Miata feature race at 20th ARRC by GRM

[seckerich]

Just a couple thoughts from the cheap seats.

I remember Butch giving us all our own races for years even after numbers dropped to the point the region was losing money on us. We were told if we brought the cars we would still get our own group. We did not and the region has to make changes to remain profitable.

If you want your region to lose money, you have to be ready for the consequences. Bring the entries and you will get all the racing you can stand. Otherwise it is your BOD's job to cater to those that write a check. Like it or not this was always an IT centered race and way too many Atlanta IT drivers went to SM and the prep shops as well.

Talks among region leaders about a single 45 minute series for 2014 are well under way. Hang in there.

[Butch Kummer]

Nick should have explained the overall weekend schedule better:

Two of the seven run groups (not including Trans-Am) will be IT cars only (same run groups as the IT-Fest).

Each group gets two qualifying sessions on Friday - a 20-minute session in the morning and a 15-minute session in the afternoon.

The Pro-IT (or whatever it will be called going forward) is still on Friday afternoon - a 20-minute qualifier in the morning then a 45-minute race to close the day (presumably with a 2-minute mandatory pit stop if it's part of the new SEDiv program).

Warm-ups and then ARRC Championship races on Saturday.

Still have ECR qualifying Sunday morning and a three-hour ECR on Sunday afternoon.

Are you IT guys REALLY feeling like you're not getting enough track time?

What Nick is talking about here replaces what we used to advertise as a "bonus" race to help fill track-time on Sunday morning. Over the years we've tried big cars, SRFs, wings & things, and last year the first-ever B-Spec*Tacular (that was cancelled when only one car signed up). Another option is to shut the track down at 9:00 after ECR qualifying and run a couple more PDX sessions, but PDX is decidedly NOT spectator friendly (and yes, the ARRC by GRM DOES have spectators that show up for the weekend and for the Trans-Am race on Sunday).

Now that you know the whole story, get the knots out of your shorts and offer constructive suggestions...

[TomL]

Steve -

Anything you can share about the new 45 minute series? I assume it's a continuation of this year's effort to combine some Pro-IT and CCPS races. Are we talking about something to consolidate Pro-IT, CCPS, Tarheel Cup, and maybe one or more of the Florida enduro series into a single division-wide series? Would it be based on the Pro-IT/CCPS model of a larger entry fee that partly goes into a prize fund? And would they be run in conjunction with SARRC, the new Divisional series, Majors or some combination of those? Same classes - IT, SM, maybe SRF - or something else?

I'd definitely be interested in a "touring" pro series, assuming it was compatible with my SARRC plans.

[Tom Donnelly]

No knots in my shorts Butch, just worried IT has become the bastard step child in our region.

If you and Steve are saying just wait, that's good enough for me.

[nickatgt]

Butch gave everyone the background that I should have stated, sorry. Basically we are not trying to change the character of the ARRC, there are plenty of opportunities for IT cars to run. I hope to get the formal schedule out to everyone in a week or so. But the schedule that he outlined is pretty close to the final product.

Our commodity in a race weekend is track time and I am trying to fill in any spare time with interesting events that might bring in a little more money to the region.

Thanks to everyone that made comments, we do read them and take them seriously. After reading the comments from the Mazda forum, it looks like we will have a nekked LeMans start and winners determined by a wet T-shirt contest at Tech.

Seriously, I hope we didn't offend anyone too badly and I hope to see you at the ARRC.

[Tom Donnelly]

Nick,

Sometimes I just get up on the wrong side of the bed.

Keep up the good work, I know it's sometimes a thankless task and makes you an easy target.

My only real complaint about this past season was running IT with the SRF's. You just can't see them in my car. I guess I'll have to add mirrors pointing down. Any reason they can't run with the wings and things?

[nickatgt]

Tom,

Seriously not a problem. One of the prerequisites for this is either a thick skin or thick head, I can't remember which.

Run groups is a topic all to itself. I know it seems like we close our eyes and throw darts to make run groups and at times I think that would be the easiest. Fact is that we don't have enough entries in any one class (except you know who) to create a single class run group.

At the ARRC because of the tradition of IT at the ARRC we are trying to make the IT run groups as "pure" (if that term can be used in the same sentence as "IT") as possible. There are some that would like to add some of the LeMons/Chump cars to the IT run groups but we are trying to hold to tradition.

We try to avoid closed wheel and open wheel cars in the same run group as well as try to keep cars with similar lap times together but as you know lap times only tell part of the story. There as many ways to put together run groups as there are car classes. The only thing I know in my short tenure in this job is however you set them up you are going to piss someone off.

All of this is to explain that I don't have a good answer for you today. Maybe when I get as much experience as Butch I will find the magic bullet that makes the perfect schedule and run groups.