Forum: SCRAFAN.COM Forum (go)
Moderators: ljennings

Alright, I need some help. I am lost about our car count right now! I waited til Monday to write this, so it wasnt a letter of frustration. I truly want input. When I talked to racers in the off season and last year, here is what I heard from them that they wanted.

HIGHER POINTS FUND: Went from $5,000 to $20,000

A DO-ABLE WORKING MANS SCHEDULE: 20 races. Normally 2 on, 1 off.

CENTRALLY LOCATED TRACKS: Santa Maria, Hanford, Tulare, Bakersfield seems pretty centrally located.

SOMEONE TO ENFORCE RULES AND STICK BY THEM: Done. Heck we had to disqualify or points leader and second in points on a couple different occasions. Rules are rules

MORE PR FOR THE DRIVERS AND SERIES: I believe Lance Jennings and USAC have done a great job of that.

UNIFIED RULES: Did the best I could here. I was told by a promoter in another state that runs a Big 360 race, that he thought he would go by our rules for his big off season race, because they basically allow any 23 degree 360 in the country to be legal with minor changes. Dont even have to take your intake Manifold off to ad gaskets. (for the record, I think the gaskets are a joke!!!)

HIGHER PAYING RACES: I believe Tulare handled that this weekend.

So racers have proven to me that this is not about money. $20,000 points fund and only 5 drivers made every show. $2,000 to win $300 to start this weekend in Tulare and only 17 show. They had almost double that at the beginning of the year for $1200 to win and $200 to start. I know of a racers that drove right by Tulare, to go race for half the money. I dont comprehend it.

I think we have a great series. Great racers and great PR. Racers are actually getting a little notoriety. We have had 12 different winners on the series this year. I think that is Awesome! It shows the level of competition and the how even the rules make the field of cars.

I believe we have had over 50 racers run the series this year, so I dont think its the rules or the membership or economy?

Tell me what I am doing wrong or what I can do different. Because at this point, I am WAY to vested in this series to just run Sprints locally @ Santa Maria. I am in this Sprint Car deal for a long time!

I am asking for some help-input. I am not asking for non productive posts.

Thank you, Chris Kearns

P.S. and just in case any rumors start flying. I am contracted to run Santa Maria for 2011, 2112 and an option year of 2013.

Chris Kearns
www.ChrisKearnsPresents.com
805-714-8538
[email protected] 

I believe we have had over 50 racers run the series this year, so I dont think its the rules or the membership or economy? 50 racers and only 5 could afford to run all the races....you're doing everything right .. I think it's the economy...just keep trying and things will turn around...20 years from now you'll be proud you rode out the lean years...it's gonna get better!

From the outside looking in I saw a very successful season. The dips in the car count did'nt seem any worse than any other series. I mean, even the Taco Bravo deal had some counts in the 'teens and overall the nightly average was inline with GSC and the Lates. The non-wing 360s appear to taken a massive first step in stability and building a series for the future the teams won't be afraid to invest in.

Heck, even the Ventura juggarnaut had some mid-twenty nights. I see no immediate concerns. It's cool your are asking for input though.

Geez, I had fun.

Chris,

You already know that Danny Sheridan and the Kittle Motorsports team love to come race with your organization. USAC WC360 has a great series and we've always tried to make as many shows as we can each year. Unfortunately, our budget this year was very thin and we've been counting every penny since the beginning of the season. We started out 2010 with enough money to run 8 to 10 shows (that's why we ran whatever we felt like in February, March, and April). We figured we would just have fun until it ran out. But all of a sudden, we found ourselves 2nd in the USAC/CRA 410 points and started to wonder if we could win a championship. Thanks to our great sponsors, families and friends, we've been able to far exceed our original expectations but still don't have enough money to finish the year.

That being said, our lack of participation in the WC360's has nothing to do with anything that you've done wrong. If we had the money, we would run every weekend! Most people joke and laugh when they hear about our money problems but it's the truth. We plan on giving it everything we've got to finish out the 410 season but this will most likely be the closing chapter for Kittle Motorsports.

