Some thoughts on the future of Midwest/Great Plains racing

[riderupred]

CCS controls content.  My best friend owns a printing company.  when you buy in bulk it is usually cheap... there are few design websites where you post what you are looking for and people reply with samples and cost bids.... keeps it really cheap :)  No doubt it takes money to make money.. But if enough people chip in on a marketing fund the cost to CCS will be minimal if any..... I will send $50.00 to the idea and free delivery to my area.

[spyderchick]

CCS controls content.  My best friend owns a printing company.  when you buy in bulk it is usually cheap... there are few design websites where you post what you are looking for and people reply with samples and cost bids.... keeps it really cheap :)  No doubt it takes money to make money.. But if enough people chip in on a marketing fund the cost to CCS will be minimal if any..... I will send $50.00 to the idea and free delivery to my area.

Wow. Just Wow. <shakes head> And you have a business degree? wow.

[kawtipping]

I would be more than happy to put up a race schedule style poster in my dealership!  If someone does a quick layup in Photoshop or some other program that is easily printed, I am sure most businesses would have no issues with printing them out on a sheet of glossy photo paper and putting a few up.

[riderupred]

I would be more than happy to put up a race schedule style poster in my dealership!  If someone does a quick layup in Photoshop or some other program that is easily printed, I am sure most businesses would have no issues with printing them out on a sheet of glossy photo paper and putting a few up.

Thank you :)

My thoughts exactly... it does not have to be elaborate and expensive.... you can make a tri-fold on microsoft office print one and go to office max  or the likes and print X amount.... .10 a copy when under 100 copies .07 cents over 500 and .04  over a 1000 ( office max rates).  Spend some time folding them and then ship/deliver.  Wal mart prints banners and posters for under $30.00.

When you have little money to do something, you figure out how to make it work..

it takes money to make money.... if CCS can't afford the marketing then maybe from the help of the racing community they can afford the marketing to get the word out....

Just to clarify, I currently have my degrees in accounting .. And am half way done with my BSBA..... I am not a marketing exec.. they are business degrees but not THAT end of business. I work on the money end of business.

[spyderchick]

The CMRA puts together a snazzy poster for their each of their events.  Racers print these out and post them in their local shops.  If we get 2 spectators per poster....We obviously cannot rely on spectator funding but we should not write it off either.  I think that anyone seeing Jason Farrell putting it sideways while laying down a rubber line  when he passed me on the outside of 5 would find it very exciting...

riderupred, I think SV88 trumped you on the idea...

[riderupred]

riderupred, I think SV88 trumped you on the idea...

yep he had a great idea!!!

I simply added to it with handing out pamphlets with bike and accessory purchases and making them available at the check out counters. Something for the customer to take home and think about.  Maybe I ( the customer)  didn't see the poster or  I forget about the posters I see because I am in a rush, I have a million things to do, something comes up.. but if I have a reminder sitting on my table  or desk  at home I am more likely to give it more thought.

[kawtipping]

There are some good  ideas here.  Also there are some decent thoughts being put down in the Where was everyone thread, and if some of those ideas were combined with others in different threads on the forum, I think they may hold some strong ideas.  Three that I would like to see brought together is classes, overall cost to compete in those classes and lack of a properly classifying out dated bikes.  Not that adding classes is always productive, perhaps it would work in this case.  Having a pre-2k class would be one way to get people that are unable to afford a newer bike the chance to get on the racetrack.  This does add problems of getting direct fit race parts for them...but almost everyone would be in the same boat.  If you had a MW and HW class for the pre-2k, they could run with LW and MW respectively so they are not completely out classed.  Perhaps making this a claimer style class would be an option as well.  Hell, make it a $3k claim on the top 5 in the class.  Bringing in a used bike dealer as a sponsor for the class would more than likely be an easy sell as well as they could see sales from folks looking for that cheap bike.

I know my idea isn't perfect, but I would like to see CCS stick around in the Midwest for many years to come.  I am trying to do my part by putting together a contingency program for next year as well.

