BHF to a 1 day race sechdule for the rest of the year.

[DanO966]

Well this really sucks, i dont really care about getting rid of friday practice but to do all the races in one day is not a good idea, i now will have 10 races in one day and 2 of them are gt races, puts alot of races back to back to back to back, who needs to practice all day on saturday, have practice in the am on saturday and ealrly afternoon and still race saturday afternoon, if that does not happen then i will be thinking of canceling some races and now ccs has lost even more money

Ditto!!

I'm not racing nearly the amount of races you and jason are doing...I have no desire to run a bunch of back to back races...I think I'll be canceling a couple of races also. 

[J Farrell / Speed Tech Motorsp]

Ditto!!

I'm not racing nearly the amount of races you and jason are doing...I have no desire to run a bunch of back to back races...I think I'll be canceling a couple of races also. 

Well there goes any chance at making any contingency money of which keeps me going to the next race.
If CCS doesn't change this schedule it might be over for them for the rest of the year.
There is no point in my racing if there is no contingency money to be made. If we are not riding then there is no point in the tire vendors wasting their time coming to the track since there will be no sales and it not worth their time. If there are no riders then there are absolutley no fans to watch any races.
Gron4 will have nobody to take pics of and the list goes on and on.

CCS? You know the golden business rule right?? 20% of your customers bring 80% of your $$ right??
If you take Brian, Ortega, myself and a couple others, of which enter a large amount of races and we fold.... There is no series!! If there are less riders then the current contingency companies will not payout anything. Brings us back to the no reward thing for our results. The tire guys will have hardly a point to come to vend tires. They barely make enough money toto turn a profit as it is.
If I don't get any contingency $ from tires there is no point to me riding period.
I think CCS should leave it the way it was. At least for the Red Flag event also!!
I'm seeing a low turnout for the Red Flag fund as many riders are pissed and might not even show up what I'm told.

I planned on bringing family & friends to watch this next weekend but it hardly makes sense if it is all in one day. I can't even take a damn piss between races much less even acknowledge that my friends & family are even at the track to watch me.

Just wait for the first red flag incident when I lap a first time amatuer and scare him right off the track. Not fun for anyone.

[CCS]

Hello Jason,

You know the biggest rule in business? You have to make more than you spend and 275 entries doesn't come close to paying the bills.  I'm not any happier about this than you are, but I can't afford to shell out $10,000 more than I take in at every race.

You talk about needing contingency money to keep going, we need entries to keep going and they just aren't there right now.  The first race this year at BHF did okay with 450 entries and 500 gate passes but July's race with 275 entries and 300 gate passes was the worst it's been in 25 years at BHF. With even fewer pre-entries for August than there was in July we had to do something.

And this goes beyond the Midwest region too. Mid-Atlantic is averaging 600 entries still but 2 years ago it was 800 entries. Florida was 600 entries two years ago and now it's 400. Loudon used to be 900 entries two years ago and now it's barely 600 entries. And if you think it's the organization, you only have to look at WERA's numbers. Two years ago they averaged 470 entries per Sportsman race, they are currently averaging 359. There is not a single area in the United States that is seeing an increase in motorcycle road racing numbers. (Don't even get me started about track days.)


It is unfortunate that you, Brian, Dan and other riders who have supported us are going to have to cut back on the number of classes you run but we understand completely that you can only physically do so much in one day. Some of you remember several years ago when I talked about the fact that since we were growing in numbers, we didn't have to raise prices to CCS races. Well when that stopped, we have been in a never-ending battle with the budget ever since. The bottom line here is that we either went to the one day schedule or just cancelled the season, so I chose to keep the series going  rather than abandon those who have supported us for all these years.

You as racers get to vote with your entries on whether you support this organization. I hope that you stay with us and help us get through the next couple of seasons by doing whatever it takes to keep the Midwest region alive and racing.

Thanks to all of you who support CCS racing.

[weggieman]

It will be very interesting to see the numbers for the track/practice day vs CCS races that weekend.

Track days are killing road racing. Just my .02 cents.

[J Farrell / Speed Tech Motorsp]

Kevin,

Thanks for the reply.
I understand your point and its obvious as to the reasons that shortening the race weekend is occuring. I'm just trying to do damage control and keep it from getting any worse.
Is there anyway we can use Saturday to practice in the AM and race partly in the afternoon like on Friday at Road America?

There is quite a debate going on about trackdays causing a reduction in road racing.
On thing is always go back to is that the population is growing, manufactures sell more bikes today than were sold in the 80's / 90's I believe. So you would think that would equte to more racers right?
Its getting worse though.
There are a ton of people at track days currently.
Maybe the problem is that there is not enough training classes happening with the trackdays to convert those track day riders into racers.

