Road America 2007

[J Farrell / Speed Tech Motorsp]

 

Alright now....
Let's see. I have seen nothing but all you complainers on here. I can't believe you guys would trade safety & practice time to go with 2 days instead of 3 maybe even 4 or 5 in a row if a track day is held prior to an April round.

I have been racing for over 12 years now and have had nothing but praise for the April round. You guys who wine about weather, are you also the same ones who pack up and go home when it is raining?? WE ALL HAVE SAME CONDITIONS!   

Sure I would rather ride in perfect conditions but to trade 3 days to 2 days and how will we fit in the whole ASRA? Kevin, if you here guys complaining now wait till after that weekend! I will speak for all the others who are to afraid to voice their opinions about sticking to the April round.

How about the guys who will be doing both CCS & AMA? They need to take how many days off of work to make that happen? Let's see a full week or more.  Explain that to the big man upstairs in the office.

You know for all the complaining I have heard about the 05 snow blowing round. I enjoyed it. My times were in the 24 to 25 range when it was only 40 degrees out. My AMA times were only in high 23 to low 24's. Bottom line is if it is too cold in your head it is going to be too cold out. I have and idea for you. MOVE!!! There are regional series in Florida if you would like.

If CCS could come up with a date later in the season sure that would be better but only 2 days and trading safety. Riders only getting a minimal amount of practice will never reach their full potential of speed by the end of the weekend. Road America is a huge track that you only get 1/2 the laps or less on and it takes more time to learn it. If CCS can't come up with a weekend date later in the year I say keep the April round.

How about like back in the old days with 2 rounds at Elkhart Lake. I remembered tons of riders at that time filling the grid.

Alright you newbie racers come at me and knock me out with the comments.

[251am]

  Somebody has gotta refer back to the momentarily non-racing leather specialist (A.K.) per CCS then, maybe, having dibs on the 3-4 day weekend in '08. Fri-Mon?

 What does Rd. Am. say about that Kevin? Can they make such a commitment this far out or will we be cramping their WSBK style by then?    

[unter_kid]

Shit Farrell, tell us how you really feel. 

Keep the Apirl date, 2 days at that track are't enough.

Oh yeah.......almost forgot

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

J Farrell,

I know in my case I'm certainly not a fast guy by any means, just to make that clear up front.

I certainly have raced in just about every weather condition: 4" of snow on Saturday which stayed until the next day in the grass at Blackhawk Farms in '97 - temps in the 30's - crashed in the snow at 80+ MPH, I've raced in 100* heat many times, I've raced in rain at Putnam that was so blinding and it was so dark that going down the front straight I couldn't see 30' in front of me and almost ran over a crashing racer because of that, and on and on. The only condition that adversely effects me to the point of becoming a safety issue is heat, and I know when I can't run any longer in it so I pull off or don't go out at all. I will go out in basically any weather.

My opinion on weather is based on the fact that if your gonna pay a mother load of money to race at an event, why would you want to add insult to that injury by doing it in adverse weather conditions season after season? I think everyone (except for those that thrive in adverse weather conditions) would rather race at RA when the weather is DECENT (not perfect) - especially for the amount of money being spent per racer. Every season I go to RA wishing it will be like what it use to be at the old 2nd events. I understand like Kevin said that the later event saw less entries, but if I remember correctly that was also when we had 2 events at RA per season. RA is a 'destination track' for many, I think if there were only 1 event available for a season (that wasn't conflicting with another CCS or AMA event) that was later in the season, and was a 3 day national event, I feel very strongly it would do well. Trying to compare a later 1/2 of the season event at RA to the ones from the past isn't really that accurate since we had 2 events per season back then, plus I would much rather go to a Northern US high speed track like RA in August than a more Southern track like Heartland Park at that same time where your going to fry your ass off all weekend.

Again this is just my opinion, and I certainly am not attacking you J Farrell, I'm just pointing out WHY I feel the way I do. In my opinion I would much rather have the 3 day National event at some time during the season, but I would probably do the shorter compressed one if that's all that was available. 

[weggieman]

79 voters? Come on people put a voice on this thing either way. This is not a representative vote for the number of people that race at RA. This doesn't have to be a scientific, accurate vote of all racers but it needs more input than this.

And I for one don't want to hear a bunch of whining, hissy fits from people that didn't vote.

Spread the word on this to all racers and get something close to a real number of racers who will attend this event either date.

[Super Dave]

Jason Farrell is a racer.

He'll race in any condition.  However, in this age of track days and gentlemen racers, down and dirty racers like Jason are less of the norm.

Jason, unfortunately, CCS needs to have events during profitable opportunities.  When the FUSA purses were better, it seemed to attract more riders.  Was that April of 2001 that set the record for entries at 2025?