[Jason748]

Another thought... could CCS make friends with one of the closest "other" race origs in the midwest - say the CRA?  Possibly offer a license reciprocation program?  I know a number of CRA racers would be very open to running a couple of CCS events if they didn't have to purchase a license.  I brought down a CRA racer with me to Road America this year, and meet up with a couple others there as well and all were impressed with CCS (except for the registration line Thursday...) and looked forward to coming back next year.  I may even get one or two of them to head down to BHF in September as well with me.
And maybe a combined CRA / CCS weekend or two (one at BIR & one at BHF or Road A).  The rules package & class structure are similar enough that it could be made to work.

[spyderchick]

There are some good  ideas here.  Also there are some decent thoughts being put down in the Where was everyone thread, and if some of those ideas were combined with others in different threads on the forum, I think they may hold some strong ideas.  Three that I would like to see brought together is classes, overall cost to compete in those classes and lack of a properly classifying out dated bikes.  Not that adding classes is always productive, perhaps it would work in this case.  Having a pre-2k class would be one way to get people that are unable to afford a newer bike the chance to get on the racetrack.  This does add problems of getting direct fit race parts for them...but almost everyone would be in the same boat.  If you had a MW and HW class for the pre-2k, they could run with LW and MW respectively so they are not completely out classed.  Perhaps making this a claimer style class would be an option as well.  Hell, make it a $3k claim on the top 5 in the class.  Bringing in a used bike dealer as a sponsor for the class would more than likely be an easy sell as well as they could see sales from folks looking for that cheap bike.

I know my idea isn't perfect, but I would like to see CCS stick around in the Midwest for many years to come.  I am trying to do my part by putting together a contingency program for next year as well.

Having a more cohesive class structure is certainly one thing that CCS could do to draw more racers. Right now there's is no real 'stock' class as the way the supersport rules are written you can build a pretty wicked machine.

As far a a 'vintage' class, that would probably be a good idea. Lots of older machines that folks have lying around they would love to bring to the track but don't have anywhere to put them and be competitive.

So yes, making the class structure so that more people find racing affordable is a good start. Racing will always be expensive, but if we have an entry level class where people get hooked, that just makes good business sense.

While 'claiming' sounds interesting in theory, the fact is it was originally intended to create the illusion of 'parity' at the pro level between lowly privateers and factory outfits. In practice, you dared not 'claim' anything as there was a backlash of ever getting a better ride, it created resentment rather than a level playing field.

At the club level, I claiming just doesn't make sense. Even the top experts can't spend money like a factory outfit, so there are no $50K chassis and $25K suspension systems. A club rider who has a larger checkbook can throw some fairly big dollars at their bikes, but in the end, it's whether you have the skill to make use of all of that. If we take Robert Jensen as an example, he never did anything out of the ordinary. He spent the time to develop relationships with people in the industry to get sponsorship, picked the brains of Thermosman and engine gurus and then applied it to his program. It's not rocket surgery, but it does take work, research and dedication. Oh yeah, the fact that the guy had a high level of skill probably helped. His bin it/win it ratio was more than respectable.

Jason, I've heard a few other people throwing around the idea of partnering with other racing organizations. You have it right, there needs to be a similarity in the rule books. I think the idea has merit, just one more option for folks.

[motovid.com]

good discourse here;

we've seen quite a number of vintage bikes @ our track days in 2010, so at least in CHGO, there seems to be a strong contingent of vintage bikes who WANT to get on track and race. Perhaps, some overlap with class rules to allow for AHRMA, recipricol rights as far as license goes could get more bikes on course and open the opportunity for vintage bikes.

Of course, it goes without saying....reduce the complexity of the CURRENT CCS classes to increase the grids while reducing the number of races to fit into a schedule....."simple systems survive, complex systems fail"  seems to apply here.

Next, why not grid based on qualifying like we used to in the FUSA rounds or CCS expert Unlimited GP in 2003/2004?

I understand the business reason for driving pre-entries, hence the primary driver for $$$ in advance of the event;

However, the economic reality today is racers simply cannot commit or part with their income so far in advance any longer.....as evidence of pre-entries being down across the board- very consistent.

So, consider reducing the number of classes to open the schedule while increasing grids to get sponsors back, and with the reduction in classes, opens the opportunity to build grids based on qualifying. LESS IS MORE.

This experience (qualifying), I would argue counts towards the value proposition of a participant driven model.....pay to play.......even though it is part of the GRID process, the rider/racer experience is better than filling our faxes in Jan. ! Certainly more fun....better than a pre-entry model.

