11-01-2017, 09:29 AM
first sorry for the hijack but this thread seems to have wandered into an area i'd like to see discussed anyway.
Brian S.,
yep i bought the texas stuff and probably could be consider myself a big player in collecting vintage karts if i thought about it.
and i also run the forum and have for years.
but consider this with me attending events running the forum and having parts available maybe i have an insight into the sport that others don't.
my personal take is there are alot of lurkers out there who'd be happy to go to events if it wasn't for the cost,distance and possible fear they aren't up to some imagined standard.
i know i felt that way the first couple of years i was in this hobby and know lots of others who feel the same.
the distance to travel to events was why i was involved with promoting events at all.
after several years of asking for a closer event on the east coast event to be added Scott finally just made one at Avon.
right around then we had an East coast vintage meeting and then more by accident than anything else we had the first cuddeback event.
now five or six years later we have about four really good east coast events which as they mature will become better and better.
Scotts event is getting almost to big to run easily anymore and i hear cuddeback isn't far behind.
and except for the yamaha guys ALL the karts running tend to be classic vintage karts made before 1975.
this to me doesn't indicate stagnant or reverse growth at all.
in the ohio area the amount of events is getting a little silly.
still even with the competition jeff browns new castle event drew a stupid amont of karts.
in the past new castle was filled with newer karts and a racing vib. but jeff has made a huge effort to encourage the older karts attendance with a big kart show and lots of practice prior to saturday racing.
i noticed alot more classic vintage karts in attendance this year.
i can't really comment on cali events as i haven't been there but i understand they are fairly huge too.
to be fair it seems there are more newer karts there but that may just be the impression i get from pictures.
the big takeaway here should be that there is alot of growth in event attendance.
just maybe not as much in historic or classic vintage as we'd like.
to grow historic and classic karting i personally think we need to focus a bit more on tiny local one day events .
last year we tried a one day event and it was big enough to encourage us to continue.
the one day events can lead to growth for the regional events by providing the "roots" we need to grow further in this sport.
i personally like to run the really old stuff with a little less emphasis on racing and a bit more on the pure fun of running.
though the occasional historic race demo doesn't hurt either!!!
my point is just running the karts at speed is fun too and we can't unless we continue to work on more track access.
the best way to do that, i'm thinking, is to find local karting clubs and get them to let us create a vintage division within the club.
Orville pa kart club has ALWAYS done that and i think with great success.
theres your food for thought for the day
gotta go to work now need money for this weekends swap meet buys!!!!
Brian S.,
yep i bought the texas stuff and probably could be consider myself a big player in collecting vintage karts if i thought about it.
and i also run the forum and have for years.
but consider this with me attending events running the forum and having parts available maybe i have an insight into the sport that others don't.
my personal take is there are alot of lurkers out there who'd be happy to go to events if it wasn't for the cost,distance and possible fear they aren't up to some imagined standard.
i know i felt that way the first couple of years i was in this hobby and know lots of others who feel the same.
the distance to travel to events was why i was involved with promoting events at all.
after several years of asking for a closer event on the east coast event to be added Scott finally just made one at Avon.
right around then we had an East coast vintage meeting and then more by accident than anything else we had the first cuddeback event.
now five or six years later we have about four really good east coast events which as they mature will become better and better.
Scotts event is getting almost to big to run easily anymore and i hear cuddeback isn't far behind.
and except for the yamaha guys ALL the karts running tend to be classic vintage karts made before 1975.
this to me doesn't indicate stagnant or reverse growth at all.
in the ohio area the amount of events is getting a little silly.
still even with the competition jeff browns new castle event drew a stupid amont of karts.
in the past new castle was filled with newer karts and a racing vib. but jeff has made a huge effort to encourage the older karts attendance with a big kart show and lots of practice prior to saturday racing.
i noticed alot more classic vintage karts in attendance this year.
i can't really comment on cali events as i haven't been there but i understand they are fairly huge too.
to be fair it seems there are more newer karts there but that may just be the impression i get from pictures.
the big takeaway here should be that there is alot of growth in event attendance.
just maybe not as much in historic or classic vintage as we'd like.
to grow historic and classic karting i personally think we need to focus a bit more on tiny local one day events .
last year we tried a one day event and it was big enough to encourage us to continue.
the one day events can lead to growth for the regional events by providing the "roots" we need to grow further in this sport.
i personally like to run the really old stuff with a little less emphasis on racing and a bit more on the pure fun of running.
though the occasional historic race demo doesn't hurt either!!!
my point is just running the karts at speed is fun too and we can't unless we continue to work on more track access.
the best way to do that, i'm thinking, is to find local karting clubs and get them to let us create a vintage division within the club.
Orville pa kart club has ALWAYS done that and i think with great success.
theres your food for thought for the day
gotta go to work now need money for this weekends swap meet buys!!!!
Dave L.
