CenDiv schedule Kettle Moraine Regional no more.

mengelke said:
This is a one year deal as they are no longer going to Autobahn due to high costs.
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That is why it is not on the schedule right now, but I don't know that it is accurate to say that we are no longer going to the Autobahn. My understanding is that there are some that are working on solutions to get us back there, which I really appreciate.
 
Or they could run it as a National with a Restricted Regional to include everyone... Helps pay the bills while giving everyone a chance to 'play'. With such a large track, you can just about fit most of the 'Regional Only' cars into a single group no matter how many show. (I realize there are some open wheel Regional Only classes and that would need to be addressed if there was interest...)
 
"no longer going to Autobahn due to higher costs"

It read as a permanent situation. Just clarifying that it may not be permanent.
 
mengelke said:
Which part of my statement?
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The 'one year deal' of killing the Kettle.

I have heard nothing like that from any of the CenDiv region board members I've spoken with.

I don't see them changing it back to a double regional. Maybe a regional/national.
 
downingracing said:
Or they could run it as a National with a Restricted Regional to include everyone... Helps pay the bills while giving everyone a chance to 'play'. With such a large track, you can just about fit most of the 'Regional Only' cars into a single group no matter how many show. (I realize there are some open wheel Regional Only classes and that would need to be addressed if there was interest...)
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Are you talking about Road america or Autobahn? As a previous race chairman for SCCA events there you, will never get it all in at a two day event at RA. Not enough hours in the day.
All in one group? Let's see: would you want to run with Atlantics,Vees,SRF,GT-1 in the same group? No way and the stewards would never allow it. Ok so now you need an open wheel and closed wheel group. You have to remember that the GCR specifies that national races have a min amount of qualifying time and a certain length race distances so that pretty much chews up your days right then and there. At Ra you lose time on pace laps and cool down laps due to the length of the track plus your normal picking cars up etc. Now if you are just talking about an IT group only, been there done that at the Cat National. It was run as a restricted Regional for IT cars for several years. Never had very many cars show up. I think the most we had was 13 or 14 total one year. My 2 cents.

Bob
 
cooleyjb said:
The 'one year deal' of killing the Kettle.

I have heard nothing like that from any of the CenDiv region board members I've spoken with.

I don't see them changing it back to a double regional. Maybe a regional/national.
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Well I, tend to believe Mike as he is the Excutive Steward of CEN-DiV and has a hand in planning the divisions events.
 
1stGenBoy said:
Are you talking about Road america or Autobahn? As a previous race chairman for SCCA events there you, will never get it all in at a two day event at RA. Not enough hours in the day.
All in one group? Let's see: would you want to run with Atlantics,Vees,SRF,GT-1 in the same group? No way and the stewards would never allow it. Ok so now you need an open wheel and closed wheel group. You have to remember that the GCR specifies that national races have a min amount of qualifying time and a certain length race distances so that pretty much chews up your days right then and there. At Ra you lose time on pace laps and cool down laps due to the length of the track plus your normal picking cars up etc. Now if you are just talking about an IT group only, been there done that at the Cat National. It was run as a restricted Regional for IT cars for several years. Never had very many cars show up. I think the most we had was 13 or 14 total one year. My 2 cents.

Bob
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Yeah but that was when there were two double regionals at RA bracketing that event. Now that one of those is gone, I would expect a very different turnout at a IT restricted regional.
 
A restricted Regional for IT cars might work since there is one less regionial to run there... When Mid-Ohio lost a regional weekend, we (OVR) added a restricted regional to the schedule and it does quite good. When another Regional was lost, we picked up that date too and it did very well for itself this year (the first year). And having never been there, would the cars off a T5 work? Might save considerable time getting people off the track to get the next group rolling. Again, I've never been there and don't have plans to come up that way to race anytime soon... Just tossing out ideas. :)
 
ddewhurst said:
Why at Road America for end of practice sessions, qualifying & end of races don't the cars come off at turn # 5?
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One of the issues is Impound for Tech. How do you impound the cars and make sure they are not messed with or return to the paddock before going up to the scales( escorted of course) and then to impound. I'm sure we could build a new scale pit somewhere down there and move post race Tech to the RA center. It might be something to look at.
We used to do this at the drivers schools when they were held there long ago. It did caused some issues if I remember right. I think traffic flow was an issue.That issue may be gone now that the bridge is gone.

David, Since you are always looking for something to do :) I, think you could be in charge of this. You could stand out on the track and direct the cars off at 5. Work for you?

FYI: we do not have practice sessions for the nationals ( all sessions before the races are qualifiers )
 
shwah said:
Yeah but that was when there were two double regionals at RA bracketing that event. Now that one of those is gone, I would expect a very different turnout at a IT restricted regional.
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I wouldn't hold your breath on that. We tried everything including prize money to make that restricted IT race work. We even had a 2 hr enduro one year. Most of the IT guys I have talked to like the double race weekend format and not the single race weekend which is what Cat National is. Also the entry fee was a concern for many.
The restricted IT race will not happen for sure this year do to the fact that they are holding the 40th Formula Ford reunion that weekend along with the National race. That is the "restricted" part of that race.
 
I guess we have a different opinion on the matter then.

Make it a restricted regional IT race that counts towards the TRO championship and you will get good attendance. Before I never considered it because I had my hands and budget full getting to our championship races. I expect others had the same approach.

