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TedDBere:

gary p:

  That's like the east--coast guys suggesting Atlanta or Pittsburgh. 

Now you're talking!

 

 

....just kidding Mike.

 

I'd drive my MR2 to Los Angeles to finish 20th in ES before I'd make the two hour trek to Pittsburgh for Nationals.

fastbackss:

Could do something like what is done for the Canadian nationals. 

 Have it in the "east-central" US one year, then in the "west-central" the following.  If a contract is required - sign up for a similar 3 year term but alternating.

 Sure, a lot could happen in the 6 year timeframe - but at least it would equal out the "screwing."

 

 

The canadian setup does not work.  What ends up happening is people decide to skip a year and wait for it to come back to their area. The Canadian Nationals has been having trouble reaching attendance figures of some club events.

 

P.S. Incase anyone in the north east is interested in winning a national title http://autoslalom.rgisolutions.com/  The lot is a good size and the people are friendly.

Someone who shall remain nameless (for now) came up with another idea to deal with the need for a large, high-quality, "permanent" Nationals site: hold the event at two locations. Divide the classes into two subsets and run one East and one West. Hold the event on different weekends, so people compete at both, if they so chose; and swap the class-sets at the two sites every other year. 

The sites could be smaller, the locations wouldn't be as critical, people who normally can't/won't afford the cost and time historically associated with Nationals will be more able to attend, Regional hosting would be enhanced, East/West competition wold be stoked...

It raises a boatload of issues, but... the dreamer behind this is convinced attendance would increase.

Uncle Leo? :)

Lateapex:

Someone who shall remain nameless (for now) came up with another idea to deal with the need for a large, high-quality, "permanent" Nationals site: hold the event at two locations. Divide the classes into two subsets and run one East and one West. Hold the event on different weekends, so people compete at both, if they so chose; and swap the class-sets at the two sites every other year. 

The sites could be smaller, the locations wouldn't be as critical, people who normally can't/won't afford the cost and time historically associated with Nationals will be more able to attend, Regional hosting would be enhanced, East/West competition wold be stoked...

It raises a boatload of issues, but... the dreamer behind this is convinced attendance would increase.

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David Hedderick
Pearland (Houston), TX
01 CRG YZ125 (FOR SALE! $2500)
08 Mazda 3s
02 Mazda Protege (automatic tow vehicle)
92 Miata SE - Fun half-arsed STS2 Car

Lateapex:

Someone who shall remain nameless (for now) came up with another idea to deal with the need for a large, high-quality, "permanent" Nationals site: hold the event at two locations. Divide the classes into two subsets and run one East and one West. Hold the event on different weekends, so people compete at both, if they so chose; and swap the class-sets at the two sites every other year. 

The sites could be smaller, the locations wouldn't be as critical, people who normally can't/won't afford the cost and time historically associated with Nationals will be more able to attend, Regional hosting would be enhanced, East/West competition wold be stoked...

It raises a boatload of issues, but... the dreamer behind this is convinced attendance would increase.

1. I would not like this, I like the fact that west coast and east coast actually get to meet each other.

2. If attendance increases then you have a site problem again. If you have two halves, 600 a piece you are talking a week. Yes, we ran 398 drivers through Peru July 4th weekend in 2005, but that was a long day.

Fact of the matter is most people won't go even if it is in their backyard.

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Chapter 11 Racing
Win or Go Broke Tryin'
www.chapter11racing.com

Sean O'Gorman:

I'd drive my MR2 to Los Angeles to finish 20th in ES before I'd make the two hour trek to Pittsburgh for Nationals.

I think ES would have more than 20 entrants even if it was held in Los Angeles.

And we don't want your hairy ass anywhere on our side of the border. 

- Nick
Steel City Region Solo Chair
 

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Team Zissou

Just to clarify, particular classes wouldn't be split -- half the classes would be designated East and half West.

Sportster:

P.S. Incase anyone in the north east is interested in winning a national title http://autoslalom.rgisolutions.com/  The lot is a good size and the people are friendly.

Hey....I resemble that!!!!!!! (2006 DSP championship)

I agree that attendance was light for a national championship event, but the people are indeed nice and the competition was pretty darned good too! SP gets cams up above the border.....I'd would have liked to have some myself!

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Jay Storm
96 Impreza L FSP
98 98 Impreza 2.5RS- co-driver DSP
Wives are like SCCA rules...
If she doesn't say you can...you can't

Hey Storm,

     I remember you guys in the blue subie. I was the one that went along in your tow vehicle to go buy the cases of water for the event. Never got a chance to say good bye as we had that small incident so I had to pack up and head to the hospital. Congrats on the win.

J.Cordeiro

 

I was at the same 2006 one at Storm.  Still the most fun I have had at an event (at least hospitality wise).

 It may not work as designed in Canada, but looking at the last few sites I don't think it could get much further east or conversely much further west.  My suggestion was to just hedge a bit from centre.  As in, one year it is slightly more eastern, the next year slightly more western.

 Formula SAE has gone through a similar situation, but for a different reason.  FSAE had a single US competition for years.  However, the # of teams signing up exceeded what they could hold logistically.  So they went to an East (Michigan) and West.  The intent was to eventually equalise the two in terms of entries and prestige.  The "problem" is that there is no longer a true national champion, although I don't know if many of the teams care anymore - as there are no longer any students in school who remember it the "old" way.  And oh yeah - they just added a 3rd competition to confuse it more....

