Members Jim P. Posted August 29, 2008 Members Share Posted August 29, 2008 One way would be for each region to organize transportation for race cars to/from Nationals. Another way would be to have the National office umbrella a discounted contract with a car transporter company. Patrick We have done that every year, this is the first year that we actually had any drivers take us up on it. The transporter is full and leaving Charlotte, NC on Sept 9th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vpnwiz Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 One way would be for each region to organize transportation for race cars to/from Nationals. Another way would be to have the National office umbrella a discounted contract with a car transporter company.YOu are either smoking crack or have been brainwashed by an arive and drive program... You must be one of those guys that likes everything to stay the same - around here we call that having a closed mind. Maybe a little brainwashing would be helpful for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vpnwiz Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 One way would be for each region to organize transportation for race cars to/from Nationals. Another way would be to have the National office umbrella a discounted contract with a car transporter company. We have done that every year, this is the first year that we actually had any drivers take us up on it. The transporter is full and leaving Charlotte, NC on Sept 9th. Kudos to SE again I loved being at your event at RA in March. I have to admit the first time I read this I was kind of surprised no one has taken advantage of that until this year. I wonder if that's because of your region's proximity to Mid-O. I know my towing pain threshold is about 12 hours. Any more than that and it takes a lot more effort (and time off) to make an event. Maybe this is something for the SoCal and SW/NW regions to think about while Nationals is at Mid-O. We tend to hear most of the "I can't make it because it's too far" comments from them. Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ST#97 Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 You must be one of those guys that likes everything to stay the same - around here we call that having a closed mind. Maybe a little brainwashing would be helpful for that. How is not wanting to spend a fortune to put my car in someone else's hands and be at the mercy of their schedule to travel to a national event closed minded? Not following your logic with that one...It's nice to have the convenience of being in control of your own destiny! If it was just a shot at the Texas region in general, excuse us for having an opinion and not acting like sheeple...we just like things "our way" and are used to it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vpnwiz Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 How is not wanting to spend a fortune to put my car in someone else's hands and be at the mercy of their schedule to travel to a national event closed minded? Not following your logic with that one...It's nice to have the convenience of being in control of your own destiny! You're jumping to some pretty far off conclusions. Where did I ever mention that would be the only way to get your car to the track? Come on. If it was just a shot at the Texas region in general, excuse us for having an opinion and not acting like sheeple...we just like things "our way" and are used to it! For the record, you didn't express any opinions. You only asked if I was on crack or brainwashed by arrive 'n drive. So yes... it was a shot at you. I never said you couldn't/shouldn't do things "your way". Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWL Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 Guys- No need to carp at each other-opinions are fine but there's no need to sling poo at each other. We have tried to put together packages with national carriers in the past, but they fell flat when we had lack of committment on both the competitor and carrier ends of things. We have been successful with some regional transport packages in NorCal and SoCal, but even those have been tough to put together because of how tough it is to predict travel time, fuel costs, and approximate loads. Perhaps the railroads might be interested... -JWL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vpnwiz Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 That's interesting John. Jim mentioned lack of competitor commitment as well. But it's surprising coming from California because of the amount of people that complain about not being able to make it! I can understand the difficulties because of the distance, but if organized transport was available I would be all over it. Me personally, I'm only an hour from Mid-Ohio - I have it easier than just about anyone. But I'd like to see Nationals move around to some different tracks around the country... I know if it's more than a 12 hour tow I will need to have my car transported. And I don't want to wind up complaining about not being able to make it because of the distance. Thanks for the comments. Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastSaleen Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 or NASA drivers who will attend Nats for that matter?where did the Ohio/Indiana (or whatever your calling it these days) rank in car count over the last two years? i vote Miller - in a cool temp month. Ummmm - almost every event in the Great Lakes Region has been sold out this year - not that it has anything to do with this discussion. IMHO - I would love to see the Nationals move to a different track every 3-5 years and move to different parts of the country. Patrick mentioned transport assistance for the racers that are traveling... What if the help came in another form? My local SCCA region has been paying entry fees for members that are asked to go to the Runoffs, but in order to be able to do that the NASA requirements to enter the Nats would need to be modified. Key words in the last sentence are "members that are asked to go". Not everyone with 5+ races would be eligible. The SCCA invites the top cars from all classes in every region - in other words you would need to be top 8 or 10 in your region in your class and be invited to the championships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbrew8991 Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 and so everyone else pays higher entry fees to subsidize that program... no thanks... if you limit it to high points positions within region, not a bad idea - but with being 1st-8th in class you'd have ~90% of NASA-SE TT "qualified", actually more than you would with the 5-event rule other groups are bound to be different though, I can only speak from my perspective Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastSaleen Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 No, the typical demographic is holders of a NASA license. Really, wow didn't know that... so what is the typical NASA licensee look like >75yr old Females living on SS?? Or one better send me the registry and I can just cut to the chase... Point is, seeing that much of the cluster in the GL/NE region is around the Rust Belt, pretty sure they are not our target and therefore looking at a density map including them is meaningless. OMG!!! You want a NASA racing demographic? I'll give you a fact instead... The Central Division of the SCCA has more licensed racers than any other division in the country. Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin are all part of the Central Division - in other words it is in the northern mid-east. Want to draw the most racers to the Nationals, keep it in the middle-eastern states. Want to make the Nationals exciting - move it to a different track every few years. Personally, I would prefer the 2nd option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastSaleen Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 Ken, There would still be the need for being invited to go. If there were only 5 cars in a class within a region and 1 or 2 of them only ran 2 races, then there would be a set of rules to govern who gets invited. Obviously the guys that only ran 2 races would not be invited in this case. You know what I was getting at. Besides, a region coughing up a $500 entry fee is a lot cheaper than a $1500+ hauling bill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackBaruth Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 Here's another vote for Heartland Park. I had to skip Solo Nationals this year because there's only eighteen hours between the end of this here NASA thing and the beginning of Solo Nats, which happen to conveniently be at Heartland Park. So there you go. It's a central location, and closer to California. And since California is the most important state in the nation, and by extension contains the most important racers in the nation... it would be awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbrew8991 Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 a vote for that place? Miller is just as central (probably moreso for the strong CA demographic with NASA) and doesn't suck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
