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Nationals - Will it ever move to another track?


Lemming

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NASA announced at last years Nationals (2006) that they had signed a 5-year deal with Mid-Ohio. So it's there until 2011 at least.

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The home track advantage is undeniable for the mid-ohio region drivers. Moving it around would be nice. Most of the good tracks have plenty of local supporting businesses. I would love to see them at Fontana.

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Fontana? That's a joke right? The idea of any road racing sanctioning body holding its National Championships at a Roval, on the West Coast of all places, is laughable.

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It's because of the "home-field" advantage that I'd like to see it moved. Of course, I wouldn't complain if came down South, possible Road Atlanta or Barber.

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I've done 2 NASA Championships at Mid Ohio.

I'm not a fan of the track

Interesting factoid regarding my experience there in '07;

I didn't make one pass in competition the whole event.

Not one pass in any of the 3 races (not counting starts).

Cars (like CMC) within a second or 2 of each other can't make a CLEAN pass.

You can tear somebody up and pass but.....

 

Road Atlanta gets all my track votes for eva!

Then BMP.

 

jb

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I've done 2 NASA Championships at Mid Ohio.

I'm not a fan of the track

Interesting factoid regarding my experience there in '07;

I didn't make one pass in competition the whole event.

Not one pass in any of the 3 races (not counting starts).

Cars (like CMC) within a second or 2 of each other can't make a CLEAN pass.

You can tear somebody up and pass but.....

 

Road Atlanta gets all my track votes for eva!

Then BMP.

 

jb

 

That is so different than our race. Many cars within 1/2 sec of each other, made several passes and was passed back a few as well. This was my first time on the track as well.

 

BTW, don't I owe you guys some money????

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I know we are locked in at Mid-Ohio for a while and am fine with that.

 

But would love to see some national series for some of the bigger classes.

Maybe 5 events across the nation a year at the top tracks counts towards series championship and maybe the national championship counts as a double points event in addition to national championship.

 

Would really get attention in American Iron I think if we had 5 events a year with 25 plus cars.

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Genoa..... Genoa.... Genoa.....

 

(rhymes with Toga.... Toga.... Toga....)

 

 

It's not exactly at the geographic center of the country, but it's within 300 miles of it. What could be more fair than that?

 

Friday's race could be held on the West side, Saturday's on the East side and then Sunday's big event could run the full 6.3 miles.

 

 

http://www.genoamotorsports.com

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Personally I like Mid-Ohio. I don't mind travelling cross-country once a year. On the other hand, I wonder if some mid-west guys don't like running "the same track we ran last month". Could be boring for them.

 

Given the option, once this contract runs out (and if it's not renewed), I'd like to see us go somewhere without a NASA presence. Road America? Pacific Raceway? Portland?

 

If you want to remove "hometrack advantage, you gotta go where no one lives, and I've been to those out in the desert. Believe me, it's great to have a track like MO that welcomes and supports us - and has a semblance of civilization around it!

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on the West Coast of all places, is laughable.

 

Eventhough Nationals will be held at Mid-Ohio for at least the next 3 years, why would the notion of the West Coast be "laughable" to host the National Championship someday?

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"Given the option, once this contract runs out (and if it's not renewed), I'd like to see us go somewhere without a NASA presence. Road America? Pacific Raceway? Portland?"

 

Brad,

 

Great idea...let's move it to Road America...nobody ever races there!

 

Um, actually NASA Midwest has raced there every year that there has been a NASA Midwest and many of the region drivers cut their teeth there when starting out.

 

The "Home Track" advantage only counts for a year or two. If you can't figure MO out in 6 days of driving then you're not going to get it. Moving the Nationals every couple of years put many more at a disadvantage.

 

Sidney Franklin

AI #64

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on the West Coast of all places, is laughable.

 

Eventhough Nationals will be held at Mid-Ohio for at least the next 3 years, why would the notion of the West Coast be "laughable" to host the National Championship someday?

 

If you would have quoted his entire comment, you would understand. Someone suggested a circle track, which would be rediculous unless there is a road course at that specific track, like Daytona.

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Although the Fontana track does have both an infield road course configuration and a Roval configuaration that uses part of the NASCAR track, most road racers don't like Rovals and IMO it would be very unpopular to host a national championship at this type of venue. However, the main reason I called the suggestion "laughable" is because California is pretty damn far from where most of the people live in this country, especially racers. Trust me, I lived in LA for eight years so I know all about the feeling that it is the center of the universe. However, one only needs to look at the geographic population density of the US to realize that the majority of people actually live EAST of the Mississippi, and the best way to ensure the failure of this event would be to put it in California.