We just lost 1/2 of our opportunities to race at one of the greatest tracks in the world. If an opportunity is provided to regain some of that, and it is integrated into our series, you will see a 'typical' Road America regional IT turnout IMO.
 
***David, Since you are always looking for something to do :) I, think you could be in charge of this. You could stand out on the track and direct the cars off at 5. Work for you?***

Bob, I really don't want to come off negative but life is what life is with the Milwaukee Region. When I joined I tried to get involved & was told by a long standing member that until I learned something about racing I should not be heard. :( Nuff said in public. Ask me off line some time who made the statement. Back early 90's when I raced Karts I wanted nothing to do with racing Karts at Road America so at Road America I teched Karts & supported Badger Kart Club doing other items. :)

***FYI: we do not have practice sessions for the nationals ( all sessions before the races are qualifiers )***

Change is good. If change improves the process of the weekend & or of the event then it should be worth looking at. Forget the cost factor at the brainstorm time.
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shwah said:
I guess we have a different opinion on the matter then.

Make it a restricted regional IT race that counts towards the TRO championship and you will get good attendance. Before I never considered it because I had my hands and budget full getting to our championship races. I expect others had the same approach.

We just lost 1/2 of our opportunities to race at one of the greatest tracks in the world. If an opportunity is provided to regain some of that, and it is integrated into our series, you will see a 'typical' Road America regional IT turnout IMO.
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Yes I guess we do have a different opinions. That's good right? That said I, would suggest to all of you who feel strongly about issues like this to get involved with your regions race programs on the administration side. It will be a big eye opener. Volunteer to work with the competition committee in your region. They do need the help and it really does not take a lot of time and is fun.
As for running a restricted regional as part of the TRO series I think you would have to check to make sure the series rules allow that. I also believe this is only a 1 year change in the schedule. Hopefully next year there will be another track on line to pick up that national race. The SCCA National BOD has yet to approve this third national as it is required to do under the rule of " no more than two national races at one track"
I would expect them to approve this on a one time basis for next year but as I have said it has not been approved as of yet.

Bob
 
ddewhurst said:
***David, Since you are always looking for something to do :) I, think you could be in charge of this. You could stand out on the track and direct the cars off at 5. Work for you?***

Bob, I really don't want to come off negative but life is what life is with the Milwaukee Region. When I joined I tried to get involved & was told by a long standing member that until I learned something about racing I should not be heard. :( Nuff said in public. Ask me off line some time who made the statement. Back early 90's when I raced Karts I wanted nothing to do with racing Karts at Road America so at Road America I teched Karts & supported Badger Kart Club doing other items. :)

***FYI: we do not have practice sessions for the nationals ( all sessions before the races are qualifiers )***

Change is good. If change improves the process of the weekend & or of the event then it should be worth looking at. Forget the cost factor at the brainstorm time.
progress.gif
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David,
I think you will find things have changed a lot since then. You know we always need help for the races at RA. If you want to come for a Milw region comp meeting and see what's going on let me know and I'll tag along too. You will be more than welcome I can assure you. As a former Comp committee chairman you, will be surprised what goes on and into making a sucessfull race. The meetings are open to any member and Yes there are some stick in the muds out there yet but the Exec Steward has been working very hard to eliminate this. A lot of good ideas are suggested but just like the real world only a few are viable. Still never hurts to try....

Bob
 
1stGenBoy said:
Well I, tend to believe Mike as he is the Excutive Steward of CEN-DiV and has a hand in planning the divisions events.
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Well he hasn't said anything about it yet.

As for the conversations I've had with the Chicago region folks that made the decision they have never mentioned anything of the sort. Since it is there event I'd say that they would have more of a firsthand knowledge than he does. No reason to hold back the info that "it's just for this year" information on their part.
 
cooleyjb said:
Well he hasn't said anything about it yet.

As for the conversations I've had with the Chicago region folks that made the decision they have never mentioned anything of the sort. Since it is there event I'd say that they would have more of a firsthand knowledge than he does. No reason to hold back the info that "it's just for this year" information on their part.
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Not sure who you are referring to has "never mentioned anything of the sort", but let me make a couple of statements on this thread:

Regarding the Kettle: Mike is accurate - we have made a decision for 2009 only, and not a blanket decision/plan for the future. We won't be making any decisions on 2010 for quite some time. Waaaay too far out to do that yet. There are several options, and there are too many if-then-else branches in the equation that are out of our control before we can get there. Remember this: a year ago at this point, who thought that Road America would be getting the Runoffs?

Regarding Autobahn: As has been well documented elsewhere, there are some financial hurdles to clear before we can return. Having said that, we have left ABJ on good terms (this is NOT a Putnam Park situation). The door is not closed to a return, and we have some ideas how it could be a financial success. Of course, right now a lot of what happens with the economy will affect what we can do. Do I want to go back there? yes! Do I think we will go back there? I just don't know.

At this past week's Chicago Region Competition Committee meeting, we did discuss our customer's reaction to the schedule, and made sure the feelings expressed here and other forums were known to non-forum reading members of the committee.

Myself, along with the current and previous RE of Chicago Region, have in the past, and will continue to have discussions with Mike as to our schedule plans.

I hope this helps.

Sincerely,
Kevin Coulter
Chicago Region
2009 Competition Committee Chairman
 
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So if BIR proves itself worthy this year, what are the chances that there be a national held there next year and open up the kettle for regionals again?:shrug:
 
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