Let the whining commence

If you have not peeked at the schedule for the up-coming Summit Point National, shame on you. For those of you who have done so, please direct all your whining about the length of the races to WERA.

On the upside of this, I won't have to cut the number laps to 6 because some guy running 5 races on a 600 without a belly pan blows an engine and dumps oil on the track.

In any event, you are all invited to stop by Area 51 and chat. Area 51 will open for visitors and their comments 1 hour after I arrive at the track Thursday evening. You are fore-warned that Mrs. Rain Director may join the fray. You might get me to see you point of view, but not her. I speak from experience.

For the un-initiated, Area 51 is to your left about 200 feet from the scoring building. BYO munchies, the beverage is on me. I will accept bribes. Macanudo cigars are preferred.

THE Rain Director

 

So, we can look for the white flag at lap 3 then?

Just kidding..Sir.

 

Hmmmm, in all of the worry about hurt riders (Ernie obviously and just found out that Robin got a nifty new metal rod for his leg today) did we miss something about the illustrious sledges starter????

 

I don't know nuthin'. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!

 

FYI, it is a nifty Ti rod, with three screws, that they used to put all my tibia pieces back together with. I really find it disconcerting when I look at my leg in the ambulance, and my foot is facing slightly backwards. If anyone could tell me why I crashed, I'd sure appreciate it.

Sorry to hear about Ernie Miale. Maybe Quentin's wheel comin apart the day before was a karmagram from God.

 

How many Macanudo's did you need?!

 

I am I reading the schedule correctly. SIX laps sprints for the National Classes. You would think WERA would want to have a little longer races to highlight their National program. I guess not.

 

LOL - we would love to have more laps and less classes for the Nationals but paying the bills has got to come first so we add in the Sportsman stuff on a National weekend, this gives us a whole lot of races to do in one day. Since I can be very, very sure of decent sized grids for Summit there seemed to be no point in trying to fool everyone into believing we can run 8 lap races.

Now, if anyone can convince the track to not take half of the gate fee we could afford to promote Summit, make money from spectators and run only the National stuff giving everyone lots of laps and having some really great races without the pressure of being in a hurry to get them all in.

 

Ok, stop the sentence right here! Let's explore other options, other than the way you've structured this Summit AND the VIR weekend.

I would GLADLY run all of my sprints on Friday, then have the rest of the weekend to do whatever I want. Endurance or Nat'l Sprint. I don't mind the loss of the Solo, as I can partake in the Endurance for about the same price.

Sure, this would decrease the practice time, but not by much. Heck, those Nat'l guys _ought_ to be good enough to utilize whatever practice session they get. Why do they need a seperate day of it? Everyone can run the endurance if they need more track time, right?

Friday:
2 Rounds of Practice
Sportsman Sprints - 8 laps each

Saturday:
2 Rounds of Nat'l ONLY Practice
Endurance ONLY Practice
Endurance Race

Sunday:
2 Rounds of Nat'l ONLY Practice
National Sprints
[This leaves all kinds of time for Winner circle antics like champagne and photos, plus you've already usurped the Sportsman Sprint and Endurance money and track fees.]

I think that the Indy Cycle Jam was close to this, and I thought it was fabulous.

What am I missing?

 

There are only two small problems with your idea (personally I like it but...) -

First - most racers have zero interest in racing on Friday, as long as we only do it twice a year or so it's fine but more than that and we lose racers.

Second - if the above wasn't true it is way too late to do a schedule change that is that drastic.

 

hey rain director... throw a few of those cigars my way and i won't blab about our white flag antics.
good to see you from behind a visor again george.
rob.

 

One a day...

THE Rain Director

 

Hey Rob... Vintage races get Vintage cigars.. the stale ones...

THE Rain Director

 

Quote edited

The customer has spoken.

THE Rain Director

 

what time do you think the hvy twins race will happen? i know its hard to say for sure but an estamate would help, i have to drive all the way back to cola sc on sun alone. if i have an est. ill know if i should enter it or not. thanx stickboy

 

Depending on how many guys dump oil while running 5 races on a 600 without belly pans. But I'd guess 4 PM if they don't dump oil.

THE Rain Director

 

Just checked the Weather Channel for the umpteenth time for the forecast for Summit Point this weekend. It appears that I might be able to continue my one-race-event streak of not having it rain at Summit.

As long as you don't count the rain that will happen today (Thursday) while some of you are setting up your paddock accomodations this evening, that is.

Friday is looking good, with lower humidity and temps rolling in for the weekend. Damn, but it's been MUGGY this week!

Good luck, see at Area 51

THE Rain Director

 

Most racers have no interest in racing ALL WEEKEND at Nelson, but they do it anyway.

Seriously, considering the alternative of being forced through 18 sprints, with decreased laps, I think *most* will let it be.

I would never expect that you could change this weekend, or even VIR(wanna try?). But, in the future, just keep an open mind to the possibility. Kick it around the office, and see if anyone's hip to it?

 

considering your request here...
your friend that hangs from your pit wouldn't be named monica would she?