Is the June Jam cancelled?

[dmathias]

I really enjoyed that event, missed it last year, if cancelled will miss it more this year.

What's up?

-D

[lagunamiata]

Yes, the June race at Lowe's in canceled. Unless we can come up with major sponsorship for an event there, we probably won't be going back to Lowe's. They just want too much to rent the place for a race.

[oldgiracer]

It is highly unlikely that this region will go back to LMS for a road race event. The track is just too expensive. This region has tried every way known to make a success at this track. Some less informed have tried to invite other regions for a joint event, some want to try "spectator" events (both have been tried in the past and neither succeeded-can you imagine the details of holding a spectator road race event there?) For the foreseeable future, the track has sold all of its open dates to the Petty Driving Experience and the other race/experiences that operate at LMS. We've been told that there are no "open" dates for some time to come. As a club, we are looking at other venues, including the proposed High Rock track and Rockingham.
We will continue to hold road race events as long as they pay for themselves. LMS never will.

[johnhammer]

I have a buddy who races a Legends car. They ran a road race event at Lowes a short while back & had a pretty decent car count. What got me is that their entry fees for racers were a LOT lower than what we've paid in the past. I wonder what kind of a deal 600 Racing / INEX (the Legends folks) have with the speedway to make it happen?

I AM jazzed about High Rock. And, what about renting Rockingham from Andy Hillenburg? It still disappoints me that we can't find a way to run at Charlotte...seems kind of ironic that we can't race in the heart of race country!

[oldgiracer]

Hey, John:
600 legends racing is owned by none other than Brother H.A. Wheeler. Think he can get a deal on LMS track rental?
We are looking at using Rockingham. We'd have to coordinate that through NCR as it is in their geography. I've discussed this with one of their board members and they are very agreeable.

High Rock will be something if and when it becomes true reality. Imagine how nice it would be to have track choices so close to home!

[dmathias]

Well, well, well, I decided to check with the 'other club' and they have a July race at LMS. Must be more interest over with the astronauts.

[huntersrun]

Good, let them loose their butts! I enjoy running Charlotte as much as anybody else. I don't like seeing our club getting screwed by LMS. It use to be the only track we had and we ran several races a year here. Time Trials and Autocrosses also. We use to have the Spring Sprints (Spectator event) and IMSA until NASCAR became the (I can't say anything nice) they are today. Use to be a great place, now with the Security Nazi's running around it is not a fun place any more.

[dmathias]

My perception of NASA is if they can't turn a profit they won't do it.

[oldgiracer]

That's the bottom line with NASA, the profit.
We could not make one running a Double SARRC with only 1.5 days of track time and low turn-outs.

NASA has the track on one day, a Friday! Did they find an "empty" date on the LMS calendar? If it's a good deal for them, how come they are not taking their usual 2 or 3 days? We will have to wait and see how they do. There is a lot about this that we don't know.

We, as a board, will continue to make the best decisions that we can make based upon the information that we have and on our past experiences.

We also should remember that NASA is a business and the SCCA is a club.

[dmathias]

I'm not trying to start an us vs. them debate. I race with whichever group puts on an event I want to go to. I really enjoy racing rovals, so if someone put on an event at LMS I'll probably do the 7 hour tow for it. By the way the tentative schedule is 3 days, Fri., Sat., & Sun., with a sprint race each day plus a 3-hour enduro. I just hate that it's in July.

[huntersrun]

We use to have an event in July at Lowes. It was appropriately named the July Fry, and boy did live up to its name. I think the big difference is NASA has a whole SE Division. We have small regions that are basically on their own.

Bring your Cool Shirt, you will need it in and out of the car!!

[lagunamiata]

Richard and I were talking about that on Saturday. I remember one July Fry it was over 125 on the pavement! I'd rather be about anywhere than an oval that doesn't get any wind in July!

[racerb]

Interresting conversation...Having been involved with the ins and outs of putting on a race at lowes I can tell you it is all about money. Now the reasons can be traced to many events. All you have to do is participate. Go to the annual buisness meeting and see the plus and minus of the money trail. Go to the race and work. Now the folks who are gonna see this ARE the ones who work. With almost 1000 members in this regeion there are about 20 who put on the ROAD RACING events and most of them are SOLO people. So NO national , No races at Lowes. I had a famous member who does little to actually help but is a high profile guy tell me that is was CCR's Duty to put on the Lowes race no matter how much money we lost. Maybe he was a banker?

ANY HOW the answer to Road Racing here is participation. Again I think the ones who see this most likly already participate . We just need the other 900 to do so.

[Steve Eckerich]

It always comes back to the money and available workers. I had the head of one work crew say they would not ever work that race again for safety reasons. I believe it was some of the infield locations after the repave. We no longer get any discounts for our workers manning other events at the speedway because they have their own group now. There are 23 other SARRC events already on the schedule for a shrinking number of ACTIVE drivers (this does not include those with an opinion that never actually show up and spend money) so it is a tough sell. For every driver that told me they missed the race there were 3 that said they would never go again. We even tried to work it out to race under the lights Saturday night to make up for the short day Sunday. If anyone wants to step up and volunteer to be race chair and present a realistic, profitable budget the BOD would be happy to revisit the race. NASA is 75% PDX and TT and 25% race. We do not have the PDX product to sell. We (SCCA) frankly suck at putting on a PDX with the restrictions we have. Highrock Raceway just got loan approval and looks to have a real shot at opening for 2010 so I see no need to go back to CMS.

[dmathias]

Update: The Spacemen originally posted a 3-day schedule for a July LMS event. They change the date to Friday, July 3rd, one day only. Not worth the tow.

I guess if I want to race at Charlotte I'll have to buy a stock car.

[lagunamiata]

Tony and I went to the NASA event at CMP a few weeks back and talked with them. They said then it was going to be a one day event. Hope it's a successful event for them.