944 cup Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 Here's another vote for Heartland Park. .. it would be awesome. SCCA moved their Nationals from Mid Ohio to Heartland....... How's that workin' out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastSaleen Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 Here's another vote for Heartland Park. .. it would be awesome. SCCA moved their Nationals from Mid Ohio to Heartland....... How's that workin' out? lmao Hmmm, let's see - the Runoffs are moving to Road America next year. I think that says it all, especially with the SCCA headquarters located just outside HPT's facilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackBaruth Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 I think some of NASA's racers aren't getting enough irony in their diets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philstireservice Posted September 1, 2008 Share Posted September 1, 2008 I would hope NASA would do the same as SCCA did.... You have to have the race at a facility that wants to work with the club, first off. Secondly, it has to be somewhat close to the masses that race. Road America would be a good choice for the Nationals. I think the Nationals might suffer though if it was any further west than Road America. just my .02 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastSaleen Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 I would hope NASA would do the same as SCCA did.... You have to have the race at a facility that wants to work with the club, first off. Secondly, it has to be somewhat close to the masses that race. Road America would be a good choice for the Nationals. I think the Nationals might suffer though if it was any further west than Road America. just my .02 Phil - I couldn't agree more that Road America would be a great place, however with the new contract that SCCA has to hold the Runoffs there starting next year, it will probably be several years before NASA could even consider going there for the Championships. I think Road Atlanta would be a great place to look at for a new contract for the NASA Championships!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
944-Spec#94 Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 ...I know my towing pain threshold is about 12 hours. Any more than that and it takes a lot more effort (and time off) to make an event. Maybe this is something for the SoCal and SW/NW regions to think about while Nationals is at Mid-O. We tend to hear most of the "I can't make it because it's too far" comments from them. Patrick I gladly towed 12 hrs from Phoenix to Salt Lake City for a race this summer. Mid-Ohio is at least a 24-28 hour tow and over 2000 miles. That gets very expensive and/or time consuming. Those of us on the west coast have a LONG way to go to get to Mid-Ohio and there is no way around that. You can offset some of effort with a transporter deal, but it will still cost. Of course if you have each region "sponsor" a transporter to defray costs it will mean big money for west coast NASA regions. Most do not have that kind of extra cash to make a dent. Nasa giving me $100 to offset transport costs to nationals is a drop in the bucket and will not change my decisions. Nasa giving out $1000 would make a difference, but is is realistic to expect that for 30-40 racers? That comes to ALOT of money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ST#97 Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 I gladly towed 12 hrs from Phoenix to Salt Lake City for a race this summer. Mid-Ohio is at least a 24-28 hour tow and over 2000 miles. That gets very expensive and/or time consuming. Those of us on the west coast have a LONG way to go to get to Mid-Ohio and there is no way around that. You can offset some of effort with a transporter deal, but it will still cost. Of course if you have each region "sponsor" a transporter to defray costs it will mean big money for west coast NASA regions. Most do not have that kind of extra cash to make a dent. Nasa giving me $100 to offset transport costs to nationals is a drop in the bucket and will not change my decisions. Nasa giving out $1000 would make a difference, but is is realistic to expect that for 30-40 racers? That comes to ALOT of money. How about the region just doing a better job to attract sponsorships that would pony up the money?! Market the series/region and get some outside money coming in and then it won't matter what it costs to go compete where you want! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
944-Spec#94 Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 How about the region just doing a better job to attract sponsorships that would pony up the money?! Market the series/region and get some outside money coming in and then it won't matter what it costs to go compete where you want! Well, It will STILL cost more to that from Phoenix that from Wash DC. I figure it will cost 2x what a similar transport deal would. As such it is alot more work for the region to secure that sponorship since they need to as for twice as much money. Given the costs involved most regions would perfer to spend that effort in gain sponsorships to growing region locally. Even so Az, So-Cal, Nor-Cal will all have quite a bit more effort to gain realistic monies to offset costs. I really feel that moving Nationals every other year is the best way to ensure draw from all over the country and give more drivers a chance to be a nationals. The issue with that the logistical nightmare it could create. If Nationals were at Miller or Even in the state of colorado at a suitable venue (I believe some are being built) I would go without hesitation. Transport deal or no I would make sure I can attend. At Mid-Ohio or even Road America it is only fantasy given my time and budget limitations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor57 Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Or by doing that, you could cut the field in half, because people will just go every other year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vpnwiz Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Or by doing that, you could cut the field in half, because people will just go every other year. I think that is absolutely true Trevor. Here's an idea, how about having separate West Coast/East Coast semi-final championships? Followed by a true National Championship race with subsidized transportation for those who need it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbrew8991 Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Followed by a true National Championship race with subsidized transportation for those who need it? where is the money going to come from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vpnwiz Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 Followed by a true National Championship race with subsidized transportation for those who need it?where is the money going to come from? Dude, this is just an idea. I take it you've never participated in a brainstorm session? Nothing improves without ideas first. What's your solution to solving the obvious cross country transportation issues... or do you just have criticisms to other people's ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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