Good points Pat, all reasons why I'm don't imagine we could have lots of
events there. I understand that different people have different wants when
it comes to scheduling- I know a bunch of nuts like myself who would happily
drive out to Atwater on a regular basis and stay there overnight for 2
events because we *love* to autocross and actually enjoy staying in hotels
and pumping cash into the local economy. We'd do this just like we already
do for Sacramento events. Now that Mather is gone Atwater has added draw
because of the fine surface.
Having said that, I understand that lots of people don't feel this way, and
would rather have just one event per weekend and have it close so they can
spend more time with family, etc. I fully understand that it wouldn't make
sense to have lots of weekends there because maybe not that many people
would go on a regular basis. However we used to have a fairly successful
weekend in Sacramento every year, I think one weekend (2 events) in a year
at Castle would be fun and successful and a neat alternative. With there
already being too few available weekends at Cal Expo to support Sac chapter,
AAS, and CSCC, it might make more sense for SFR to schedule the "far"
weekend at Castle. I'd also bet that weekend would pull a pretty decent
draw from Sacramento, especially with our nice new BSPV classes!:) Have it
close enough to nationals and you might even draw up a few crazies from
SoCal sort of like Sacramento did in years past.
This year I have *nothing* to complain about as we already had 2 nice
weekends at Atwater for the Tour and Pro. Next year it would be nice to
have a weekend (or 2) there. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I think this
minority would like to be heard. You can always ignore us:) As I mentioned
in my original message, I have and always will appreciate the efforts that
you and John go thru to put together a solid calendar, and if there are
other political or financial issues with getting Winton Ramp that I'm not
aware of, I apologize in advance. Honestly, I am not bitching or
complaining, I swear to that!
Peter
-----Original Message-----
From: Pat Kelly [mailto:lollipop487@attbi.com]
Sent: Monday, June 03, 2002 1:40 PM
To: Thana, Peter {High~Palo Alto}; joe; ba-autox@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Gravel at Golden Gate Fields
Peter,
Okay, so far you're a second vote for Atwater, and I'm assuming you want
the Winton Ramp area? There are smaller sites available.
The only way we can get the Winton Ramp is for a full weekend, because
the folks at Atwater want "heads in beds," i.e, people who will fill
Atwater's checking accounts.
As the events in Sacramento have shown (and they are all over both days
of a weekend, but you can choose to run just one day), two-day weekends
work, though I don't know how many are local residents who sleep in their
own beds in the Sac area, and those who actually rent motel rooms and eat
meals there, or those who enter one day only.
For the Sacramento-area residents, a two-day weekend isn't a biggie, but
if you want to run all the events of a series, you'd be committed to the
overnight deal, or long drives each day. Since there is not a strong
autocross group in Atwater, though some do live in Fresno and Modesto, or
Salida :), could SFR attract enough people to support a fairly high rent
site (forgotten, but it's a close match to some of the Bay Area site costs)?
I wouldn't want to bet SFR's solvency on many two-dayers at Atwater! :)
--Pat K
----------
>From: "Thana, Peter {High~Palo Alto}" <PETER.THANA@ROCHE.COM>
>To: 'Pat Kelly' <lollipop487@attbi.com>, Joe <joe@bea.com>,
ba-autox@autox.team.net
>Subject: RE: Gravel at Golden Gate Fields
>Date: Mon, Jun 3, 2002, 1:19 PM
>
> To be fair to John, we do have fewer events scheduled at GGF this year
than
> last. There are only 5 regular series events and 9 total on the calendar
> this year as opposed to 7 and 11 respectively last year. Plus, we have 2
> events scheduled at Marina this year and a good number of Oakland events.
> Of course it seems like they are always defending GGF because there are so
> many complaints about it (and I have my share, believe me:). But I do
> believe that they are keeping our comments in mind when scheduling, it's
> just not a very easy task.
>
> Honestly if distance were the only negative, I'd love to see a couple
events
> at Atwater. It's not really any more of a drive from most places than
> Sacramento, and it is a very nice site. Not that we should have all of
our
> events there, but if a convenient date were available, I'd vote for it:)
>
> Peter
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