as the main event!
Dang…bad luck. When it rains it pours, right? Greg..stop driving so fast, you’re cracking frames from the speed! 😯
@Garrick wrote:
Thanks for blogging, Troy, and welcome home. :clap:
2nded, really enjoyed reading all this!
And how about that Andy Seeseman? That has got to be one of the coolest things ive ever seen in this sport. Just plain excellent! :win
It really is a whole different ball game at a national event like this, these boys and girls play rough! Keep your head down and keep pushing, you’ll only come out of this a better driver.
Thanks for posting, Troy! I’m sure this takes a big effort after you come back to the hotel after a long day and all you want to do it hit those freshly made sheets. I know i’m enjoying the read…it’s like i’m there! :win
Just a couple quick thoughts from me…
I would imagine that there is a fair bit of mutual repsect between racers in open wheel cars on a track like this. On a sprint track the speeds arent relatively that high, so we can rough around a little, but on a fast track like this the consequences would be much greater. The track is much wider and smoother than a sprint track, so there is plenty of room to race & pass without getting dicy. These karts may go fast, but there isnt a whole lot of inertia there, so if things do go wrong they slow down quickly. The runoff at this place is HUGE, not a problem for karts. I like to compare kart racing to motorcycle racing to the uninitiated. Both are high performance vehicles with no restraints for the driver, and they let motorcycles out there. Karting is much safer from the fact that driver error in a kart might end with you in the weeds and a little dusty, whereas on a bike you could be looking at the bad end of a highside…and there is no good end to that.
Yes, many of the corners would be flat in a kart, but I dont think its that big of a deal with the low intertia that these things have and the runoff at HPR. I wouldn’t consider a kart any less safe here than a big open wheel car…say a Formula Ford. Heck, if they are concerned with the length of the track and the speeds that we would reach, there are a couple cutoffs that we could use to make a shorter track.
I think its safe to say that karting in Colorado is pretty much 100% sprint karting, road racing has its spot in the sport, no doubt. I can’t think of a better place to grow road racing than HPR. Great as they are, Pueblo and LaJunta are too bumpy for karts.
Now, we are primarily talking sprint karts here, which begs the question…how many people – once they get a taste of a kart on a big track – will trade in for a Superkart? Aside from the Superkart that Barry had on display at the pepsi center, i don’t personally know of any other Superkarts in CO. Heck, once the secret gets out about Superkarts, how many people in cars would think about trading their ride for one? I know i would love a ride! 😈 Superkart dreams aside, i’ve never seen a better group of racers before, i’m sure that karts would be a fixture out there if they let us play. Just because this track is meant for big cars doesn’t mean that karts cant/shouldn’t/wouldn’t play, or wouldn’t be an appropreate addition to the customer base. We even race in parking lots… 😆
I think it’s pretty obvious that I want this to happen. I came from HPDEs in cars before I started karting, so i’ve always wanted to get out on a big track!
Just me $.02
(P.S. Superkarts are full bodied racecars if they’re concerned about the open wheel thing)
Awesome! Congrats, everyone at GJ. Some awesome things happening next year, Colorado will be getting a ton of national recognition, mehtinks! :clap:
