Radical Idea

[longrider]

I have been following this and the best point I have seen in the whole discussion is:

... personally I don't think we're in an "economic storm" that we need to get through - but we're in a new financial reality. We need to size the MRA to that reality (the company I work for has already done this quite drastically).

Unfortunately there are not a lot of costs you have control over, the board has already adjusted what they can - pay (less staff, pay cuts for the board) and reduce prize payout. Nothing else is really controllable under the current race weekend format.

Under the current setup we need 120+ racers at a weekend to break even. One idea I have not seen brought up is to cut the season to maybe 7 races with 3 weeks between the races. This gives racers a better shot at making every weekend, not just choosing which ones you can afford. Having 3 weeks between races makes it easier on the family life, plus you have more time to fix if needed.

I really like the idea of going to a 1 day event, with the fact Tony gave of you have to rent the facility for the weekend I could see the possibility of working together with Chicane. Scott would run Saturday as a normal Chicane day, no ideas of turning his people into racers but he could benefit from racers who want more practice signing up for his event. Aside from splitting the track rental, the MRA would save by having one day of insurance, ambulance and corner workers. There also could be more entries from people who can only race Sunday.

Analyzing that change - reduced costs, increased revenue from sprint signups and reduced revenue from cancelling endurance brings me to my final point. All this discussion and idea input is very valuable but in the end that is what you elect a board for. Analyze the situation and make the appropriate decisions.

[T Baggins]

Not taking anything away from Scott and Chicane (or any other track day entity), but "IF" the Saturday could be run at a profit (either as a raceday or a practice day) why would the MRA let an outside entity control that day? The idea here is to MAKE money...

[longrider]

Not taking anything away from Scott and Chicane (or any other track day entity), but "IF" the Saturday could be run at a profit (either as a raceday or a practice day) why would the MRA let an outside entity control that day? The idea here is to MAKE money...

Can the MRA run a track day under track day rules? If it is a MRA practice day you wont get anywhere near the turnout that a track day with sessions for everyone from racers to canyon carvers would. I am using the assumption that running Saturday as a race day would not be profitable

[chris nami]

in the last few days i have been trying to keep up with all the different discussions about what to do with the club and how to fix the money problems. i think its actually simple economics. Ben, Dave, Glenn, Tony, my lovely wife...have all made very good points and i think its as easy as shortening the season a bit, and here is my reasons...

for the Fullers it runs us an average of $1000 a race weekend. now people can say all they want about how we are spending to much but i know plenty of racers who spend far more and plenty of them who spend less so i feel i am somewhere in the middle.

now, if we run an 11 race event season that adds up to 11,000 a year...HOLY SHIZLE, that's a new bike every year or a car or..? if we simply decrease the amount of races to say 7 that's a lot of money ($4,000) and more time in between races that could help a lot of racers decide to race a full season or not. to me this would mean bigger turnouts and more money to cover each event.

So if i have to pick or if i only have the budget to run a hand full of races i am going to skip a few so i can ride when it works best for me. i would guess a lot of racers feel the same. thats why you see tracks like pueblo dead, cuz who wants to ride a toilet bowl when they can ride a work of art like hpr.

to respond to Sexy Bens post, i guess i don't think changing the race day schedule will do anything but piss more people off and i think the club should stay away from joining forces with another group. i don't want to have to pay, sign up,bla bla bla with another group. what a pain in the ass. also the club should keep that money in the club.

we all take pride in the club and the members are like family to me, so naturally i want the club to do well.

[chris nami]

i agree with been about stock bike racing.

[T Baggins]

We can run a "practice day" any way we want, so long as all participants are MRA and AMA members. We could incorporate the "one day membership fee" into the cost of the trackday ($150 total, of which $50 goes towards the one day membership...) - just thinking out loud.

The bigger issue here, though, is

1) Would moving all races back to Sunday INCREASE participation or decrease participation of our current riders - and would the assumed increase in participation from XX mystery riders outweigh the decrease above? It would increase the # of back-to-back races at a minimum - and would require guys who run SS and SB to either have two sets of wheels or bust tires all day.