I asked a customer of mine who is a new track day rider why he doesn't try road racing? You know what the answer was? He was going to get his feet wet at a couple more track days then maybe do the race school.  I told him to remove the pacifier & start racing. He is now signing up for the learning curves school in August at Blackhawk.  I'm not sure what to do to get more riders to jump off the high dive and start racing but I'm thinking all day. Just give me a few hours.

[racerhall]

so what is being said is that no you cant have practice for 3/4 of saturday and 1/4 racing on saturday and the rest on sunday

[gonecrazy]

I still disagree with you guys..I do not think track days are taking away from racing. I think the lack of funds due to job reduction or loss of job has alot to do with it and it may not be the racer themselves it could be there spouse that has lost income. I know a few from our area that this affects, either that or injuries have taken a roll. We( the Mcra) have been turning out new racers. I bet atleast 50 a year get there license through our clinic, now coming out of our area i dont think thats a bad number, plus we do everything we can to pump them into our track weekends. There are so many riders out there that are just dump to the idea and dont even have a clue of how to start.

Now I can see CCS stand point on cutting back, I know how much it cost when we do the events here at gateway with all the expenises. Our club is a non for profit also and if there no money in the jar we can not host any events. If we had a track turn out like HPT had it would put us right in the grave..If  our trackdays that we have had would have not been so good we wouldnt be able to fund the racing end of it, so its a trade off.

Hope to see you guy aug 14-15. Word is theres a few fast guys comin out of retirement aiming for the track record

[roadracer162]

I've got to side with the race organizers on this one. It is a business for them even though it is a "racing club" for me. For you racers that are pulling entries, I am sure the loss of entry fees don't make up the deficit of renting the track for an additional day.

As a new rider I found that the all day Saturday practice was beneficial and still is now. it allows me time to learn the track, and then opportunities to learn suspension set-up and the changes it makes through practice. Of course I don't race as many races as you folks do so that schedule works for me. At most I will race 4-5 races for the weekend but mostly I race 2 races. I race instead of track-days just because I feel more safe riding with racers that I know.

I do believe the decline of racing participation has been affected by the track day orgs not because they don't have the race school. Here is florida it took some time for the track days to catch on and now there are three or four organizations. I don't know how CCS can keep going when less riders are content in riding track days. CCS offers so much more and to me is safer than track days. CCS offers supplemental medical insurance, first line EMS coverage at every race, a corner worker for every corner, and unsurpassed experience as compared to the track day orgs. I am sure WERA is probably the same.

If I don't race and do track days instead, I don't get contingency and for the most part is more expensive to do a track day as compared to my racing budget.

Mark

[J Farrell / Speed Tech Motorsp]

Ok everyone.
Lets do our best to promote CCS Road Racing for the weekend of August at Blackhawk Farms.
I'm tired of seeing these low # of entries at Blackhawk and the Midwest races.
If we are going to make our series any better its time we get other involved in our sport. Spread the word.
Lets try to make this next weekend a great one. Get these #'s up so we can have a full 2 day event for the last Blackhawk event.
Make it your job to get a buddy to start racing instead of track day riding. So them the other side of riding on the track.
There are plenty of track day riders to go around that will keep holding their daddies hands and not step up.
Racing is a blast. Lets keep this sport around for many years to come!

[twilkinson3]

I need more rich slightly crazy friends......

Jason if you've got ideas feel free to share, I've got a pretty good realtionship with a local dealership and might be able to hang a few bits in he shop or such if I ask nice.....

[2blueYam]

Well, the wife won't let me race.  I have seen friends get married and their new wife flat out makes them sell the motorcycle or basically makes them feel so guilty they can't take it and sell it anyway.  My wife lets me have a bike for the street and another for track days, so all and all it isn't so bad.  Maybe, just maybe if I go crash free at track days for a few years, I can talk her into letting me run F40 and/or LW F40.  Almost two years since my big crash at Blackhawk Farms, so maybe if I stay crash free through 2011 as well, it will be time to ask.

Although racing is expensive, that is not what is stopping me from moving over from track days.  But I agree with others, you really need to figure out how to get the young guys out there, not old timers like me.  A successful AMA Pro racing series with at least a couple of rounds on Network TV / ESPN would probably help build the excitement for road racing, but unfortunately that is out of the control of CCS.

[Team Spalding]

Well, the wife won't let me race.  I have seen friends get married and their new wife flat out makes them sell the motorcycle or basically makes them feel so guilty they can't take it and sell it anyway.  My wife lets me have a bike for the street and another for track days, so all and all it isn't so bad.  Maybe, just maybe if I go crash free at track days for a few years, I can talk her into letting me run F40 and/or LW F40.

"My wife allows me to do this and my wife does not allow me to do that" that is embarrassing I feel sorry for guys like you. She must keep your balls in her purse. Take em out and go racing.