Steve,
Great comments about young people and racing budgets. Instead of focusing
only on karters that are racing on daddy's nickle (who will move on, lose
interest, or stop racing when daddy's nickle runs out), maybe we should also be
trying to figure out how to attract ex-karters and other racing fans that are
at a point in life where they can afford to race? This means at least 28-30
years old. How do we reach them?
Cory
Steven Dodd <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Fellow racers, one major issue to our class is attrition. We have lost many
of our senior guys while other classes seem to be able to retain them for 20
plus years FF & FV. We lost two senior guys here for this season and it is
a true loss. Where are you seniors moving too?
Cost to get into SCCA racing kills us when we are trying to attract cost
conscious racers. It cost sooo much to go take Skip Barber in terms of
Dollars or take SCCA schools in terms of time. If I wanted to get a budget
minded racer involved I would have to wait until Dec' school to help them
get started. Its a long wait then 500 bucks.
Other factors, we could do better as far as recuitment. FV guys routinely
recruit and offer test drives. How many of us do that. If you have a car
sitting idlely by, offer it to a karter, a Spec Miata guy or even a Porsche
racer. Get them behind the wheel, and the wheels start turning.
I fully agree with those of you who have posted concerning economics. We
(SCCA Club Racing) are just out of range for the majority of our economy.
We have a shrinking upper middle class here. Its hard to race unless your
house income is over 80k per year. Housing prices, gas prices etc are
helping to thin our numbers further. It is difficult to stomach gassing up
the F250 w/ 2.99 gas and hauling four hours to a race. Can you imagine how
those people who make under 50k feel? New college grads are lucky to pull
38k here. Its hard to afford racing & eating at that level.
Racing a kart is so much cheaper. My bike racing cost was about the same as
F5 except that racing school cost was about the same as a nice dinner out.
My injury rate was higher.
Steven
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