IKF RR Nationals?

[Ray Chiappe]

They have been skipping years. So anyone think they will have it in 2015?? I went to the last one in Portland and the turnout wasn’t that good.

[Larry Dobbs]

I believe the reason for the missed years is because no club agreed to host the nationals that year.

[Greg Lindahl]

2015 at Thunderhill West

[Ray Chiappe]

Greg is that a wish or fact?

I heard after the last Natl’s in Texas that IKF decided on to do it every other year.

 

[Jim White]

For it to happen a club has to take on the entire financial burden of the event. With the cost of track rental what it is most clubs are barely breaking even. Add in the additional IKF costs (Duffys aren’t cheap) and it could easily bankrupt a struggling club. Sure you may get an extra 8 or 10 racers that don’t normally show up but that doesn’t come close to covering the additional costs associated with the event.

[Ray Chiappe]

So would I be safe to assume there will not be a IKF Road Race National in 2015??

[Greg Lindahl]

A wish, Ray.

Sorry for the delayed response.

[Kerry Matthews]

I think that would be a safe bet, Ray.

[Chris Hegar]

Deep thoughts by Jack Handy

IKF National event rr survival is going to need some sort of revamp if it’s going to happen. IKF has to want the name associated with a big track event. Some sort of club incentive has to be offered from IKF with the possibility of loss being taken by IKF as well not just the club.

That being said clubs taking on a one off national must present it in a way at a place that draws people vs just having a gathering because we have not done it in a year or years. The track, time, $ and advertising must be solid and presented in event form early enough that a person has time to work towards it and look forward to it. Classes must be kept to a minimal and common.

In my mind the track options are Infenion or Laguna for any national draw. I can gain you runners from the midwest and probably farther with those places but the other tracks new or old on the west coast are either unknown or to far away from real off track entertainment.

Love to go to another national especially after having a great time at KART’s national event last month but from the way I understand it were going to need changes from higher up IKF to make that happen. KART also has the best BBQ we have ever had hands down so were gonna need some of that fer sure.

[John Benson]

I think it needs to happen in July or August not after school starts and for a true National race ,Miller would be the best to try and pull racers from the mid and southwest . Don’t know if you would get enough to offset the west coast guys that won’t go but it’s not a bad pull from most of the west coast (I know portland and north pretty long) reasonable track rental ( I think about $8ooo a day for the east or west loop) and I could bribe my wife with a trip to park city to let me go! :)

[Chris Hegar]

Having ran Miller twice with USKGP it was obvious the draw was not enough to pull all our dedicated runners out of IKF land hoping to bring in new midwest/east coast faces because it’s Miller. Millers field the second time around was also smaller and I think failed to create any profit and that’s using the full circuit. NCK has the largest fields so it should be centered around those IKF people. A track like Infenion or Laguna would draw midwest people and already draws everyone from the NW. They are famous stand alone tracks the only reason we don’t see more travelers making the currently offered events are because they are 1 day. Give em 3 or even 2 and some nice practice and your looking at big numbers. All we need is a massive cash donation and it’s on!

[Kerry Matthews]

“All we need is a massive cash donation and it’s on!”
How right you are, Chris!   Renting either of these tracks in the summer months is VERY cost prohibitive.  It’s why we run Sonoma when we do.  And Laguna Seca has a lottery for dates, so it’s very hard (if not impossible) to get a date, let alone multiple dates together, and that aren’t 9o dB days. And since LS holds the lotto twice a year for the dates, that would pretty much eliminate the advance advertising needed for people to adequately plan for an event like this. Multiple dates at LS require using the paddock overnight, which cost us a HUGELY ridiculous amount of cash for the overnight paddock rental fee. So I wouldn’t put much hope in having a RR National at either of those tracks during the summer months.  The NCK BOD has discussed it several times.  There’s no way to break even, let alone make any money, and the club can’t afford to do it.

[Chris Hegar]

As noted above in my comments, IKF would also need to take the risk with the club that supports a program like this. The other thought that’s been kicked around and down the stairs many times over is a joint host with PKA and NCK. Not likely due to so many cooks in the kitchen between both clubs though.

In my opinion the Infenion Turkey weekend event isn’t often a bad weather program so I’d skip thinking about hot summer and aim towards risking rain tires and lower rental prices. Just my opinion.

[Jim White]

Now that I’ve been involved enough to have a pretty good understanding of how a lot of this stuff works I found something very interesting today. As I was filling out my Daytona entry I see that all checks are made payable to WKA. That leads me to believe that WKA itself is the promoter of the Daytona event.
The next (if ever) IKF road race national will have to be a joint venture with IKF. The couple clubs left just operate on too thin of a budget to take on that much expense and risk alone. NCK lost lots of $ on the last 2 nationals they hosted. PKA lost a bunch on the last one in Portland in 2013. I don’t see either club doing it again under the current system. It’s financial suicide.
And I do agree with Chris that should it happen again it’s got to be on a well known track to draw any interest. Miller was pretty well supported in year one. Year 2 was nothing more than a big club race. Thats why it hasn’t happened again.

[Greg Lindahl]

Jim,

Is the price at Sonoma high during the week of Labor Day?  Maybe we could have a race during that week, not on the weekend.

 

[Mark Morrison]

During that time frame the cost has already doubled per day from Nov.

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