Thanks, Kevin and Brad for posting the info and video. As a racer I'm excited to give it a try.

But as an administrator I'm banging my head in despair. NEDiv does not need another race track.

Glad to hear, Brad. He'll have to be careful where he puts guardrails. Motorcycles and guardrails don't go well together. They are the reason there haven't been any motorcycle races at the Glen since the mid-80s or Pocono since the mid-90s. They are expensive for us, but not usually life-threatening.

Michael Hausknecht (NE#60)

Elizabeth -- got some aspirin handy? -- more tracks may be on the way. New England Region is still pushing ahead on the track plans for Palmer, MA (no definite opening date yet) and the owners of Thompson Speedway in Connecticut are seriously considering re-opening their road course, possibly as early as next year.

Elizabeth, I would whole heartedly disagree that nediv has enough tracks. We need to get NHMS off the schedule as its a roval and not very friendly to real race cars, SFR not include. I live 1.25 hrs from there and will not under circumstance run there again. Accept in a rental. Pocono is another track that needs to be in the rearview mirror of the SCCA. For so many reasons. Try going 4 off there and see whats left of your car. And then there's Limerock. I can only fault Limerock of its outragously overpriced fees. Until we are as a club willing and able to walk away, they will keep charging rediculous amounts. Poeple stopped racing because of $450 entry fees. That leaves the Glen, NJMP, Summit and PIR. Nelson not being in nediv and also being a substandard track, I don't include either. That means in NER I have at least a 6 hr drive to race. If Thompson comes online and is not the danger it used to be, I'll be happy.
Chris

Duncan, I've got the track record for the dump truck/excavator chicane configuration..... Seriously the track was crazy slick with just the binder down, 42 degrees, damp and leaves everywhere!
Greg is doing all he can to gather all the nessacary info to get the track ready for competition next year, he's got his work cut out. SCCA has reached out to him.
Trevor, I think most think my helmet is on a little too tight.... just sayin'....
Elizabeth, I think this track could compliment what we already have, maybe a little competition for LRP to lower the track fees. Besides, this would mean I would have (4) tracks within a 2 hr. tow for me, must be heaven!

Treff wrote:I would have (4) tracks within a 2 hr. tow for me, must be heaven!

So how much does property go for up there?

I have 1 track that is 2 1/2 hours away (Mid-O)

Then there is Nelson where I can't bring myself to race anymore.
And BeaveRun that has one National a year that conflicts with the IT SPECtacular. (some moron keeps doing that)

The Glenn and Summit Pt. are 6 hours away

zcrhis, Kevin, et al - the problem is one of resource allocation, so to speak. More tracks/regions are competing directly against each other for a limited resource: racers. We see fewer coming out to play every year, and most who do are getting picky about where they spend their money. So with more events in a season, it gets harder and harder for any one region to operate in the black. We just can't attract enough entries when there are so many venues to choose from.

And then there's the scheduling conflicts. NEDiv regions try to work together to avoid conflicting race weekends, but we can't tell the tracks which dates we want (mostly). It's the other way around. So if, for example, Summit Point, NJMP, and Watkins Glen offer only one June weekend to the WDCR, SJR, and GR, at it's the same weekend, then there's three events competing for (roughly) the same pool of drivers, and nothing the regions can do about it. The more tracks we add, the harder the problem gets.

BTW, next time you come across a major scheduling conflict, please don't call us idiots. More than likely it isn't two regions butting heads, but one track owner looking after his own bottom line that's screwed the whole thing up.

<deja vu?>

porcupine wrote:BTW, next time you come across a major scheduling conflict, please don't call us idiots.

Put your flame suit on

North East Div. will not give Steel City another weekend for their National because it conflicts with Lime rock (Many??? hrs away) and Glenn (6 hrs away).
Steel City thinks that since the SPECtacular at Mid-O (2.5 hrs away) is a regional that none of them would come to their National at BeaveRun anyway (I kid you not...I have the E-mail)

There is incompetence in BOTH the Steel City AND North East Div.
There has been recent talk of Steel City leaving NED and going to Great Lakes Div.

The SPECTacular trumps BeaveRun National so we (racer & flaggers) drive PAST BeaveRun to go to Mid-O.
I saved the entry list from 2010 and there were at LEAST 30 entrants EAST of BeaveRun (or further away from Mid-O than BeaveRun)
(one year there were only 47 cars TOTAL at the BeaveRun Nat'l)

Talked with BeaveRun track management and they will give any day to SCCA.

I stand by the idiots/morons remark and I could go on and on about why, but I think it is pointless.
You can take off your fire suit now

Flame suit off, and with it the rose-colored glasses I must've been wearing when I wrote my last post.

Maybe this needs a new thread, but I got the SCCA announcement today that beginning in 2014 the Nationals are gone, replaced with Majors. Maybe it's just a new name, but it does seem to suggest (loosely) a smaller number of events, seeking to aggregate more serious racers in fewer events. Anyone know what it really means to Regional Events and what used to be National Events?