Is Our Sport Broken? - Road Racing - Part 2

David Cole · Last edited by David Cole on Mon Nov 05, 2012 8:17 am, edited 1 time in total

Today's top story on eKartingNews.com is titled Is Our Sport is Broken? – Road Racing - Part 2 - Continuing Commentary by EKN Editor David Cole. To read, click HERE

This thread has been started to continue the discussion on the column. We want to stress that discussion needs to be constructive and about the future. What has been in the past is not the issue as this event needs to move forward if it has any chance to grow in the future. If you have a comment, idea or suggestion as to what was discussed in the column, please publish it here. Thank you for your time.

To review Part 1, click http://www.ekartingnews.com/viewtopic.php?t=106595
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Richard Thoms · Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 7:13 am Post subject:

I returned to my first road race in 15+ years last weekend at Barber Motorsports Park thanks to efforts of Robby Harper and Big South crew. It was amazing to see many of the same folks that were racing back then are still at it. Turnout was good and talk was great - hopefully they can make this an annual event or as the article wishes put it on the WKA National schedule as a marquee event.
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Greg Wright · Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 10:59 am Post subject:

David, I'm very glad to see this topic come back to the top and continue.

I've stated before that in my mind the two things that have hurt roadracing more than anything else has been;

1. Negligence by the sanctioning bodies, often it seems that roadracing is the (pardon the expression) redheaded step child of karting in the orgs view. This in spite of the fact that for several decades roadracing was considered THE destination in karting.
For those that don't know WKA was a roadracing org first then expanded into sprint and oval karting. I guess they must have forgotten their roots.

2. The obstacles in place that make it unreasonable for a weekend sprint racer to give roadracing a try.
Example, WKA's dual brake rule. A weekend racer isn't going to invest several hundred dollars and X amount of work to make his regular ride qualified to roadrace.
I can name at least a dozen local racers that would have run the WKA National at Putnam Park last August but when told of the expense and trouble they would have to go through they dropped the idea.

Let's keep this discussion going.
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Thom Howe · Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 11:13 am Post subject:

We would love to be able to compete for a national title...but simply cannot with the current schedule. I agree that a 4 race series (count the best 3 finishes) would be a schedule that would allow us to compete.

We are going to be at Daytona no matter what. Then we support our regional series (SKC).

The bottom line for us is budget...the current cost to compete only allows for 5 race weekends a year--which makes us a non-player for points. I took 15 years off of roadracing...then came back to it a couple of years ago (once my son was old enough to run a laydown). We will always support karting...but the cost of attending 5 events a year (and not having a chance for a national title on our budget), is making me consider a return to sprint racing. Sad

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Thom Howe · Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 11:28 am Post subject:

Mike Arnold · Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 3:51 pm Post subject: Brake issue

I think the dual brake issue is a big roadblock in getting cross over sprint folks.

Suggestion:

1) Allow single brake system CiK type TAG karts to road race as is

or

2) Change Man Cup rules Effective 2014 to have dual brake system for TAG karts (No change for other type karts due to their slower speeds). This would make all TAG karts eligble for RR. (The reason for 2014 is to allow people time to prepare and choose their new chassis or modify existing, kart shops and mfg.'s could come up with an update kit if WKA could work with the larger mfg's to implement this)

Over time the number of front brake type karts would become the norm and also allow folks to Road Race without extra cost. Road Races would grow naturally due to the ease of transition from one series to the other. At places like Daytona or Kershaw where both series race at the same location at the same time a racer could race both series with the same kart on the same weekend! How neat is that?

Maybe there is another way around the brake rule and still keep us safe??

Promotion of karting - Need handouts and displays at places like Mid Ohio and Daytona that explains how a person can get on the track and enter the sport of karting. You might get sport car racers that are looking to downsize but would like to continue racing the same tracks to get into karts.

Mike

Richard Thoms · Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 4:08 pm Post subject:

Dual brake is an issue for me. I was able to run BSRRS/Barber because they are not required. I was thinking about running WKA/Roebling Road but then realized I would need $400+ braking upgrade to do it.

Changing Man Cup rules to force dual brakes will not and should not happen. Why force the entire sprint community into the $400+ upgrade? Especially if they have no intention of going road racing.

As someone else mentioned Sprinters are doing 70-80mph on very tight tracks sometimes with less runoff area than road race tracks where they are running ~90-100mph. I think "encouraged" but not required is best along with tethers and safety checks (at least for CIK sprint). I know there have been some bad accidents with the higher speed karts - I wonder what the ultimate cause of those braking failures were?
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Carl Keese · Joined: 20 Dec 2011 Posts: 49

I was at Barber last weekend. I have to say we met some great people. It was a great group of people. It was my first road race event I have attended , but it did hook me. We're going to finish out the local series this year because we are up in the points. But plan on road racing more next year. Scaling down on the short track unless I can put a kart aside for that.
The dual brake for our class was omitted witch was is what got us there, and was fine for us being the slowest karts out there. This might not be the right place but anyone want to offer help to start us in the right direction hit me up please.

Tom Jensen · Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 4:31 pm Post subject:

Karting isn't broke, everyone in it is.
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Ken Schilling · Joined: 01 Dec 2005 Posts: 1344

Chuck Parker · Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 6:42 pm Post subject:

Jeff Salak · Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2012 5:47 am Post subject:

I think whats broken is the mentality of the Sprint racer (sprint parents) to the Road racer.

Many sprint racers think road racing is easy and doesnt take skill to race.
Im thinking they think its too dangerous and use skill part as an excuse.

Sprint racers think Road Racers arent that good at kart racing in general. Far from the truth as you see guys like Josh Lane win on any track. Same can be said about Jim Russell Jr and so on.

I have Sprint and Road raced equal amount of times each.
I can honestly tell you that Im way more concerned about my safety in turn 1 of a sprint race. Than a whole Road race.

With that said I think some of the big time Road race venues are not the safest place to hold a kart race on. Tracks like Grattan are perfect for karting. Grass run off for me is what I look for. Not interested in concrete walls 10 feet off the track to race at anymore.

Bob Ogden · Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2012 2:09 pm Post subject:

Racers, especially new ones, should have it known that their attendance and participation is appreciated.

I read in a link from the RR forum an article which Larry Dobbs re-quoted from Bev Ban, whose son apparently enticed about 20 of his sprint racing friends to go to Thunderhill for a Friday race. Bev thanked NCK and wrote a great article about their day at their FIRST road race.

On the other side of the coin, absolutely nowhere have I seen anything public from any officer or board member expressing NCK's appreciation for their participation.
In fact, the only post I've seen from a board member or officer other than the club President's rather droll announcement that results were up and thanks for the article has been this:

Jim White · Joined: 21 Jul 2001 Posts: 994

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Kerry Matthews · Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2012 4:00 pm Post subject:

Actually Bob, Jon brought 3 sprint racers out with him, (20 was probably the total kart count) and they all had a great time! And yes, we personally thanked them for coming out. Now, back on topic...
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