Sorry we couldn't do more,

Randy

Chris,

1) In the owners meeting you were told we DO NOT want a sanctioning body. You picked USAC instead. Now we have to pay for licenses, one-way radios, and USAC is trying to force us to use head and neck restraints. Sure that PR is there now but it was there for CRA the first 2 years too, now it's non-existent.

2) We all told you to keep the gasket since thats what we ran for the past few years and we all have. You opened it up to the restrictors, so everyone had to redo heads and buy new restrictors. That expense alone is probably keeping a lot of cars at home now.

3) Doug is a good guy but to say he's a tough official is a joke. He lets his buddies get away with murder but if he doesn't like you he really sticks it to you. The starts and rough driving have been a joke. and you DQd ONE car at the beginning of the year and you didn't even bother to show him proof his tire failed testing. Not to mention when we come to YOUR track, we're treated like illegal immigrants by your people. When we go to Hanford, Scott treats us like family!

4) Yes the purses have been impressive but i'm sure a lot of guys are tired of waiting weeks for their checks and you dodging their phone calls and with some checks wondering if they're even going to cash.

Chris, you talked a big game and still do but we're not seeing a lot of what you promised us. The best thing you can do is drop USAC and hire someone else to run the series for you. Someone thats going to work FOR US not for our money. I sincerly hope the points fund works out because that's the only reason my car is still out there.

Nothing you did wrong. We blew up both our motors and ran out of money, so we had to park it. Probably the worst year of bad luck and expenses we ever had. We are rebuilding right now and will be ready for next year.

Mr Kenny Powers

First of all i was hired after the first race at tulare to run the usac series. I have always prided myself on being a consistent and fair official. Buddies what buddies there all friends to me when im at the track but as soon as i put on my uniform everyone is a car number to me. If i make a call on someone they might like not like it then but later on they know that it was right and im consistent and whoever does the same thing next time will have the same thing called on them. No grey area here i had a rulebook on me the whole season every call i made was out of the black and white rule book. So once again please tell me who i let get away with murder and where and when and who? The starts whats so hard about a cone race starts at the cone pretty simle to me but to youthere joke do you have a better way of doing them? Rough driving there open wheel cars mind you up to 22 at a time that me 1 person is watchin with the assistance of the track officials. I dont see to much rough driving in open wheel sprint cars because if they hit they fly and flip and they wreck. I dq 2 people this year one for an illegal tire compound had a d12 98 on instead of the rc1 and another guy for fuel additive(top lube) when the rules say no additive so who did i dq for a failed tire test.One last thing mr powers nice first post on the site by the way if you like you could post your name and car #.

I would like to thank Chris kearns, Lance Jennings, Scott woodhouse(can i be part of your family lol inside joke), and all the usac 360 drivers and crews for the wonderful year it was fun and i had a great time with you all take care this offseason and good luck in the open shows.

Doug Lockwood

Usac 360 race director

p.s. chris you need to hire someone that is going to work for the racers and not for there money damn i didnt know i got the racers money i will have to call you later to find out where that money is because i dont get a bit of the racers money i do this because i love racing

Does anyone on here think I should respond to KennyPowers? If not i will just keep concentrating on the real feedback, not some made up name that doesnt have a car and obviously by reading his posts, doesnt have any facts right.

Doug dont sweat it. Everytime i use the internet to get racers input and try and make things better, some Moron always has to hide behind a fake name and say dumb stuff.

Thank you Race88, Rod, RandyS and SCRA#97 for the positive feed back. Maybe I am just hard to please. The goal is big fields of cars and great racing!

RandyS, I thought maybe you stopped coming to Santa Maria because I changed my pit pass rule to 48" tall. Dont worry, I think you'll make it! (sorry, couldn't resist. lol)

Chris Kearns
www.ChrisKearnsPresents.com
805-714-8538
[email protected] 

Chris,

We did tell you this to your face (thought i made that clear when talking about the owners meeting) and you still did what you wanted to do.