2) Would we have a greater income from a track day than from Endurance and racing?

I think setting a realistic schedule with 7-8 races instead of 10-11 and coming up with something to increase outside participation (again, SuperStreet on Saturday afternoon???) to get people hooked.

[gixxermike]

lol i guess its black for a little while....ask and you shall receive

Once again Ben comes up with another great idea...

Love the black Dave gives it a nice dark kind of feeling, when this is all figured out and settled can you do a sky blue? :lol:

BTW Dave why are you in a cast again?

[hcr25]

where the hell is the neon orange?

[dave.gallant]

where the hell is the neon orange?

That would be more suiting for you and I, wouldn't it??

[gixxermike]

where the hell is the neon orange?

That works too

[dave.gallant]

BTW Dave why are you in a cast again?

I am an idiot.

8)

[gixxermike]

I am an idiot.

At least tell me it happened outside the trailer

[benfoxmra95]

Not taking anything away from Scott and Chicane (or any other track day entity), but "IF" the Saturday could be run at a profit (either as a raceday or a practice day) why would the MRA let an outside entity control that day? The idea here is to MAKE money...

sigh....just think about some of the years probably not too many that the club tried to spend down the bank account to get it to zero for tax purposes.

It has always been in the back of my mind that the club should be a business run for profit. but that's another discussion, please leave this one alone.


I do feel as though going back to a one day schedule will increase membership entrys as I have heard many people complaining about not being able to ride on sat because they worked somewhere.

I was reticent of this and thought that maybe it was just a few whiners crying about the pains of a two day schedule, but at the first race we had at HPR I was walking around the pits and anonymously was listening (eavesdropping...haha) on a group of people who really didn't know me and their main complaint about the MRA they were discussing was the fact that they and other friends of thiers couldn't race on saturdays. I honestly had no clue who this group was as i had never met them.

So it really put things to light for me that it just wasn't the same old people whining about the schedule, this was a whole other group unrelated.




P.s. Im not 100% on the black background, and baby blue foreground yet. can the foreground colors change? what about orange background, red forground? or maybe dark blue foreground orange background?

[elvis8310@hotmail.com]

we've digress here from the topic of one day schedule.

Oh well.

If were on the topic of it, then I'll give me opinion, the thought of racing sv's and small kawi's does not interest me in the least. That's just me.

What does interest me is racing a "stock" off the the showroom floor bike that I do not have to spend a crapload of money on it. Like bodywork and a steering dampner. that's it's I mean nothing else...case covers, but nothing beyond that, no race fuel, no exhaust, not a damn thing. You want a cheap class for streetbike people then this is it.

Well what about the street rider who's already got a exhaust, well take it back off, there's dozens of stock exhaust systems that go for $50 on the interenet. it's not hard to find a full stock exhaust system. and when you crash it, it's even cheaper to repair, you could buy 3 stock exhaust systems on ebay and stack them in your trailer for $100's less than aftermarket. chances are you'll only need to replace it once. same with rear sets. and clip ons. the stock stuff is perfectly good to race on you just need to get used to it.

Spec racing doesnt have to be small low powered machines.

A completely stock spec class for 600's or 1000's draws my attention because I want to ride the same bike I see ben bostrom riding or ben spies.

I raced spec classes in Europe that limited what was done to the bike. We were only allowed to modify forks internals, shock, exhaust and powercommanders(or jetting). We ran stock airfilter, airbox, brakes rotors, engines and body work(you could buy racing fairing but not required). WE did not safety wire the bikes, had HP levels. We ran case guards not covers. So you could take your street bike tape it up and race with very little money unless you wanted the parts and still had alot of fun. These classes had the biggest turn out and brought in most of the fans to watch there street riding friends race it up. I know it worked over there and could here if looked at right.

Just my 2 cents

[JWinter]

I am in favor of the street bike class for sure, the only issue I see with it is scoring for an actual race. Chris Dale could shed more light on this subject than me but how do we run a street race series when the bikes don't have number plates? Or these street bikes would all need transponders to score them. We would have to require these riders to buy transponders upfront. IF we do the street bike idea it would be very difficult to set it up as an actual championship with points, trophies, and contingency, etc. Instead it would have to be set up as a structured non-competitive track day.

