Exactly, not so much the gas but the entry fees. The reason that we autocross is that I can justify $15 to 25 plus a couple gallons of gas and a Sunday. To road race with a $300 entry and associated costs is still beyond my desire to compete.
Allen ---- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I think Gene's post has correctly identified the problem with our lowering > participation numbers. > > Like any social or other group, generally a groups make up is structured with > the "haves" and "have not's". Not meaning to be derogatory to any one > sector, > the FA guys have a very low percentage of "have not's" in that group. F500 > has the just the opposite make up. Among my golfing buddies it's the same > with skill level. > > There are however two factors consistent with the "what happened to the F500 > class number" situation. (1) about 2002/2003 we started losing numbers and > (2) about the same period different sectors of the economy started > "tightening > up". > > In my opinion...F500 would have a resurgence of car owners back racing if the > price of gas was again $1.70 a gallon and entry fees were $50 to $75 less. > > Louie Schultz > Philly Region, SCCA > September 15 & 16, 2007 @ Watkins Glen > Formula Car Magazine F500 Challenge Cup > Presented by Hoosier > With Additional Support From > SUNOCO > The Glen Motor Inn > Lakewood Vineyards > Sunset View Creamery > > > > It scares me too, and I don't yet have a National ticket. But I think > > I have some idea of why the numbers in this class have fallen so much > > more precipitously than some other classes. F500 is truly (no offense > > meant, so if you take some keep it to yourself) a bottom feeders class. > > By that I mean that, due to the low cost of competing, many of the > > competitors are very budget limited. If the cost of racing goes up > > 10%, a much larger proportion of F500 drivers will drop out or reduce > > race entries compared to, say, FA drivers. I know that's very true in > > my case; after a long "discussion" with Medicare and my health > > insurance company, we now owe a 4 digit balance for some physical > > therapy my wife needed. Due to that unexpected expense, I have scaled > > back my planned season and will not be able to get my National in time > > to add to our numbers this season. I WILL have a National going into > > next season (unless the car breaks catastrophically), so if we manage > > to make it through this season, I'll add my participation. If we > > don't, well, I'll just race Regional and continue to flag the > > Nationals. > > > > Gene near Seattle > > > > On Apr 15, 2007, at 6:50 AM, Jay Novak wrote: > > > > > It just scares me to see > > > our National entry numbers drop by about 60% from 5 years ago to last > > > year & > > > now down another 20% this year. For the life of me I can't see why our > > > numbers have fallen so quickly. ________________________________ FormulaCar Magazine - A Proud Supporter of Formula 500 The Official Publication of Junior Formula Car Racing Subscribe Today! www.formulacarmag.com or 519-624-2003 _________________________________ _______________________________________________ F500 mailing list - [email protected] To unsubscribe or change options please visit: http://f500.org/mailman/listinfo/f500 *** Please, DO NOT send unsubscribe requests to the mailing list! ***