You asked for input, you got it, just because you ignore it doesn't mean it's not happening. Since I'm so insignificant, I can run Ventura next year and you won't have to worry about my anonymity.

BTW how many of your stock car guys have stopped running because of how you treat them too?

kenny i have known for a number of years and so has the driver of the car i work on doug has treated us no diffrent that he treats any other driver or crew in the series it is always with respect and understanding if anything he is harder on us as to show that he does not play favorites do we mind HELL NO because in order for this series to be a success it needs people to enforce the rules and that is what doug has done all year long. chris as far as car counts people have torn some cars up and hurt motors this season it was nobodys fault im sure if the economy was up and they could have fixed their motors/cars im sure they would have been there keep up all the good work you doug and everyone else involved with the WC 360's

Matt Wolter

Chris, quit beating yourself up. I don't think you can expect Ventura/Watsonville type numbers without having Los Angeles/San Francisco type populations to draw from. Sure, things can always be better and there will always be issues to address. But all things considered it doesn't look to bad.

I forgot, how many non wing 360's showed at Chowchilla the last time they where on the schedule?

Geez, I had fun.

CK , You have a good fan count at SM ... maybe short on cars

Naylor has a good car count at Ventura ... maybe short on fans in the stands

The answer lies .... maybe in the middle here somewhere

Either 1 sanctioning body or at least a common set of rules between Your deal , Ventura , Victorville ,AZ & Perris if they schedule 360's again next year

Bring back the Grand Slam between the tracks .. Maybe on the holiday weekends .. during fair week at the fairgrounds tracks ( mid winter fair at El Centro anyone ) ?

Promote the driver rivalries Between SM, Hanford/Tulare, Victorville/Perris & Ventura .. plus maybe a few NorCal & Az boys

Kinda like the Ol Narc vs CRA vs AZ days in the 60,s - 80's we had on the holiday weekends or special events

Fans in the stands want to see their guys beat the outta towners at some point ( think of it like this, if the Kings played the Ducks 40 times a year = BORING after a while )

Real Racers want 2 stack their talent against the outta town drivers at some point

& it raises the competition level when they go back 2 their home track

The same drivers every time they race is 1 thing that might be killing fan count & racers interest

One of the reasons SCRA/Perris worked in the 90's - early 2000 is cuz you had NorCal vs SoCal vs AZ , Hot Shoe drivers at most of the tracks ( & plenty of cars. great competition & plenty of Fans )

It worked back in the day ... maybe it will work today ?

Get the Promoters , Race track owners , Fairgrounds , Car Owners ,Drivers 2 buy into this concept

The details of how 2 pull it off can be worked out

Then again it's easy 2 type this on da puter ...... But Very hard 2 do in reality

The above Comments are satire & for entertainment
purposes only

It is hard to ignore the elephant sitting on the sideline. Perhaps the simple solution for more intermural racing instead of racing the same locals all the time is.....bite the bullet and adopt the VRA rules. We already know that Ventura has the biggest car count. Convince Mr. Naylor to run an occasional Demo derby and let his boys show us all how good they really are at other tracks.

I think Roy has hit the nail on the head. In my opinion what's happened since USAC came in is that the old rivalry equation is gone, it's all been homogenised to a large extent by the CRA/USAC merger... I think you need to figure out a way to bring that back! Of course, the fifty plus year rivalry that was lost will never be back, (maybe) but you guy's, if you cooperate with each other, can get that "us against them" going again. It will add a dimension that's much needed on the track's here on the left side, and will bring back the excitement of watching regional guy's going up against "them" no matter who "them" is... How's that going to happen? Cooperation, for the good of the sport.

Half the lies they tell about me aren't true. 

A little off subject, but I would love to see someone schedule some w/wing shows in Southern CA.

Chris,

KennyPowers, I couldn't resist but to add my 2 cents to your post so I went ahead and added my responses after each of your "concerns".........

