More riders?

Can you get Pirelli to start paying contingency for using their tires again? Lol

 

I agree, that is the question, because no one knows. My point is to find out. Is it perfect? No. Is it progress? Yes. Has he tried that too? I dunno, but probably. He's a smart guy, with a ton of experience. I'm just asking.

My example was CRA did the giveaway, but did it without proper promotion and probably thinks 'Well, we won't do that again, it didn't work', mirroring what Mongo is saying.

California Roadrace Association. I know theres a lot of CRA's, haha. They're new as of last year and trying hard locally.
https://race-cra.com/

 

Sure no problem they'll do it when the other 2 tire companies step up. And fyi tire prices will go up to pay for it

 

To be fair, Dunlop does.....it just goes directly to MA instead of the racers

 

The CRA in California is a non profit group? So where did the money come from to buy the bike? Donated? Higher entry fees?

 

Part of supporting a pro series with a spec tire deal is offering contingency for the riders. But I sure hope this thread doesn't go down the worm hole and conclude contingency fixes everything.

 

Ya, I totally agree with that. I don't have the answer either, but I don't think it's the type of the incentives that have been tried. IMO it's the type of promoting for that incentive. I will take someone smarter than me to know what questions to ask, to get usable answers.

Mongo wears a LOT of hats. After a ton of experience of trying a whole bunch of things, maybe it's time to delegate this part of his job to someone/some company that does it for a living? Like, went to college for it n' stuff. I'm not saying he doesn't do it well, but he seems to want fresh ideas. Will it cost? Probably. Will it ultimately benefit WERA? I think yes, and I think it will long term.

You're also right I'm a FNG. That makes my input valuable, because I know EXACTLY what got me from 10+ years of trackdays, finally into racing. Will I last more than 2.5 years? I'll let you know 1.5 years from now.

 

How about a sponsorship program where new racers to WERA can put on their registration form who got them there for their yellow plate year. That racer gets monetary credit for each race his boy enters.


Also giving one of those kids that run around the paddock access to the WERA Facebook page to post results and random pictures to see whats going on the weekend doesnt hurt either. Most racers have a shit ton of trackday guys on there page.

 

Non-profit? Not that I'm aware of. Theres a link for ya. I believe it was donated by Feel Like A Pro. But again, my point is that reward didn't bring in new racers, or incentivize racers to show up to more races, because no one knew it was happening. Miss, and don't blame the idea.

If the racers in the paddock of their own race didn't know, it's a sure bet no other org's racers knew to come, no track day riders knew and were convinced to come, and certainly no street riders knew. So it cost the value of a whole race bike to someone, and gained exactly nothing.

 

LOVE that idea. I see every new person in the paddock of a race or a track day, was convinced to come by a buddy. Not because Pirelli has a raffle, or the flyer at the dealer looked good. Whats a better ad campaign than your own friend twisting your arm?

Instead of cash money, you could get some credit for your own entries, and it goes right back into the org. Should be a 'known thing' thats done by every org. A self propagating word-of-mouth, bring your friends in and benefit!

 

I seem to recall that being done by WERA 7 or 8 years ago. I don't think it worked.
I wonder how much WERA can do to get more riders, especially the track day crowd, vs. what each of us can do to either get back out there ourselves or to get new racers out there? Maybe we need to have a more active stance ourselves rather than depending on others, since it is racers' best interest to have bigger grids. Any good ideas on that?

 

Be careful of what you wish for. Read the smallest print of your health insurance coverage. You might find as a friend of mine did that the moment there is a cash prize or a monetary equivalent the coverage goes away. Every insurance has different rules and it makes for difficult reading.

 

I think with the coming shortage of vehicles and the more people start utilizing two wheeled transportation because it’s the only option they can afford, it’ll start to be more like Asia and Europe in popularity. Just my .02. Out here in La you’re already seeing WAY MORE people on small displacement cycles

 

Agree the topic is to get/retain NEW riders to WERA not any other organization.

 

Contingency is ineffective at bringing in new racers because new racers suck at racing and thus earn no contingency.

I’ve gotten lucky a few times and left with more money than I had when I arrived, but there were many years, tens of thousands of dollars, and a few broken bones that had to be endured to get to that point. Hard to rationalize that tradeoff at the beginning.

Road racing will ebb and flow with the popularity of motorcycles at large and I don’t think there’s a magic idea that will change that.

 

From a new racers experience: (although I started in the middle of 2019)

I wanted to race bikes my whole life.. All my friends did car stuff.. I got into car stuff from a teenager all the way until I was about 31. The I got bored of it and decided I really wanted to try bikes. I didn't want to just do track days, I wanted to race. In all honestly I could have given fuck all about track days. However, I didn't really know shit except that STT did track days and would issue certificates to get a WERA/CCS license. They also came to Gingerman which was 40 minutes from my house. I told my wife that if I made it to the advanced group by the end of 2019, that I would try to race in 2020 "I don't care, just stop talking about it and do it. JFC"-Wife

So, I tossed a tarp on the race car and used about 2 weekends worth of car expenses to buy a $2500 2009 ZX6R, and some decent safety gear. signed up for Novice at Gman. Immediately told my coach that I wanted to race, and that it was basically the only reason why I'm there. LMAO (I bet he thought I was a fuckin idiot) By the last session of the first day I was peeling my Intermediate sticker off and handing it to the director for an Advanced sticker.. Sunday was rainy but I was just tooling around on some Q3+.. By EOD on Sunday I was talking to a lot of coaches and dudes with race plates (yellow and white) Just asking a bunch of questions about speed, rules, costs etc.. I figured I'd do a few more STT weekends until I got faster then race. (I was looking up lap times for past events and for some reason I thought I would need to be going the same pace as the podium finishers before I try to race)

Monday morning the STT Director calls me and says "Hey, I heard you want to race. Don't unload your trailer, come to BHF next weekend and I will go through the licensing process with you. I have a guy that runs a group of racers over here, he said you can slide under his tent for the weekend. He and the other riders will literally hold your hand all weekend if need be. You'll at least get your license and then be able to run the entire practice day, and be on track with other racers. Then if you're up to it you can grid up and race"

Next time I started my race car was to get it out of the garage and onto someone else's trailer...

We all know I can type a fuckin novel so I'll try to get to the point. I came into this thinking that I would have to put in a serious amount of work JUST to get on grid. I had no idea it was as simple as it actually is. (especially coming from cars where the licensing/vetting process is a fucking money suck in itself) Now, from a racer with a season or two under me, I see this in other people at track days. There are a decent number of guys in A group that roll really well, but don't think they'd be fast enough to race, or they think its exponentially more expensive. Or they don't even know how to get started. Now, I know it may not be in the track day orgs best interest to get customers to go race. However, as a coach now, I try to pick out those people and convince them. Why? because it got me to do it, and I want to do whatever I can to grow the sport. Not just track days. I offer up space in my trailer, a bed in my RV, my extra generator, extra warmers etc.. If I have room I will take anyone to the race track. If its money I'll try to help you save some "Dont help pay for fuel this time, I'm going to race with or without you so I've already budgeted for it"

To end this.. I think there are a LOT of track day people that want to race, or are curious about it. However, they're either shy, or lacking confidence, or even knowledge. One decently fast guy on a 600 told me in April that he wanted to race but get this, HE DIDN'T THINK HE WOULD BE FAST ENOUGH TO QUALIFY FOR A WERA NOVICE ROUND...... I think as racers we have a market in getting some of these folks to step up and give it a shot. We just need to be approachable and willing to help out a bit sometimes. I know I wouldn't have raced at all in 2019 if someone didn't reach out.