SKUSA! Pulls all events out of Phoenix.. What happened?

[Cliff Kujala]

[Chris Fosso]

veerachart murphy

your the Know all board member that was not even there...!!!(at board meeting)

great job on representing club/PKRA. sounds par for the course..and probably one of the reason the decision making ended up the way it did.
atypical club procedure. (a cluster)

you have "email" and you "talked about it" with Cliff at another event and you "talked to bryan"...and you know all the details >? ill stick with Cliff, at least he was there first hand. <eyeroll> . almost unbelievable your here trying to reason .
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Arizona`s #1 MX Scene
www.GoMXracing.com

[Stanley Morgan]

Is the president or any member of the PKRA BOD, personally receiving any onetime or ongoing kick back or "dividends" from MG Tires, any of their distributors or any kart shop?

[Stewart Willis]

Murphy,
After looking at the recent minutes and roll calls, you have missed most of the club and Board Meetings.

Sounds like Cliff is right on this one. You cant just show up for half of the meetings and be the local kart shop shill. If you are going to serve on the BOD, you have to be there.


I was a member at LAKC too. The reason I went there is because that is where all of the competition goes.

The question that is relevant to the PKRA discussion is why is LAKC so popular,
These are my thoughts (comparing to PKRA):

1.)facilities- Calspeed is immaculately maintained. The staff is great. You dont leave the track dirty every time you attend. PKRA is equally nice. Pit sizes are paved and perfect.

2.)Raceday- LAKC has a lot of classes, maybe too many. But, they are full and very well thought out. They support those who support them. Their race team is professional and technical team is usually national race caliber.
PKRA races both standard (skusa and IKF) type classes as well as rotax. The race day is very long and the cadence is slow. Tons of wasted "dead air" with many days of shortened main events. In the Cadet classes there is a huge gap between the top 4 and the rest of the class (mostly due to age exceptions granted to cadets to race Rotax Junior and the end of the progression from Kid karts into air cooled cadets, but micromax) There is no tech at PKRA, which is probably why people love the Rotax seal, I get it.

3.) Board of Directors- LAKC has had its own drama, From the notorious chain guard incident to the Cabo trip. But, LAKC and its leaders have been smart enough to have their finger on the pulse of the racing community in terms of club direction. They align themselves with the true players in the karting world, I.e. Honda, RLV, SKUSA, Vortex. They get Meaningful scheduling cooperation, financial and technical support from these industry players.
PKRA board members (on average) (who actually attend the meetings) are not travel racers. Many of them have never raced at more than two tracks. They have not seen what works about some clubs and organizations and what doesn't. They live in the local club fish bowl. They have no substantial strategic alliances for the club. The only support they get is from MG America. The MG importer is doing more damage than good by not allowing whites into our track. Tom and MG need to work this distribution model out and stop the silly competition. Most of those that still race MGs at our club (non-rotax) are the World formula and senior sportsman guys that stretch a set of tires to 3-5 races or more... They are not like most of the guys at LAKC that throw stickers on for qualifying. Whenever someone like myself comes up with an idea to help, they think that there is a hidden agenda. Cliff Kujala is now on the Board. He has a tremendous understanding of the direction of karting. He is a smart guy and should be listened to. (disclosure: I have raced with him in the past. But, I shop at PUREkarting and Innovative when I am local) But, it seems that our board is very secretive. They have a "Board" and an "Executive Board". They believe that their discussions should be kept secret. They forget that they are a board of a Non-Profit organization, not the Skull and Bones Society. They have board meetings after club meetings. When the club meetings end, there is an awkward silence where the club members are thanked for attending and given the look of "its time to go".. The Board Meetings should be a place where members are encouraged to attend as well., not encouraged to leave. There should not be a concern about "board member leaks" because I usually hear things from the least likely sources. Rather than trying to chase down the leaks, make the process open...etc The only thing that should be secretive or private is disciplinary actions, not club business. They rewrite club rules to prevent you from protecting your rights as a member. (I think there are three that have been specifically written for or because of me.)

The truth is that I would love it if PKRA was the mecca of karting and people traveled to our club to find the competition. But, the reality is that there is a group of people (Members and shops) that dont want to travel and dont particularly care if travelers come to PKRA. They want to have two races per month at home (unlike every club in so cal that only has one) and call people names for not attending all of their club races.

People go where the fields are big. That is why our shifter class was HUGE for so long. It was a MUST-Attend race. When the SK tire came out, the Board did not see the value in thinking it through..Rather, they decided to renew the same old contract.. and now our local shifter class is all but dead, despite the fact that there are 15+ local shifter owners that would love to throw on their one race old SK tires and race..

