What Are your thoughts?

[ccm911]

Back when I was registrar, the green and blue groups usually had a wait list that was like a mile long.  And now I hear that there are openings this close to an event?

What is happening?  Is it the price of gas?  Is someone scaring new folks about the track experience?  Is money tight, and less folks are able to participate? Is it the difficulty in obtaining track insurance?

Does anyone have any dea of what is going on?  This is really strange.  Don't let such a great thing get away.  It takes participants to make this all happen.

[George3]

I'm not sure why that is.  But, I'm sure the condition of the economy and the price of fuel has a lot to do with it.  That's what some of the guys I talk to in the paddocks are saying.  Basically, the cost of a DE weekend can run close to $1000 or more.  When you break it down........

2 nights hotel, meals.............................................$300
Registration Fee....................................................$300
Transportation Fuel & Track Fuel.............................$200+  (double if you're towing)
Miscellaneous expenses which Always come up........$100

I'm sure I left some things out and this does not even allow for useage of consumables such as brakes, tires and repairs.

[LouZ]

George3 wrote:

I'm not sure why that is. But, I'm sure the condition of the economy and the price of fuel has a lot to do with it. That's what some of the guys I talk to in the paddocks are saying. Basically, the cost of a DE weekend can run close to $1000 or more. When you break it down........

2 nights hotel, meals.............................................$300
Registration Fee....................................................$300
Transportation Fuel & Track Fuel.............................$200+ (double if you're towing)
Miscellaneous expenses which Always come up........$100

I'm sure I left some things out and this does not even allow for useage of consumables such as brakes, tires and repairs.

For me it's a few reasons, but I'm not QUITE a track junkie:

First, it's 3 nights hotel, meals, etc........+$400

Reg. fee...........~$375

Second, too close for me to the Pocono date (then nothing till the Glen in August)

More importantly:

2 days @ Jefferson is too overwhelming for the 1 day @ Summit (maybe 1 Jeff, 1 Shenandoah, 1 Summit)

[KennyB]

I would go to every event if I could.  Sure, it's getting more expensive, but what isn't?

Who knows, ten years from now with gas at $15/gal, this may all be just a memory.

For me, it's other obligations that keep me away (and I'm trying to whittle those down to the bare minimum)

 

Ken

[michael lang]

I was surprised to see that notice on the home page of the RTR website. Can't really say for sure why that is. Maybe folks think that Jefferson doesn't offer much of a challenge, maybe the economy has something to do with it, maybe because it's Father's Day weekend. It's anybody's guess really. For me personally, I can't wait for next weekend. I'm looking forward to getting as much track time as I can get. Maybe with less participants, Carol will be able to schedule an extra session for each run group, which will be totally cool by me. But I do hope that this doesn't get to be the trend otherwise our club will not be able to afford to rent the tracks. 

Only thing I can say is keep passing along the word of getting to the track.

[AMoore]

I think that travelling three times to Summit and once to the Glen is a lot.  I would go to more events if they were closer to home.  I hope we get multiple events at Thunderbolt, and hopefully at Alpine and Liberty in the coming years.

[Mike Andrews]

Ok, I'll give you my two cents on this one.

 

Yes, gas is more expensive.  And that has an effect on some people.  And some people allow it to affect them.

 

This activity has become more and more popular and as a result organizations are doing everything they can to run more and more events.  And that is what I believe is the problem.

 

Most people have a budget that they work within.  Some have bigger budget than others but they still have a budget.  Now, back in the day when I started with the track program we ran four events.   And only one of them was a three day event.  We run considerably more than that now.  As do most of the other regions and clubs.  What that means is you can pretty much find an event on any given weekend at one of the surrounding tracks. 

 

So, if your budget only allows you to run a few events you're naturally gonna pick the events that you’d rather drive.  You have guys doing VIR instead of Shenandoah and Mid Ohio instead of Pocono and, well you get the picture.  And add on top of that the racing thing and fathers day and a holiday or two and DE gets impacted.  

 

 

But I'm pretty sure that extra dollar a gallon is not what's keeping people home. 

[pnolan]

I think you hit the nail on the head.  People that are confirmed track junkies do the number of events that they need to with RTR no matter what the track to get moved up in run groups and once in White or Black start to look at how many DE's can I afford to do this season and if that number is limited (it is for me this year do to finances) then start to look at which particular tracks do I want to drive if I can only do five events this season.

I did Cups & Saucers with Hudson Champlain instead of Pocono because I wanted the opportunity to drive an "open track" event at a track I happen to really enjoy.

It isn't a knock on RTR, just a limited budget this year so you pick and choose your opportunities.

[Phokaioglaukos]

I think Mike has it right. I've had two race weekends (two sprints each weekend) that otherwise would have been DE weekends. I am skipping a race weekend to drive the Glen with RTR, though, because I miss seeing all of you, and I will do RTR's Thunderbolt days, too. I feel bad not doing more of the RTR DE days because I have learned so much from so many in the club and I so enjoy the conversation in the paddock and the couteous, proficient driving on the track.

I do hope that those of you who attend the JC/SP event stop over to say hello on Saturday at SP where we have the 12 hours at the Point race. Here is the schedule:

Saturday, June 14, 2008
8:30 AM – Noon        Registration at the Registration Building for drivers, crew, officials and workers.
9:15 AM          Flag meeting at the Control Tower.
9:00 AM          Mandatory drivers meeting in the classroom (1 driver and the DTR from each team)
9:30 AM          Tech Inspection opens at the Tech Shed.
10:00 AM        20 minute practice session.
10:00 AM        Mandatory Pit Stop Watchers (team volunteer) meeting in the Classroom
11:30 AM        Cars to front straight for gridding
11:50 AM        Cars MUST be in grid position
Noon – Midnight         12 hour endurance race

[JeffConklin]

I'm going to this event so maybe I'm not the target audience to answer but that never stopped me. 

 I agree with a lot of the above.  Likely a mix of factors.  Economic factors likely weigh in and force people to make choices.  This event being a relative longer distance than say Pocono, being very close in time frame to the last Pocono event, at a track that's maybe not viewed as a top 3-4 among the tracks we hit all contribute to people choosing to miss this one (if they can't do them all).  Now throw in the fact that it takes place over Fathers Day and that decision becomes that much easier.

All that being said - I'm a Track Junkie ( w/ 4 kids) and I'll be there Sunday and Monday.

See you there

Jeff