Asked if the racing community would prefer Qualifying to Pre-Entry, I would hedge a bet it is easily 80/20 in favor, if not 98/2 or even 99.999998% for Qualifying or timed practice.

Of course, from a safety perspective, qualifying is better to build grids, racing against others at the same pace, skill, closing speeds......and since it is more seat time, the racers MIGHT see more value, therefore COMMIT to a race that has a qualifying session as opposed to a sprint with a pre-entry for grid process.

Lots of IT/programmer types in the CCS community (i'm one of them) could help the challenges faced with building the grids in a timely fashion to counter the argument GRIDS BASED ON QUALIFYING IS COMPLEX. It simply doesn't have to be......we did something similar in 2007 in short time using Grand Am's AMB Timing System for the HRRS Outlaw Races before the MOTO-ST round @ HPT. It was ugly, lots of scotch tape, bubble gum, and shimmed to death, but it worked and Matt Hall won A LOT OF MONEY!

To further simplify the rules and allow for racers from all regions and all sanctions, (regional sanction invite??) we used a dyno from Canada Superbike to enforce a base set of rules, largely taken from the prototype Daytona Sportbike rulebook generated from AMA PRO/DMG to get near 3:1, pounds to HP ratio.  It worked. This allowed for bikes setup for different rulebooks to compete on a level playing field. Assuming schedules can be resolved (easy in advance, with willing partners) it seems we could quite easily hold regional club races with an INVITE to various sanctions.....assuming we could address the conflicts and focus on the commonality (overlap).

Perhaps, if we had a portable dyno available, this could help keep racers honest and rules somewhat less complicated (somewhat).  In my view, the whole premise should be to reduce the barriers to entry and ease the transition into racing with the new assumptions of our current market.

Speaking to the schedule and open the opportunty to enable timed practice or qualifying, how about moving CCS licensing clinic from Sat. inside the race weekend to Fri. allowing for Rick's LCR students to get their license BEFORE to open the opportunity for MORE race entries on Sat AND Sun?

I am assuming we could coordinate something with BFR on the test and tune practice (fri.) and with Kevin Elliot / CCS, and Rick Breuer on their calendar. It seems like it should work towards more entries with a Race License clinic on Fri. driving NEW race entries on Sat. & Sun.

more fodder for the fire....

[spyderchick]

One more thing I'd like to address is marketing, in the past there's been an "hold an event and they will come" mentality. No more. Yup, trackdays were a game changer, and people have a choice.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Trackdays need to be the gateway into racing. Partnering with regional trackday organizers is key to funneling more riders into the sport. The bitching that trackdays are ruining racing has got to stop as it's not productive.

In addition, there needs to be an aggressive marketing strategy to create predictable and sustainable grid volumes. Whether it's a grassroots/viral marketing campaign; a slick, no-holds-barred media blitz or a combination of the two, the fact is no one can turn a wheel unless they know there's somewhere for them to make it happen.

I think we have a good dialogue going here. Don't expect to see massive changes overnight, but rather an evolution within the sport. We need to stop looking back and start looking forward.

[motovid.com]

right on Alexa-

I concur (as we normally do) with your point on Marketing......This is crucial and incredibly important, based on our experience in the track day market, Motovid.com can help. Of course, we must all agree that "best kept secret" status is BAD for CCS and must change.....so Motovid.com offers the following distribution, marketing partnership for CCS in 2011.

Just like we do for our sponsors and partners, Motovid.com could distribute a 4x5 CCS flyer (artwork, design and print costs borne by CCS)  to its Track Day market via handouts at the event and well via snail mail using our Souvenir DVD mailer....FOR FREE! (1300 delivered in 2010)

In this way, Motovid.com offers a free marketing partnership to CCS to help promote, advertise and market the CCS program to its market of track day enthusiasts....After EACH of our track day events in 2011.

If Kevin could put together an infomercial for CCS, post-edit, professional video clip (3-5 min.) I would be happy to include CCS marketing on ALL DVDs in 2011.

Once again for FREE....the only cost to CCS is materials for print  and cost involved with post production video editing to make a suitable content clip for our 2011 DVD distribution.

Last year we shipped over 1100 DVDs and this year we should eclipse 1300. Assuming 100 flyers per event, suggests we could get 2500-3000 pieces of collateral material in A VERY targeted market for CCS at no cost (distribution).