Akra official announcement

MikeBoone; The business was WKA's to lose. They were the only game in town for a LONG time and extracted large sums of money from their racers. However, through inefficiency, sloth, self importance, nepotism once removed ie. (allowing parts suppliers and (certain greedy)engine builders in the rule making process), they have mismanaged the business.
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So Mike, how do you feel about Briggs and Stratton exclusively manufacturing, setting the prices and also controlling the tech specs that everyone is expected to follow for the LO206 engine? isn't that the same thing as WKA trustees making decisions and voting in specs that benefit them personally, like tires and certain 2 cycle engines as an example? You do see the similarities and problem with this right? BTW I'm not disagreeing with you but just asking! Watch what happens to the prices of the LO206 from Briggs!
Question is who is best to control the engine specs a properly managed organization or the engine manufacturer??

CD
 
As a builder ----- I can't say much but if it is more cost effective for everyone -- then lets make one race day ---- but for the folks that travel a distance it is cheaper to run two days !!! Second day can be a test and tune day !!'
 
I'd think that most tracks would want the whole weekend to be rented. Weekends are their preferred main income. So you have to get somebody there for both or all three days.

WKC has a car club that shares some of their weekends and that seems to work pretty well (at least from the outside) especially on rainy weekends.

John
 
CD,

I am not crazy about it. I am also not crazy about how some folks stepped right into the middle of the clone thing and started making changes, "in the interest of safety and reliability". One thing Briggs did do right is having the rules package firm and fixed since it's introduction.

Ultimately, we have the power to dictate price. But, the way we do it is pretty unpopular because it involves sacrifice. That means if you feel the LO206 is too expensive, don't buy it. Do you think it is coincidence that the cost of an LO206 is within a few dollars of what a RAPTOR costed at the end of their life cycle? The buying public proved that they would spend $500.00 for an engine.

The same way with ANYTHING, you vote with your wallet.

I don't claim to know all the answers. But I have been trying to do this for a LONG time. I love the sport. I don't have the answers.

What I do know is, some stuff makes sense or can be lived with. Some stuff can't. When I look back, I see ALOT of rules changes that were made that drove up the cost of the sport.
Some, not so much.

The quetions is, with track rental prices what they are, and other costs what they are and the fact that tracks WILL NOT concede price. We need to figure a way to either partner with other groups to spread cost, or find a way to negotiate price so that karter find it more affordable.

I think that this horse no longer has a pulse. I believe I will stop flogging him now.

Clones, in my opinion saved kart racing at one of the darkest periods of organized kart racing. In my opinion, there were several things working against the clone. 1. Many... Many engine builders saw that the introduction of the clone as the end of their profitable business. So they were divided into two camps. 1st was to get involved and try to speed "development" of the platform to replace their lagging revenue stream. But, they needed to figure out how to build the clone cost structure to work the way their previous product (now obsolete) did in terms of generating revenue. Thsi was done via "improvements" to the engines, thereby building in cost and complexity. The complexity was required so that the average racer felt he NEEDED an engine builder.
 
I myself like brand competition. In many ways that can control prices. I understand that when a sponsor is kicking in the $$ that they should have some say. But that shouldn't mean control. Karting was far more enjoyable when folks had choices between a Komet, a Corsair, a BM, etc. as an engine. You had a choice of Good Years, Carlisles, Continentals, etc. for tires. You could run whatever clutch, a KH, Gary Hartman, Mayko, Kendick, Griffith, or nearly whatever pipe. If you won using their product, contingency awards were generous. Awards don't necessarily need to be ALL about money. Years ago I won such items as Bell helmets, A Bates leather driving suit, fuel for the year, clutches, TIRES, etc. which we would have otherwise had to pay for. Discounts were generous for trailers, karts, etc. when they were high ticket items. I know it's a lot of remote thought to take a step backwards but capture the interest of multiple karting manufacturers vs. one super sponsor who expects an organization to cater to them and structure rules packages solely around their product. The numbers of karting product manufacturers have diminished from what they were largely due to their product involvement in today's cookie cutter super sponsor class structures no longer enable their use.

I dunno. Maybe this post is more of a rant than any type of constructive input. But I feel that to increase road racing's numbers, first it must be made more interesting to karters and manufacturers alike. Can anyone need more than one hand to count the number of (laydown) kart manufacturers nowadays? Maybe it's because a super sponsor that gets catered to only has rules for their engine on sprint karts. Just one example right there.
 
