How about modifying the CCS Midwest Schedule??

Started by tshort, October 29, 2004, 08:37:55 AM

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boo181

please don't take mam away. topeka can go and never return, but if you take mam out of the midwest than blackhawk is the closest track to home for me and its 5 hrs minimum.

tshort

QuoteI think this is where CCS does not make sense.  They combine so many of the races, they might as well not even have 2 or three regions.  It could all be MW very easily.  I think CCS has figured out that the current setup is the most economical approach.  What do you do?    
You nailed it - that's the issue.  

So if CCS has even a shred of customer focus, they'd recognize the fact that some racers simply can't make the long roadtrips, but would still like to compete for points on some kind of a full schedule.

So why not create a new "Chicago" region, that includes only tracks within, say, 4 hours of Chicago - BFR, RA, Gingerman, Autobahn, maybe Gateway, maybe Putnam.  That's a great variety of tracks, and would make for a competitive schedule.  

Then build a region around the Chicago one, that includes not only all the Chicago region races, but perhaps a few more at Topeka and MAM.  Call that region the Midwest or Great Plains region.  Build a second one around the Chicago region, called "Great Lakes", and include Grattan and maybe Nelson Ledges.

The current system is ridiculous, IMHO - I'm in third place in Great Plains LWSS, and I wasn't even paying attention to their schedule this season; but I'm in fourth place in the Midwest region, which is my home region.  Go figure.  

C'mon CCS.  
Tom
ThinkFast Racing
AFM #280 EX
ex-CCS #128

GSXR RACER MIKE

QuoteSo why not create a new "Chicago" region, that includes only tracks within, say, 4 hours of Chicago - BFR, RA, Gingerman, Autobahn, maybe Gateway, maybe Putnam.  That's a great variety of tracks, and would make for a competitive schedule.  

Then build a region around the Chicago one, that includes not only all the Chicago region races, but perhaps a few more at Topeka and MAM.  Call that region the Midwest or Great Plains region.  Build a second one around the Chicago region, called "Great Lakes", and include Grattan and maybe Nelson Ledges.

     Just to offer another side of this Tom, the real key to this is location. If a 4 hour radius from Chicago was used that would mean there would be people that would be up to 8 hours away from a track located to the opposite extreme of a Chicago region.

     I can make it to Heartland Park in about 8 1/2 hours, Brainerd in 7, MAM in 6, Grattan in 5 1/4, Putnam in 5, Gateway in 4 1/2, Gingerman in 3 3/4, Road America in 2 1/2, Autobahn in 1 3/4, and Blachawk Farms is in the same County I live in. For me I couldn't ask for too much more since I can make it to all but 1 track before Midnight if I leave right after I get out of work on Friday (without leaving early). I could even leave in the morning and get to 3 of the tracks easily before the start of practice.

     Ultimately there will always be those that are located toward boundaries of a region that have to travel to most all races, and then those who are more centrally located that have to travel to boundary tracks a few times during the season. I think it would be dificult/impossible to make it convenient for all racers involved in a single region to be able to make it to all tracks within a certain amount of time. :-/
Smites are a cowards way of feeling brave!   :jerkoff:
Mike Williams - 2 GSXR 750's
Former MW Region Expert #58
Racing exclusively with CCS since '96
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Super_KC124

How's Topeka ever going to get repaved if everybody keeps saying how much it sucks and that it's too far away? ;D  Support as many tracks as you can or they'll go away for ever. If you can't afford to go to all the races, don't.  ;) And have I mentioned lately "I LOVE GATEWAY!" :P

Super Dave

QuoteAs mentioned, you'll never see 2 RA weekends.  Too expensive. 

Actually, we saw it a lot.  

Used to have two CCS events at Road America...and the AMA national.
Super Dave

Super Dave

QuoteThen build a region around the Chicago one, that includes not only all the Chicago region races, but perhaps a few more at Topeka and MAM.  Call that region the Midwest or Great Plains region.  Build a second one around the Chicago region, called "Great Lakes", and include Grattan and maybe Nelson Ledges. 