1) In the owners meeting you were told we DO NOT want a sanctioning body. You picked USAC instead. Now we have to pay for licenses, one-way radios, and USAC is trying to force us to use head and neck restraints. Sure that PR is there now but it was there for CRA the first 2 years too, now it's non-existent.

I was not at this drivers meeting but I did hear about it from numerous sources that were there. My opinion, at first I thought going with a sanctioning body was the wrong way but after "logically" thinking about it it made complete sense. Chris as a promoter uses USAC as a headliner which sells tickets, if a promoter can't sell tickets to get fans in the stands you won't be racing at his track, pretty simple. As a driver, more recognition then a local series and a much better paying points purse at the end of the season then if you didn't have a sanctioning body, to be exact your end of the year purse is TWICE as much then if you weren't sanctioned! If you are really complaining about buying a one way radio ($125), you should not own a sprint car, on top of that- I don't know of a series that I have ran except for VRA that doesn't use a radio, hands down it speeds up the show. I am in no way trying to say that I am a fan of USAC but its a win win situation for both the racer and the promoter. As for the HANS, you aren't required to wear one so whats the issue, USAC 410's we don't have the option....

2) We all told you to keep the gasket since thats what we ran for the past few years and we all have. You opened it up to the restrictors, so everyone had to redo heads and buy new restrictors. That expense alone is probably keeping a lot of cars at home now.

We have a 360 that had the gasket, we pulled the gaskets and ran the restrictors, the result was simple, we went out and won at Santa Maria. We NEVER had to redo our heads, would it have helped, yes, did it hurt no. The thing you have to remember is this, you run a harder compound tire (not as hard as VRA, which is horrible) so +/- 25horsepower isn't really going to hurt you at the end of the day. Pulling the gaskets and going to the restrictors the hope is to gain cars, is this going to happen over night no but it now allows options for anyone who has a car sitting at home.

3) Doug is a good guy but to say he's a tough official is a joke. He lets his buddies get away with murder but if he doesn't like you he really sticks it to you. The starts and rough driving have been a joke. and you DQd ONE car at the beginning of the year and you didn't even bother to show him proof his tire failed testing. Not to mention when we come to YOUR track, we're treated like illegal immigrants by your people. When we go to Hanford, Scott treats us like family!

I don't agree, the couple times I did run with you guys this year I found Doug to be very fair. As far as Chris treating you like illegal immigrants, thats a compliment Chris, here in California they have more rights then the legals!!!

4) Yes the purses have been impressive but i'm sure a lot of guys are tired of waiting weeks for their checks and you dodging their phone calls and with some checks wondering if they're even going to cash.

Good point, in today's economy its hard to run and not get paid for a couple weeks. We experience this at almost all tracks we run, not sure what the answer is. It would be great to race and get paid at the end of the night like it use to be!

Chris, you talked a big game and still do but we're not seeing a lot of what you promised us. The best thing you can do is drop USAC and hire someone else to run the series for you. Someone thats going to work FOR US not for our money. I sincerly hope the points fund works out because that's the only reason my car is still out there.

Interesting approach. I'm not sure a forum mostly made up of non-participants is the place to find out. You know who the car owners are and probably have contact info for a number of them. If you don't Kaeding/SoCal Performance probably does. Call them up. Ask them. Maybe you will get a straight answer. If nothing else, you can establish a non-racetrack relationship with the car owners. Things are different away from the track. As to the suggestion of adopting VRA rules, I'm not sure exclusionary rules are the answer.

I am a mechanic on a couple cars at Ventura. I noticed that every off weekend that we had, the USAC 360 series was not racing either. In previous seasons my drivers and a few others have looked forward to running with your series...and almost every race this year conflicted. My hope for next year is to be able to race with you on some of our off weekends, and possibly some co-sanction shows.

BTW...Hope to see some of you guys at the $5k to win at Ventura on Oct. 23rd