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Matt's right...if the SCCAs HPT experiment has taught anyone anything, its that a national championship (*anyones* national championship) deserves a purpose-built, championship-quality venue with strong road-racing tradition, as close to the racer center-of-gravity (not the geographical center). Rovals aint gonna cut it.

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Given the option, once this contract runs out (and if it's not renewed), I'd like to see us go somewhere without a NASA presence. Road America? Pacific Raceway? Portland?

Why not HPT? I'll bet in a few years, the SCCA will be happy to trade the dates to NASA to get Mid-Ohio back.

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Genoa..... Genoa.... Genoa.....

 

(rhymes with Toga.... Toga.... Toga....)

 

 

It's not exactly at the geographic center of the country, but it's within 300 miles of it. What could be more fair than that?

 

Friday's race could be held on the West side, Saturday's on the East side and then Sunday's big event could run the full 6.3 miles.

 

 

http://www.genoamotorsports.com

 

or Eagles Canyon.

 

http://www.eaglescanyon.com/php/welcome.php

 

jb

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Given the option, once this contract runs out (and if it's not renewed), I'd like to see us go somewhere without a NASA presence. Road America? Pacific Raceway? Portland?

Why not HPT? I'll bet in a few years, the SCCA will be happy to trade the dates to NASA to get Mid-Ohio back.

 

 

I was waiting for someone to say this.

 

 

Geographical-center means nothing if the facility isnt championship-worthy. People *wont* come to a non-worthy track no matter how 'central' it is....they *will* make the extra effort to come to a *worthy* track that's farther away.

 

Geography is (somewhat) overrated.

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The problem with the geographic center is that while its equal distance from the main population centers, its also the furthest away for the main population centers. Fair for everyone and close to no one.

 

SCCA runoffs are going down in flames after moving to the geographic center in Topeka to a less than exciting course.

 

MidOhio is what it is. One sort of passing zone and thats it. That is going create frustration and probably some wrecked cars. I think we can complain and recommend all we want to, but I doubt its going to change a lot.

 

Racing on the west coast is probably as good an idea as racing on the east coast. Racing at Fontana...that I am not sure I get, with Sonoma and Laguna Seca near by.

 

My suggestion would be to let the nationals grow til the contract is up and then look at something different. My suggestions are :

1. Longshot: Approach Tony George about using the road course at Indianaplos Motor Speedway(if it still there in 2011). If turnout grows to the right level, then they might consider it. Its a once a year track. Its centrally located with great facilities and plenty of lodging. Might be very expensive, but its Indy.

 

2. Not such a longshot: Get a fall date at Daytona. Those are there to be gotten. Its not a NASA track as of today. Its a roval, but the only one with a legendary road racing history. And....well...Its Daytona.

 

3. Barber Motorsports Park: At present the only date run by NASA at Barber is AFTER the Nationals. That date could be used for the Nationals in mid October. The track is a lot like Mid Ohio as far as race ability particularly for horsepower cars, but at present they are reconfiguring to add straightaway to make grand am cup happy and attract the IRL.

 

Birmingham is as centrally located as Mid Ohio with great facilities near by lodging and proximity to the interstate.

 

Lastly, I am not kidding about IMS. Who knows what the future of the Indy 500 is right now. NASCAR has peaked and now neither the 500 nor the Brickyard sells out. TG is bringing in Superbikes next season to replace F1. IF the NASA Nationals are well attended and is good revenue for the race track, the right offer might get you that track in September before racing stops for the season.

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I know the subject is what tracks should Nationals be run at, but I am surprised no one has brought up the possibilty of tow mileage points. I think this would definately bring more competitors to where ever the track is.

Bryan Cohn would probably be the person to ask about this, but I would be willing to pay a few extra dollars on my membership or entry fees to help out someone from one of the coasts to get to Nationals.

 

Anyone else feels this way?

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Genoa, while being centrally located will not be a "HPT". Good elevation, no walls to hit, lots of passing zones, high speed + technical sections.

 

The one thing it is lacking right now is lots of hotel rooms & amenaties but that will change over the next three years.

 

To get rid of the home field advantage we will eliminate one of the 6 possible tracks from regular NASA events (clockwise on the full track?).

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Wow,

IMS, Daytona, Barber. Yeah that is realy great.

 

As for California being too far away OHIO is too far. 2000+ miles in one direction no frigging way.

 

BTW... life does not end when you west of the Mississippi.

 

I'd guess you have as more NASA racers west of the River than east of it.

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