Having a Road America date in April is kind of like scheduling an ice race for December 15th.  Weather could go either way, but lately it's been likely that the weather is unfavorable to getting racers of any kind to race.

[weggieman]

This is another part of the reason I am closing the Wegman Fund. It takes just too much of my time away from my family to do it.

Now, one of the biggest weekends of the race season is going to be on Memorial Day weekend which previously I had with my family. I have traditionally spent this time at my American Legion post with my family, watched their parade and had a great time with and honored the many military veterans I know.

If this race happens on Memorial Day I won't be there. Not that it makes any difference to anyone on this board but it's just my position.

Weather be damned, there are more inportant things in life, at least for me.

[weggieman]

Plus side to this is I could now make the pool league playoffs that I have passed up the last many years so I could be at RA. They were always on that same April CCS weekend at RA. 

[Woofentino Pugrossi]

It seems people FORGOT we used to race the first weekend in April at BHF also. Ya know its gonna be a fun day when you see PLOWS on track. :D

[CCS]

The poll was enlightening and just so you know, the staff members that could get off work were all for it, but when 50% of your workers couldn't make it, it became a moot point in my book....No Staff, No Race.....

Fact is that entries decline on average through a season, regardless where you start at, there are less entries by the end of a long, tiring and financially draining season.

If Road America was to offer us a weekend later in the year, it would probably be a CCS only Twin Sprint over two days. Two rounds of practice on Saturday, one on Sunday about 20 minutes each....to run a traditional schedule like Blackhawk, you would have to be willing to pay $150 for your first entry and $100 for each additional to raise the $70,000 nned to pay track rent, insurance, etc..and that would also require we got an average turnout of 610 entries....a tough projection at those entry prices.

Unless something major changes for our 2007 Rd Am weekend, we will probably run a two day CCS Twin Sprint with STT or someone else hosting a Friday practice.

[G 97]

Alright now....
Let's see. I have seen nothing but all you complainers on here. I can't believe you guys would trade safety & practice time to go with 2 days instead of 3 maybe even 4 or 5 in a row if a track day is held prior to an April round.

I have been racing for over 12 years now and have had nothing but praise for the April round. You guys who wine about weather, are you also the same ones who pack up and go home when it is raining?? WE ALL HAVE SAME CONDITIONS!  

Sure I would rather ride in perfect conditions but to trade 3 days to 2 days and how will we fit in the whole ASRA? Kevin, if you here guys complaining now wait till after that weekend! I will speak for all the others who are to afraid to voice their opinions about sticking to the April round.

How about the guys who will be doing both CCS & AMA? They need to take how many days off of work to make that happen? Let's see a full week or more.  Explain that to the big man upstairs in the office.

You know for all the complaining I have heard about the 05 snow blowing round. I enjoyed it. My times were in the 24 to 25 range when it was only 40 degrees out. My AMA times were only in high 23 to low 24's. Bottom line is if it is too cold in your head it is going to be too cold out. I have and idea for you. MOVE!!! There are regional series in Florida if you would like.

If CCS could come up with a date later in the season sure that would be better but only 2 days and trading safety. Riders only getting a minimal amount of practice will never reach their full potential of speed by the end of the weekend. Road America is a huge track that you only get 1/2 the laps or less on and it takes more time to learn it. If CCS can't come up with a weekend date later in the year I say keep the April round.

How about like back in the old days with 2 rounds at Elkhart Lake. I remembered tons of riders at that time filling the grid.

Alright you newbie racers come at me and knock me out with the comments.

I have to agree.  2 days for a full race weekend that includes ASRA?   Leave the original date as is or at least a traditional weekend event.  Let NESBA handle the practice day. 

and Jason Ferrell can't even get out of his own parking lot on a Spree with out crashing.    

[extrakt0r]

The poll was enlightening and just so you know, the staff members that could get off work were all for it, but when 50% of your workers couldn't make it, it became a moot point in my book....No Staff, No Race.....

Fact is that entries decline on average through a season, regardless where you start at, there are less entries by the end of a long, tiring and financially draining season.

If Road America was to offer us a weekend later in the year, it would probably be a CCS only Twin Sprint over two days. Two rounds of practice on Saturday, one on Sunday about 20 minutes each....to run a traditional schedule like Blackhawk, you would have to be willing to pay $150 for your first entry and $100 for each additional to raise the $70,000 nned to pay track rent, insurance, etc..and that would also require we got an average turnout of 610 entries....a tough projection at those entry prices.

Unless something major changes for our 2007 Rd Am weekend, we will probably run a two day CCS Twin Sprint with STT or someone else hosting a Friday practice.

So, if I am reading this correctly then ASRA will not be at RA in 2007?