I don't think we make the street bike class into a trophy class; if these riders want to be involved in trophies and championships they need to prep a race bike, get a number and join the novice ranks.

I agree with Brewer about scaling back a little. I know that scheduling events are harder than just wishing it but, two rounds at Pueblo, five at HPR and the possibility of one round at PPIR would be a great season. Of course we can't guarantee two weeks between each event but an eight or seven round season would be better.

Lastly the financial part of my post: If we run our two day schedule as is we would not be able to add the street bike class(s). But if we move the novice classes and Ltwt GP to Sunday that should make enough room to add the street bike class(s) after endurance maybe around 2:00 in the afternoon. If we charge $80 per class (I assume we break it up into gtu and gto bikes) for a half hour session each class and go $100 for someone who can run both classes. If we get twenty bikes per class we could get an additional $3,200 in income on Saturday. Plus the street guys would have to be AMA members, Pay for a current MRA license, and pay for the MRA school.

Jeff

[zedx6rroadracer]

I will chime in and im a nobody, however, I will say that as an individual who enjoys motorcycle racing more than anyone and has a genuine interest in racing a schedule that has been presented would be ideal. This is how it would benefit me. I manage a business that is open 7 days a week and as such it takes a majority of my time. I unfortunately cannot dedicate a Friday afternoon to Sunday evening to race. I would imagine this is the same for many others. Especially now with the economy in the state it is in. I like others will work as needed. Now if we had say the endurance races on Saturday with a street class ads all the sprints on Sunday, I personnaly would sign up and race. It is much easier to take one day odd on a weekend and Saturdays are not an option on a regular basis. Unfortunatelly as it stands now my life and my mortgage precede my hobbies, however, if its a one day thing where I feel I can manage to become competitive, I am all for it. Sign me up right now.

[racedk6]

I raced spec classes in Europe that limited what was done to the bike. We were only allowed to modify forks internals, shock, exhaust and powercommanders(or jetting). We ran stock airfilter, airbox, brakes rotors, engines and body work(you could buy racing fairing but not required). WE did not safety wire the bikes, had HP levels. We ran case guards not covers. So you could take your street bike tape it up and race with very little money unless you wanted the parts and still had alot of fun. These classes had the biggest turn out and brought in most of the fans to watch there street riding friends race it up. I know it worked over there and could here if looked at right.

Just my 2 cents

Not safety wiring a bike is a horrible idea and a good way to get somebody hurt because of someone elses "oops" moment.

[PremiumBlend]

Not safety wiring a bike is a horrible idea and a good way to get somebody hurt because of someone elses "oops" moment.

I agree that street bikes should NOT "race". My idea is getting them out there so they can simply be out on the track doing some parade laps with an escort. Not safety wiring a bike IS a horrible idea if you intend to race, but safety wiring a bike just to putz around on the track is not necessary at all!!!!!

Figuring out how to get street bikes on the track on Saturday after the morning races would be key to getting new entries.

[elvis8310@hotmail.com]

Well, in the European leagues(IDM,BMSB and so on) safty wire is not required at all. I have raced from Italy to Holland and they do not use it at all. We as racers in Europe checked and rechecked our bikes and not once did any of my 7 team members have an issue. I know in America everything has to be wired but the only real bolts needed are the oil drain bolt, oil filter, oil filler and radiator cap. This is just my view from racing were they do things different and have a street class that works well and makes alot of money.

[Mforza]

Well, in the European leagues(IDM,BMSB and so on) safty wire is not required at all. I have raced from Italy to Holland and they do not use it at all. We as racers in Europe checked and rechecked our bikes and not once did any of my 7 team members have an issue. I know in America everything has to be wired but the only real bolts needed are the oil drain bolt, oil filter, oil filler and radiator cap. This is just my view from racing were they do things different and have a street class that works well and makes alot of money.

That's right. +1 for Elvis