The BOD of PKRA have done nothing substantial to grow the club. They point to membership numbers and say, "we are in good shape..." Well, yes, I am a platinum member because it is a phenomenal facility and for $600 or whatever it is, I can practice all year for [free]. But, the races are not what they were.... LAKC is growing.. PKRA races are shrinking..

When there is a policy in place that promotes this sort of "us vs. them" mentality... When they start kicking off Board Members for communicating with the membership, or holding secret meetings, or voting after the contract was signed, or not conveying deadlines...etc...there will never be a trust of their decisions.

And, by the way, It was not Cliff that gave me my info.

Anybody guessing who Stanley Morgan is? I am 99% positive that I know. I am guessing it is an alias
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Stewart Willis

[Joseph Johnson]

How about we just blame it on Choby!! Where has he been with his fun emails?

[John Matthews]

Thanks for putting is so clearly Rob

I think the real issue is why do clubs let the tire manufacturers play these games with them?

If the clubs all had lots of active members RACING, and a tire manufacturer came to them and said "if you make us your spec tire we'll give you a t-shirt and a set of tires" they could ask their members if it was worth giving up control of their club for a few kickbacks????

This is a case of the tail wagging the dog IMHO. Why do racers put up with this BS? They have the power in their bylaws to get rid of any board members who aren't doing their jobs don't they?

The "spec" tire, just like the "spec" motor is simply another ruse by manufacturers and distributors to sell more product (you really can't blame them though, that's their livelihood after all). All that "spec" stuff doesn't really make racing any more even, or cheaper, or better does it? Even when my team was racing Easykart it was clear that some drivers were "more equal" (Animal Farm reference if you didn't catch it) than others.

That mystical world Rob speaks of where club racers got good and went regional, then national actually did exist within my lifetime. And it produced World Champions that actually were the best in the world And none of it depended on "spec" anything. The basic rules for what a kart is haven't changed all that much. I'll bet most of the club bylaws have changed even less, we can make karting a great family sport again if we work together instead of beating each other up.

Like I said before, the issue at the center of this thread is exactly what stopped my business from supporting racers track-side at PKRA. I hope the club can work them out and I would suggest the racers demand their leadership end the tire monopolies that plague their club and the sport as a whole. After all, it's just tires

Cheers,
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John Matthews
Heartbeat Power, LLC.

[John Matthews]

From July 23, 2007

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TO ALL PHOENIX KART SHOPS


As a result of several questions being raised by some of the local kart shops, the PKRA Board of Directors requests that all Kart Shops participate in a general discussion with the Board members regarding the MG Tire Program that is scheduled to take full effect during the upcoming 2007 Fall Season which begins on July 28.


THERE WILL BE A MEETING AT RACERWORLD THIS EVENING AT 6:30PM



It is important to all of the Club Members that the Kart Shops have an understanding of what is expected of this program and of the Contractual agreements that have been set forth by MG Tires and PKRA in order to receive financial assistance from MG Tires that will benefit the Club. The PKRA Board of Directors has been elected by its Club Members to run the organization in the best interest of the Club. The Board will consider and support any future program, such as the current MG Tire Program, or the VP Fuel Program, that will financially benefit the Club Members.



PKRA Board of Directors

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You would think they could have worked it out in 5 years
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John Matthews
Heartbeat Power, LLC.

[veerachart murphy]

Cliff you are right and my apologies. I have no proof. I had just assumed that in Stewart's fact finding hunt you would have been one of the first calls he made. But again my apologies I have no proof. As far as the flip goes, everyone will know in a few hours.

Chris and Stewart: I already offered up my resignation to the board with no arguements, if my attendance was an issue. I fully disclosed before I ran for this position that I serve as President on another BOD and our meetings conflict. This information was disclosed to the voting body of PKRA before the elections were held. How about you two when was the last time either one of you were at a meeting?

"....almost unbelievable your here trying to reason." Because a guy like you haven't even raced at PKRA for over a year is not. HA !

[Tim Blaney]

Nothing quite like people airing all their dirty laundry on a public forum. Well played gentlemen. Who needs Jerry Springer when we have EKN!

[veerachart murphy]

[veerachart murphy]

[veerachart murphy]

Rob not disagreeing with you but Tucson and Phoenix are good examples of this. Tracks are roughly 150 miles apart, PKRA has a spec tire and Tucson does not. We get very few racers coming up from Tucson on club race days. And typically I would say PKRA members only go down to Tucson to race when a large event is planned for their facility. If Tucson has the same spec tire program or if PKRA didn't have one, I still think we would not see that many cross members racing. I'm not sure what the problem is, but it's curtainly isn't around just tires.

[Cory Ross]

[Justin Martin]

[Stewart Willis]