Well, right...

So, you want all the other people to travel to the Chicago region races, but you don't want to do the outside Chicago region races.

Heartland Park Topeka was opened in 1989.  

MAM, well, it's really new.  2002 right?

BFR....1967.

The Chicago market is a developed area of motorcycle road racing.  You've got used race bikes, leathers, all kinds of cr@p floating around.  

MAM, HPT...basically emerging markets.  

You can't get enough local racers from Omaha, DesMoines, KC, Topeka, St Joe, Lincoln, etc. to pay for those places.  Loose them...well, you may never get in.  You'll never develop it.  

The flip side is that there are people that HATE going to the same place all the time.  But whiners are the loudest.  

Yeah, some people don't like driving...but that's why some people do this...they can go to a different track.

A friend of mine that races with AHRMA did so because AHRMA used to go to all the "cool" tracks.  He lives in Minneapolis, and so his travels were already far away from most places...but he could go to Mid-Ohio, Road Atlanta, Barber, Sears Point....

Some say, "Come on CCS..."

CCS has been putting on races since 1984...there's a couple of ideas on how to do it.

Don't want to travel...isn't there still at Blackhawk World Championship still?  Seems like a Chicago region to me.
Super Dave

Super Dave

QuoteHow's Topeka ever going to get repaved if everybody keeps saying how much it sucks and that it's too far away? ;D  Support as many tracks as you can or they'll go away for ever. If you can't afford to go to all the races, don't.  ;) And have I mentioned lately "I LOVE GATEWAY!" :P

HPT actually had three AMA events...  1989, 1990, and 1991

Gateway had one...1995

Regardless of whether one likes those places, Putnam, Gingerman, and Grattan have not had AMA Pro races.  

Poor pavement?  Look, I've actually raced on real stree courses.  Have fun!  
Super Dave

Woofentino Pugrossi

QuoteHow's Topeka ever going to get repaved if everybody keeps saying how much it sucks and that it's too far away? ;D  

Any bets CCS isnt Topeka's bread and butter?:D SCCA plays there alot more than CCS does. ;D
Rob
CCS MW#14 EX, ASRA #141
CCSForums Cornerworking and Classifieds Mod

Racingxtc7


tshort

#33
QuoteAny bets CCS isnt Topeka's bread and butter?:D SCCA plays there alot more than CCS does. ;D

Probably not.  But I'll bet the Irwins see it differently.  They bought it recently (like two years ago, maybe?), and they also happen to own BFR.  

Do you think maybe they use all those BFR events as a negotiating point, to get CCS to buy some time at Topeka?  Naaahhhh - never ;)
Tom
ThinkFast Racing
AFM #280 EX
ex-CCS #128

Super Dave

CCS and motorcycle events are good business for BFR.

That was a good reason to buy HPT.  It was another source of untapped revenue by the people that put on events at HPT before.

Obviously, SCCA will play a big part.  Ray Irwin races in GT1.

The Mid-Ohio SCCA run off contract expired just recently.  They were ran once at HPT about ten years ago or so...

That's a great opportunity.

A race track is a business just like anything else.

MAM...they are idiots.

HPT...well, they are racers who own another succcessfull race track.  Seems logical to work with them.

Ray sat down with me and we talked about what I though about the track and some changes.  How many people can do that for you?  The purchase price was probably in the millions of dollars.  He made changes the first winter that he owned the track.  Now more.  

Who else has done that?
Super Dave

Burt Munro

QuoteAny bets CCS isnt Topeka's bread and butter?:D SCCA plays there alot more than CCS does. ;D


And it certainly doesn't hurt from the SCCA aspect that the SCCA national office is within a mile or two of the track.  

Topeka is a unique situation with 3 race venues at the same site - Road course, drag strip and dirt track.  I'm sure that it was a big blow to Ray's business plan when he wasn't able to contract with a promoter this past spring to run a weekly dirt track series for cars.  But the necessary improvements are beginning to happen - not as quickly as most of us would like - but still going in the right direction!
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