Idea (discussion to create national event meet/greet VKA VKCA / new vintage people)

[Tom Day]

I was just sitting here thinking about Dave's memorial to Chris. Losing 1 of us is too many but we are all getting older and we all know there will be more and ones of us we will never meet.

This may be just a pipe dream but has anyone ever thought about a national vintage meet? Maybe just one where all the vintage guys could all be together and pay tribute to all the ones we have lost. I think Gus Traeder mentioned doing this once but now he is gone. Of course Gus called it a national race.


Just wondering if anyone else has thought about this.

[Gary Wlodarsky]

thought about it a couple times...problem is you got people that won't travel 2 hours let alone 10-15...thats what it would take to put it in the middle of the country,,,



gw

[Randy Dacus]

.......Most of us are just too vintage to actually make the effort anymore to meet up halfway across the country.

Not to mention the time and expense, but that doesn't mean it' isn't a great idea for  those that have the desire to make
A National Vintage Event happen .

Out west, the  Adams/Riverside Event has become our "Big Event", but this year seems not as many folks  attended.....It takes a lot of hype to create a "Big One", but when said and done.....it's always worth making the effort to participate .

Maybe if there was more effort to post pictures and outcomes on social media sites of the events that already take place there would be more interest in planning a special "Big National Vintage  Event" .....?

Since we don't race for a Championship, but just come out to have fun competing there is no big money involved from
sponsorships to make such an event happen, but but but........keep talking about the idea and with some leadership
from the Vintage Community.......the idea could become a reality, if even just a seed at this time !

[Paul F]

thought about it a couple times...problem is you got people that won't travel 2 hours let alone 10-15...thats what it would take to put it in the middle of the country,,,



gw

I wish...  New Casltle is 'bout 2300 miles from my door.  Takes me a lot more than 15 hours to get to Riverside.  PF

[Tom Day]

Well guys I traveled from Illinois to Riverside this year. A long haul for sure but it was on my bucket list and maybe a national meet might be something like that for most people if promoted for a year or two to prepare people for it. New Castle might be a logical choice because of it's size. It's a big event anyway and located in the middle of the country,well sort of. Any interest Jeff? It would be a BIG event.

[thomas kelley]

i think the problem is the racer"s and the display guys don't play well with one other
is there a venue with two tracks?
one for competition and one for fun driving
Newcastle is by far the biggest and the nicest track i have ever been to

if there is a gathering i will be there... even if its in Afghanistan

i made the trek to riverside and im not sure i will ever be able to do it again.. but it was the 50th aniv and i wanted to be part of it
tk

[David Luciani]

Tom,
the idea is a great one.
the logistics an absolute nitemare.

there are people who rarely if ever travel to events.
in Chris's case he was originally not too interested in driving to events and taking up a whole weekend.
he was younger than me and still had kids in school up to this year even so family obligations kept him local.
just recently he had bought a trailer as his kids were growing up and he had more time.
but even a four hour trip to him seemed like alot of trouble when he could go "to the lot" all day and run the karts.
 like many other guys who aren't vocal a single day playing with the karts was and/or is enough.
so the first challenge is how to appeal to the guys disinterested in traveling.

the second challenge is where.

the way i see it New Castle is a good venue choice.
first thing anyone would need to do is ask jeff if he's open to the idea.
with his blessing a good venue and promoter.
kinda central, lots of space ,professionally run by Jeff for years and track staff accustomed to us.
on historics and straight axles attending Jeff's biggest issue seems to be the perception that they are all about racing. that is a huge part but jeff had expressed interest in branching out with more done for the shows and early karts in the past.
this year there was a pretty big kart show with some amazing karts.

i think if approached correctly alot more people would go and New Castle is big enough for a yearly meet and greet.
this year i met a whole lotta people i'd only chatted with on the phone before and it was great!!

to attract even the stick in the mud guys.
i might suggest having a kart show even more high-lited and promoted as the best of the best would attract the restorers and builders.
emphasising era correctness in karts running historic and straight axle running in non competative grids would attract guys who run their karts but don't like to race.
leave the typical VKA entries alone they already draw well.

just some ideas in case this gets serious attention.

[Randy Dacus]

I'll just add the thought, after being in drag racing for a good fifty something years after my early years involved in karting.....I made the trek to the Indy Nationals Drag Race almost every year......it was always the biggest spectacular
drag race you could ever imagine.....win there and you were in the history books !

Why ?    Because as Tom Day points out......it's because everybody made it the one you don't want to miss , so you just had to make it a priority to be there...... because of this you got to race against the best of the best, if you survived to win
you were a true Champion !    Back in the day there was a lot more people competing ......so having a true National Vintage Kart Event where everyone made it special would be a big deal.

Whether you are still into racing your kart, showing your kart, selling parts or just wanting to socialize with folks
that also are passionate about these old machines it would be something to look forward to .

[Brian Sheridan]

Guys,
Let me take a second, and enter a few thought about this idea, which I like:
The one over riding reason that the TBO has worked all these years, is not just that Rob & Bob do a good job. It's because the track in Fremont  is a real old time go kart track. Here's what I mean, when karts were invented, Go Kart Raceway built, etc., the tracks were built within the "safety envelope" of a go kart. Speeds were 25 to 45 mph, some "C" karts getting to 60 mph. Sure Tecate was fast & crazy, but the majority of racetracks were about the same. I have had my vintage karts (1958/1962) up at Road America on the fast full high speed kart track, as opposed to the shorter weekly track, it was a little scary, and I have race & built karts for 40 years. 10 year old kids feel safe at Fremont.

So here is my thoughts:
Looking at pictures of the Comet Kart Shop track tonight, it is so big that it could be run with a race track on the normal front side, and a shorter straightaway play track on the back side. If this was done you actually could run it like TBO & Riverside the same long weekend. I suggest making it a long weekend, (4 days), just because most people are coming a great distance. Alternate race karts & historic karts over the weekend. If you really want to make it work, set it up just like Goodwood does in the UK, where they race cars & bikes the same week. Stop with the small thinking, race karts, play karts, heck, look at the big picture. The only real track where this will work is Comets, it's in Indiana. Get them to promo the event, plan to get 400 karts there, and then you will get 250. Go after every single kart shop in the country. Have the VKA & the VKCA jointly put this on, and people will show up. Do this right, I'll bring the Kurtis Kart, the Kurtis Prototype kart, my Go Kart 808, and the Percival g0ld, and run them all.
Run it like a normal VKA "race" event, you end up with a normal VKA "race" event.

Brian
What's the definition of insanity:
Keep doing the same thing, over & over again, but expecting a different result, it applies here.

[Randy Dacus]

Drone shots of the New Castle layout .

Nice track, but is it too sterile for old vintage racing national type event ?

Plus.....it has a very busy schedule, it's the Disneyland of kart tracks .....they cancelled a scheduled event because 
they didn't have enough people pre-signed up .....just something to take into account .

Lots of folks still interested in old karts like a laid back scenario with shade, camping and low cost .

Play-day Vintage Events......so if someone decides this is doable...... time to take a poll of those desires to get the numbers.