Vintagequest said:
I understand that when a sponsor is kicking in the $$ that they should have some say...
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This is the root of the problem, if you ask me. If you're a sponsor, you're paying for additional advertising, like banners and announcements, period. Chevy may sponsor a race, but that doesn't mean Fords and Dodges don't get to run... You don't get to dictate the terms of the event. Unless you're the underwriting title sponsor of the whole shebang...in which case WKA shouldn't have to pay much money at all to hold the event...
 
Ted Hamilton said:
This is the root of the problem, if you ask me. If you're a sponsor, you're paying for additional advertising, like banners and announcements, period. Chevy may sponsor a race, but that doesn't mean Fords and Dodges don't get to run...
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Ted, Do we at Baker meet your requirements.......... http://karting.4cycle.com/showthread.php?39143-Baker-200-Contingency-Program-2015-Gold-Cup........ we are not saying that you have to use our race engines, however if you do win on a Baker engine you win awards that we put up. This program has nothing to do with WKA or any other organization or dictate on what engine or product you have to use. This is a Baker program to give back to our customers!

We also have a contingency program for road race.......... http://karting.4cycle.com/showthread.php?40866-Baker-200-Contingency-Program-2015-Road-Race

Steve
 
I'm all for contingency sponsorships -- ie. I run your decal / motor / whatever, and you give me money if I win....it's a win / win. Just not keen on monopolies pretending to be something else...
 
Mr. Billmcfast,

I noticed that WKA has not mentioned anything about the annual road race at Kershaw for 2015. Last year was the 15th Annual Johnny Jacumin Memorial Event held at Kershaw. Johnny never turned anyone away that came to race. He told me many times that both of you were for the racers and he was right!!! He got me back in a kart after over twenty years of being out of racing. If possible, I hope the AKRA will consider continuing the racing tradition we have enjoyed at Kershaw.

Joe Cuslidge
 
Joe,

We are looking at doing some events at Kershaw. We will gladly pick up an event honoring My good friend Johnny Jacumin if the other group decides not to continue this memorial event. Johnny helped a lot of folks get into and continue karting for his entire life. There's a lot of great memories and good times because of Johnny's efforts.

Enjoy Karting,

Bill McCutcheon
 
Ted Hamilton said:
I'm all for contingency sponsorships -- ie. I run your decal / motor / whatever, and you give me money if I win....it's a win / win. Just not keen on monopolies pretending to be something else...
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I concur and am reminded about an old saying about about differentiation between smoke and sunshine.

You see what I like best about kart racing is the fact I can do everything from fitting a piston to checking the tire pressure. If to be reasonably competitive I have to have a professionally built engine - I'm done with this sport.

I don't believe I'm alone in this position.

BTW - To get back on track of the original post. What exactly is this announcement saying? What is the basic future plans for AKRA and its involvement in road racing.
 
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Everybody in Road Racing wants to be at the big historical tracks, like VIR, Daytona, Summit Point and most of the ones I haven´t been jet. Ted, a sprint track would remove this feeling and exciment. In any case I would pay attention to the new facilities built in VA, Dominion Raceway, catering road racing, oval, sprint, drags, etc and initially scheduled to open in 2015. A new track is always willing to negotiate to get the track going. And added to that it is gonna be really close to me, lol.
 
rainman said:
Everybody in Road Racing wants to be at the big historical tracks, like VIR, Daytona, Summit Point and most of the ones I haven´t been jet. Ted, a sprint track would remove this feeling and exciment. In any case I would pay attention to the new facilities built in VA, Dominion Raceway, catering road racing, oval, sprint, drags, etc and initially scheduled to open in 2015. A new track is always willing to negotiate to get the track going. And added to that it is gonna be really close to me, lol.
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On the website it lists that it is run clockwise and then on the same website it lists that it is run counter clockwise. I wonder which way it actually is?
http://www.dominionraceway.com/road-course/
http://www.dominionraceway.com/racer/track-rental/

*I also think that it is interesting that they "advertise" WKA and WKC when its on neither of their schedules. I wonder how those respective organizations feel about that.
 
WKC has been in talks with track management. But it also looks like they're really providing free advertising on their site. That's never a bad thing. That's about all I know at this point.
 
New tracks aren't always looking to negotiate. It comes down to how much pent-up demand there is for the facility. Case in point: COTA. New facility, but also a coveted one, hence expensive.
 
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