-Mike

fastbackss:

, the # of teams signing up exceeded what they could hold logistically.  So they went to an East (Michigan) and West.  The intent was to eventually equalise the two in terms of entries and prestige.  The "problem" is that there is no longer a true national champion, although I don't know if many of the teams care anymore - as there are no longer any students in school who remember it the "old" way.  And oh yeah - they just added a 3rd competition to confuse it more....

-Mike

 Do they only allow the top 25 schools in the AP rankings for engineering to compete?

Sean O'Gorman:

fastbackss:

, the # of teams signing up exceeded what they could hold logistically.  So they went to an East (Michigan) and West.  The intent was to eventually equalise the two in terms of entries and prestige.  The "problem" is that there is no longer a true national champion, although I don't know if many of the teams care anymore - as there are no longer any students in school who remember it the "old" way.  And oh yeah - they just added a 3rd competition to confuse it more....

-Mike

 Do they only allow the top 25 schools in the AP rankings for engineering to compete?

Its open to all schools. The main one is in MI while the West one is in Fontana,CA.

Walker Base has been mentioned (Mike King, I think).  This looks like another good possibility.  The site is plenty big and essentially unused. The apron is close to as big as Forbes and as we could use the runways for parking(unlike Forbes), it would be huge.  According to the website of abandoned airbases, "Walker is a very large airfield to be completely abandoned:consisting of three runways (each approximately 8,800 ft long), taxiways & a large paved ramp area, all still in very good condition(except for the aforementioned test craters in the NE/SW runway).

While kind of out in the middle of nowhere, it is near a town (Hays, KS) of 20,000 with 1,000 hotel rooms.

Here is an aerial:http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Victoria&state=KS#a/maps/l:::Victoria:KS::US:38.852798:-99.147202:city:Ellis+County/m:hyb:7:38.852798:-99.147202:0::/io:0:::::f:EN:M:/e

Looks like there could be some shrubs and trees, but it could be a very good site.  I think this is one the office should check out.

aansorge:

Walker Base has been mentioned (Mike King, I think).  This looks like another good possibility.  The site is plenty big and essentially unused. The apron is close to as big as Forbes and as we could use the runways for parking(unlike Forbes), it would be huge.

Looks like it would need a a lot of fixing up.  If weeds are growing between the concrete slabs, then its likely the surface is fragile.  Maybe not as bad as Forbes which had snow plowed over it.  But it could be like Peru, IN Grissom Aeroplex, which is well known for its "uneven" pavement.

 

LM

 

aansorge:

Walker Base has been mentioned (Mike King, I think).  This looks like another good possibility.  The site is plenty big and essentially unused. The apron is close to as big as Forbes and as we could use the runways for parking(unlike Forbes), it would be huge.  According to the website of abandoned airbases, "Walker is a very large airfield to be completely abandoned:consisting of three runways (each approximately 8,800 ft long), taxiways & a large paved ramp area, all still in very good condition(except for the aforementioned test craters in the NE/SW runway).

While kind of out in the middle of nowhere, it is near a town (Hays, KS) of 20,000 with 1,000 hotel rooms.

Here is an aerial:http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Victoria&state=KS#a/maps/l:::Victoria:KS::US:38.852798:-99.147202:city:Ellis+County/m:hyb:7:38.852798:-99.147202:0::/io:0:::::f:EN:M:/e

Looks like there could be some shrubs and trees, but it could be a very good site.  I think this is one the office should check out.

If contacted the folks in Salina, they would probably know what this site looks like.

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Bob Buxbaum
Lee's Summit, Mo.

aansorge:

Walker Base has been mentioned (Mike King, I think).  This looks like another good possibility.  The site is plenty big and essentially unused. The apron is close to as big as Forbes and as we could use the runways for parking(unlike Forbes), it would be huge.  According to the website of abandoned airbases, "Walker is a very large airfield to be completely abandoned:consisting of three runways (each approximately 8,800 ft long), taxiways & a large paved ramp area, all still in very good condition(except for the aforementioned test craters in the NE/SW runway).

While kind of out in the middle of nowhere, it is near a town (Hays, KS) of 20,000 with 1,000 hotel rooms.

Here is an aerial:http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Victoria&state=KS#a/maps/l:::Victoria:KS::US:38.852798:-99.147202:city:Ellis+County/m:hyb:7:38.852798:-99.147202:0::/io:0:::::f:EN:M:/e

Looks like there could be some shrubs and trees, but it could be a very good site.  I think this is one the office should check out.

I sent this option to Nancy a while back.

DaveW

Another possibility in Arkansas....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuttgart_Municipal_Airport_%28Arkansas%29

Looks like they have held SCCA roadraces there and some drag racing.  It is about the same size as blythville.

Looks like we'd all stay in Little Rock and caravan 45 miles back and forth.  That will be quite a parade.  I'm not saying it can't be done, but there are more hotels closer to Blytheville.  And the concrete at Blytheville will be around 20 years newer.

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2002 Mercedes C230k, retired, 2005 Nationals STU DFL

1969 Beach Solo Vee and 1985 Lynx B Solo Vee

aansorge:

Another possibility in Arkansas....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuttgart_Municipal_Airport_%28Arkansas%29

Looks like they have held SCCA roadraces there and some drag racing.  It is about the same size as blythville.

 

I ran at Stuttart in the early 1980's at a divisional held there.  Just because a surface is concrete it does not mean that it is good adhesion concrete.  Back then you had to pick rice off the tires after a run and was probably as slick as HPT.  If you didn't know it but Arkansas is/was the rice capital of the world.

 

 

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Craig Straub

The Arkansas Region is looking a a couple of things.  Things are moving along but that is about all I can say at this point.

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http://m3kerry.blog.myscca.com