Feb ECS at Road Atlanta Cancelled

[Butch Kummer]

Just got off the phone with the track.


"Due to delays in completion of scheduled safety improvements at Road Atlanta, the track has reluctantly cancelled ALL events using the track in February and early March 2008. As a result, Atlanta Region has been forced to cancel our SARRC/Kumho ECS Five-Hour scheduled for the weekend of Feb 23-24, 2008."


Obviously full refunds will be issued to anyone already registered. I've already talked to Roland Hahn of ECS and we'll re-group for either later this year (unlikely) or try it again in 2009.


Bummer...


Butch

[RacerBowie]

Well crap. That really sucks.

[tom_sprecher]

Do I need to put on my waiver hat?

[Butch Kummer]

Took me a second to figure out what you were talking about, Tom.

No. After last June's combined SARRC/National I swore I'd never subject our race staff to such a compressed schedule again. Besides, running a SARRC at Road Atlanta on June 1 could discourage some from attending the Double SARRC / 3-Hour "Under the Lights" ECR at Nashville two weeks later.

[BlueStreak]

So maybe the three hour needs to be a five hour now?

BTW-It was good to see you at RR!

[Cobrar05]

Butch, will the Nashville enduro be open to my ITO Mustangs?

[Butch Kummer]

Rob,

Chattanooga Region and TVR will make that decision, but I will certainly encourage them to invite ITO to the Nashville ECR. You will also be able to run the July ECR at Road Atlanta.

Be aware of the ECR rules regarding oversubscription of events, however.

[Knestis]

So who do I send the bill to for the air ticket I just bought? I gave everyone all the chances in the world to cancel, right up to the 21-days-out purchase deadline and now I've got a $430 ticket to nowhere.

THREE WEEKS, GUYS.

Seriously.

K

EDIT - SERIOUSLY. For an event like this, part of a series that spans regions - divisions, even - if there's something like "ongoing safety improvements" underway, you have REALLY got an obligation to make people who don't live nearby aware of the real likelihood that something will go sideways. There's just no way that this is a complete surprise to the region. I'm as PO'd about this as I've been about anything in a long time.

[tom_sprecher]

From what I understand the region was told that the upgrades would not interfere with the running of our race. I can assure you that the call today from Road Atlanta management and the cancellation of ALL events for at least the next month was a complete surprise. While hopefully not stepping out of line I would like to say on behalf of the entire Atlanta Region staff we apologize for any inconvenience this change may have caused.

You should be able to contact your airline and for a certain time period and a fee they will allow you to change the destination of you flight to somewhere.

Circumstances beyond anybody’s control has lead to a situation that is unfortunate, inconvenient and costly for many people and organizations from Road Atlanta on down. We as a region try our best to provide an exciting and pleasurable racing experience at an exceptional value and I personally feel it is our people that make it so. We are forced to be many things to many people and although we try as best we can at times we may be stretched a little thin. I suppose at the next Race Board meeting we’ll have to see if anybody knows of a good fortune teller to help us avoid issues like this in the future.

[Knestis]

Full credit to Butch for contacting this disgruntled entrant personally and admitting that with hindsight, it might have been a good idea to communicate with racers about the work and the chance that it might be a problem. Good customer service is always appreciated, but even more so when it has to be a mea culpa.

K