Stars of Karting Grand Prix of Sonoma Official Discussion

John Wehrheim · Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 4:45 pm Post subject:

Rob, David, Johnny and who ever was doing the Camera

Great job with the EKNLive!

Definitely low entries, but the racing was very close and exciting.

George Rossi · Joined: 23 Nov 2001 Posts: 158

Congrats to Felkin and Bell. I know that group will be really happy.The kid can drive.Good job Greg.Make sure IMR pays you in US funds not that Canadian stuff. Almost enough to get you to Indiana.

Boy are you all happy paying your hard earned money to race? Maybe Stars can pay you to show up and race too!

Michael Maroney · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Posts: 89

I'm with George ... Good job Brett Felkins and Greg Bell ...now come back and have real fun with us down here without spending all that money for nothing ...

George ... I had to ! Remember how much fun Stars used to be !!!

Johnny Johnson · Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 3:08 pm Post subject:

I'm not sure he "spent all that money for nothing". Didn't Brett win 5k for winning TaG ICC?

Lewis Cronis · Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 4:44 pm Post subject:

Stars seems to be heavily promoting/subsidizing TaG ICC. Lots of awards (cash and other) announcements for that class in the recent month.

The KF3 field was a bit of a surprise. 4 karts? We can put together a 4 JICA field at a local track anytime.

BTW, is there a minimum field requirement (CIK or otherwise)?
Has there ever been a 4 kart grid in Stars before?
What would have happened if there had only been 3 KF3's entered?

George Rossi · Joined: 23 Nov 2001 Posts: 158

Johnny. The reference I made was that you pay and show up and someone next to you on the grid is being subsidized to show up by STARS.
Not just prize money.

How fair is that? What if they won and took the prize money and you were second? Free entry and tires...how about the tires at the last race anybody got any money? Its becoming like golf or tennis when the organizers are paying appearance money. Why not just give reduced entry and tire costs to everyone. I bet that would help alot.

STARS gets paid by the tire manufacturer and I am sure Bridgestone isnt hurting. And all of that sponsorship, where did it go? Goodwill and a little understanding might encourage some attendance...but I digress.

The Prokart race probably ate some of the attendance...but honestly why, when given a choice , some guys went to Prokart instead? There was 170 entries that weekend(both series) in the best part of the country for karting in major series in the state which is probably hurting the most. It isnt the economy hurting this series by itself. It simply forgot what it was supposed to do. It started to be really evident in Seattle last year. Lousy track and the rest of the problems and as far as I remembered the economy was not the news it is today.

3 or 4 in a grid...what can they do?

I hope no one starts another series as at this point in time might just conclude things. I honestly hope not as this was the best series ever devised but why did it loose its way so quickly?

Wayne Williams · Joined: 05 Jul 2002 Posts: 134

Well here's a shock, George Rossi with something bad to say.

Lewis Cronis · Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 8:03 am Post subject:

Craig Lintner · Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 8:35 am Post subject:

[quote
The answer probably won't be known until the sale of the series is announced and a new direction is set for 2010 and beyond.....just a guess.[/quote]

What does STARS have to market for sale?
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Doug Fleming · Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 1994

One thing that shocked me (other than some of the race calls but that's another whole deal Evil or Very Mad

) was charging thirty cents a square foot for pit spots when the pits were only half full. Rolling Eyes

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Michael Maroney · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Posts: 89

OK ...I had to do this ...Someone just asked "what does Stars have to market/sell?" ... the short answer is about the same as the recent "sale" of the Atlantic Series and that would be ZERO without the competitor/participants ...period. There is no "series" without anyone racing and I am so tired of the excuses for why people are not showing up, the latest being the "economy". I hate to enlighten those who would use these excuses to feel better about the visible lack of support of Stars, but I have been surrounded for years at the track by guys with little money and much talent that always found a way to get to races they WANTED to run ... I took NINE karts to the Chilliwack, Canada Stars event for six competitors a few years ago because they WANTED to run and found a way to make it happen ... In fact one was Gustavo, one of Miles' toughest competitors over the years, because we all WANTED to go and wanted to race against the best in a series that raced in great places and was "fun".

If Karting is to change for the better and to suit the needs of the participants, then the owners of the "product", i.e. the racers and their equipment, need to take a stand and demand what they want from promoters or do just as George said not to and form another series.

Without the racers, they have nothing. Unfortunately, the old cliche applies in Karting and the Karting promotion "business", especially if you don't "keep it simple" ...To make a small fortune in racing, simply start with a big one ... It is NOT a money maker unless you plan on losing support fast by trying to make the money off the competitors. If you have something to "sell", sell it to corporate backers and "invite" the top talent to come and race at the expense of the promoter to "draw" support from the Karters all over the globe who may want to come and race against the best.

For years there was great racing with several "engine" packages ...Now, in the last couple of years it seems I have spent many thousands of dollars on great equipment that was oftentimes obsolete even before it was run !!! I now have JICA's, TAG's and the like that I don't know what to do with ...Looks like the KF classes were really the way to go for Stars .... amazing. We wanted to go to Sonoma, but we really just couldn't get excited about it any longer. Man JICA was FUN !!!

Well, looks like cars for us now, but we will always love Karting and be proud to have been a part of, supporter and multi time Champion and race winner in Stars from the very beginning when it was really just Miles and Jacob Neal in Cadets through it's good times ... it appears that unless something drastic happens, those good times are certainly over.

Greg Wright · Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:57 am Post subject:

Where is the full listing of the final results??
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George Rossi · Joined: 23 Nov 2001 Posts: 158

Hold your breath. Nothing good to say..? About what?

On the same weekend as a STARS race in arguably the most prominant area for karting outside of South Cal, STARS the supposed leader and National example gets outdrawn by Prokart. Not only was that the case but the prominant names were down there working or racing instead of supporting STARS. Go figure, its all me right?

When given a choice it was not an overwhelming decision as it would have been a couple of years ago. Customers are choosing what to do. Why is Jacob Neal racing somewhere else and you know his Dad, a great supporter of Karting, and a established sponsor of STARS ostensibly making this same decision? Boy if you can alienate yourself from this type of supporter then you have really serious problems.

Like I have repeated before, I was in on this from the VERY beginning when it was a western(california) series only and hauled from Canada to california the entire first year and did the finals in Vegas when most did not seriously think this was going to work, but it did and was heading in the right direction and I supported it. STARS simply looks as though it took everything and everyone for granted and lost its way. I sacrificed alot like alot of others to be there over all those years.

Mike has stated it more eleqantly than I ever could, but to fix this needs more than sucking the racers dry.

Yeah, I guess I have nothing good to say.

Lewis Cronis · Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 1:21 pm Post subject:

David Cole · Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 1:38 pm Post subject:

Results can be found in the Event Page: http://www.ekartingnews.com/news_info.php?n=12267
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