DD2 Class CHMS 2007 Discussion

[Rick]

We have 4.5 confirmed entries in the 2007 season for the DD2 class at CHMS. I think we should petition the track management to sign up with Rotax Max and become an officially recognized series. This will allow those of us who are interested in racing in regional and national events to earn the necessary "punches". I think it will also help to attract racers from surrounding areas to race at CHMS in order to gain the necessary "punches" they need to enter regional and national events. This could potentially be done for TAG as well with the same benefits.

The Master Pro Series is a series run and operated by Phil Gordon. His series is an officially sanctioned series and therefore any races with the Master Pro Series will count towards the "punch" requirements of regional and national competition. If CHMS does not become an officially sanctioned series, then we could potentially race with Phil's series when they come to CHMS to earn punches.

The confirmed entries we have so far are:

Rick (all races)
Martin (all races)
Peter J (as many as he can attend)
David (all races)
Paul D (1/2 of the races)

Hopefully some of the guys in Phil's series who live near CHMS will also join us throughout the season.

[MPIGP - Phillip Gordon]

Rick

The 'guy' from Peoria is Paul Doubet


You can add the following from the MPS members to your list:

Tim Wiggins (as many as he can)

Brian Wiggins (as many as he can)

Jack Costella (as many as he can)

Dennis Dadas (one or two)

Jerry Brown (one or two)

Chris Feurer (one or two)

John Schiessl (one or two)

Mark Langer (one or two)

Alex Langer (one or two)

Bill Kohlhagen (one or two)

Trevor Kohlhagen (one or two)

All the above are in RM1's.

The rest of the WI guys RM1's and a couple CRG/DD2's, will most likely only drive down for the MPS races at CHMS.

I am working on doing a race at the Autobahn Kart track in '07, if it happens, I'll try to get some of their guys to try a race at CHMS.

[Rick]

Had an interesting phone conversation with Joe Ramos Jr from RMaxChallenge regarding setting our series officially sanctioned. I can't believe how political of a process it is to get a sanctioned series. :blink:

[rct25]

Run TAG :D

Did you see the number of entries at the New Castle Enduro?

ALL Parilla Leopards :4:

Roberto

[Rick]

Originally posted by rct25@Oct 26 2006, 04:50 PM
Run TAG* :D

Did you see the number of entries at the New Castle Enduro?

ALL Parilla Leopards* :4:

Roberto
2344


Yeah, but I also see that hardly anyone races TAG at Norway either. Why aren't more people racing at Norway? :dunno:

[MPIGP - Phillip Gordon]

[Why aren't more people racing at Norway?]

That's the million dollar question....why aren't more people racing at Norway?

[Rick]

Originally posted by CoolBreezeRacer@Oct 26 2006, 06:04 PM
[Why aren't more people racing at Norway?]

That's the million dollar question....why aren't more people racing at Norway?
2346


There are people racing at Norway, they're all racing HPV. But it's surprising that even TAG, the class that CHMS seems to want to promote, has trouble finding entries.

[Greg Shebert]

HPV - second most competitive class at Norway

Most competitive - Kid Kart!

Staying in HPV until I learn how to win - then, will see about kid kart ;)
-G

[MPIGP - Phillip Gordon]

[- then, will see about kid kart]

Greg

It wouldn't look good on your resume if you got beat by a 5 yr old.....I suggest you move up to the DD2 class :diablotin:

[Martin Lenick]

Originally posted by rick@Oct 26 2006, 09:12 PM
There are people racing at Norway, they're all racing HPV. But it's surprising that even TAG, the class that CHMS seems to want to promote, has trouble finding entries.
2349


Could be that it's a lot more $$$ to get into TaG (even more for DD2) and folks just didn't want to be the first ones until it proved itself.

[Rick]

Originally posted by Martin Lenick@Oct 27 2006, 10:57 AM
Could be that it's a lot more $$$ to get into TaG (even more for DD2) and folks just didn't want to be the first ones until it proved itself.
2361


That's what I thought too. But if you look at the surrounding area's demographics, you'll see there's a large group of people who spend considerably more money on racing than we do at Norway. These guys are all at Autobahn or they're like Stefan and racing in a Regional or National series. I'm sure there are autocrossers who spend more than we do on karting. I'm sure that even guys who race at CIR all year spend more than people spend on consumables during CHMS's season.

It's actually weird that the small slice of karting that we are in (TAG/DD2) seems to be have an uncharactersictally low market share in IL. When I go to Elkhart Lake with Phil, there are always 10+ RM1s/DD2s and a similar number of TAGs. If I had to guess which track's surrounding median income is higher, I would have to definitely pick Norway considering it's proximity to Naperville and the Chicagoland area.

My theory is that:

1. People who can afford it are racing cars instead (autox, timetrial, autobahn)
2. There's not enough critical mass at Norway to build momentum and gain new participants.
3. It's much more physical than driving a regular car, so that cuts out a lot of the older crowd.
4. There's not enough exposure or advertising, so people aren't aware of how fun it is.

What I do know is there are DD2/RM1 guys who live within 30 minutes of Norway but never race there. This is probably because Norway is not a sanctioned series for the RMax Challenge. Hopefully Les, Phil and Marshall can figure something out to support our club series and hopefully attract more people to come race with us.

I was also told that some people have approached CHMS and tried to get a Rotax class (not series) going at Norway but there was a lack of interest from CHMS. Maybe I'm just naive to all the political forces of karting, but I don't see how a Rotax class could hurt TAG. Maybe Roberto, Phil or someone who's been karting for a long time can help explain the political side of karting to us newbies.

[rct25]

4. There's not enough exposure or advertising, so people aren't aware of how fun it is.

A LOT of people do not give Karting enough credit for what it really is.
The first reaction of people when you tell them about karting, is "Wisconsin Dells"

I have talked to people that are RACING people, IRL, NASCAR or any other type of racing in the U.S. and their perception of karting is "Wisconsin Dells" go-karts.

I think karting needs more exposure on the media (Speed TV, Spike, ESPN, etc) so people can really understand what karting is all about, not go-karting.

WKA, Stars, track owners, shop owners, etc, they need to get together and promote karting at that level.
It is a WONDERFUL sport and hobby and it needs more new people coming into it.


Roberto

[MPIGP - Phillip Gordon]

[Could be that it's a lot more $$$ to get into TaG (even more for DD2)]

That was my thought at first.

[folks just didn't want to be the first ones until it proved itself.]

That seems to be the real reason. I know of guys up in WI that have said the RM1/DD2 is too much money but then go out and buy a $10,000 snowmobile.

[When I go to Elkhart Lake with Phil, there are always 10+ RM1s/DD2s and a similar number of TAGs.]

It wasn't always like that Rick, it took a couple years of marketing and the startup of the MPS to get it to where it is.

[1. People who can afford it are racing cars instead (autox, timetrial, autobahn)
2. There's not enough critical mass at Norway to build momentum and gain new participants.
3. It's much more physical than driving a regular car, so that cuts out a lot of the older crowd.
4. There's not enough exposure or advertising, so people aren't aware of how fun it is.]

All great points, especially point 4. The best way I know of to do this, is to get people in the seat. Once they drive it, they're usually hooked. I have tried to get kart shops and tracks to hold demo days for potential karters without much success, so I started doing it myself. Scott Paape at USAIR did a couple and the results have been positive both for them and myself.

However, that's just the start. To keep those people in the sport, we need shops and tracks to work together to promote low maintenance classes, and provide a clean friendly atmosphere at the track. Having a tuner and driver coach available at the track on selected practice days would be a big step in the right direction. It's been a big part of the MPS growth.