Track Tac

its a darn shame!

If you pick a tire that will last awhile, tire rules absolutely save the racers money. The track I race at regularly has mostly Maxxis EL classes. The kart counts are fairly high and you don't have to buy a ton of EL tires. I can't understand why so many racers don't like EL tires, or something similar that will last longer. I'm not saying they're as good as many other tire compounds, but does it really matter if everybody is on the same tire? I have a feeling people who are against EL tire rules haven't ran them a whole lot. It doesn't take tire knowledge out of the picture at all... just much of the cost. I know I'd think twice about continuing to race if the tire rule was changed and I had to buy 4 or 5 times as many tires as I do now to be competitive.
 
got that right! i'm on a set of two year old red vega's.....great tire once you get heat into them and then they stick great! clean em up every race, wipe em down with a little WD.....and have three others for back up....keep you wall of tires...i'll stick with the ones i have.....and EL's are a good tire. they like the heat on a paved track and will stick, but you have to keep them clean....raced for two years on used EL's and was competetive....not all the way to the front, but i wasn't a back marker either....points lead for 3 months before enigne issues dropped me to 4th...and that was my rookie year in karts!
 
mikey56;312850[B said:
]"Tire rules hurt nothing and have saved thousands of dollars to racers" have to disagree when you see trailers with one wall dedicated to nothing but tires.[/B] While having like two sets is good for racing and easy on the checkbook for some, others spend literally thousands on tires. you figure if each tire costs an average of $44, and you have a wall of tires.....the costs skyrocket very easily. new sets for this track, new sets for qualifying, new sets for heat races.....don't like that set, buy another! soon you have more tires than you can ever race with and they sit on racks on the wall until they rot or you decide to sell one or two at twice what you paid for them, claiming the inside/outside prep will make you win every race you enter......but, if your realistic.....you'd ask yourself, if they were that special, why aren't you using them? because you didn't like them and bought another set.....nope, don't buy into the hype that tire rules save money.....

to be the best, you have to compete with the best and have all aspects of your game right....at any one time, even the best can be beat with a barn built engine, year old tires and a driver who can read the track.....tires don't win....drivers understanding how to get the most out of thier equipment win...

Tires + Engine + Set-up = Wins and Top Finishes.....

Man does not live by bread alone....ever heard of that? basically it means the same thing as the equation....leave one thing out and your a back marker or sitting in the pits watching everyone else race.....

but you are right....you have to pick your races....but traveling 100 miles, towing a trailer for a change to win $100? when you spend $300 to get there and enter? nope...rather race at home within my means than try to impress someone that i'm racing with the "best".....you want the best? come race with us one time....and every track can say that honestly....you wnat the best that racing can offer? go to any track and ask them who the best is....
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Take away the tire rules and now you have that many tires plus the Vegas, Burris, Firestone, etc. Now you quadruple the cost at minimum, so a tire rule does save the racers money.
 
This is my 2 cents. I love racing and get to do it for a living but you can't tell me that a set of tires for a go kart needs to cost $220 and then have $100 worth of junk put in them! But like everyone I else I'm dumb enough to pay the price to go play!
 
tire rules that mandated certain tires let the tire prep Genie out of the bottle. The next thing to hurt was WKA trying to do what everybody wanted to do by getting rid of ALLL those tires with ALL those different preps SO then No Prep but have to run these tires. Killed it.

Someone before said the Engine packages. Clone to save you money from the animal, started life as cheap cheap cheap, then WOW what they are now for the clones.

I think the Gas Animal engine with allowing porting to the heads would make for a GREAT engine package with lots of people able to build good power with enough room to play to let some innovation show thru...

But back before the spec tire, things were pretty good. Yes you needed 3 4 sets for different track conditions, but, you were on a wet track, you start with a soft tire, minimal prep needed. those tires being natural rubber would put a rubber base down on the track from the grass to the grass (At least at Crossroads nationals anyway)... then put on your no prep maxisis HG3s that worn down when used on a track thats not super hard.... They moved like a progression. And all of the tires were fairly priced as you didnt HAVE to buy from any one supplier...

getting the economy fixed and all of us with more disposable income would make the biggest change...
 
I agree chopper..we are dumb azz to let these go kart tire people charge us same for a go kart tire as you pay for almost for race car tires.lol..
And chassis that cost as much as a race car chassis..and engines that are as much as a good used crate 602 engine...then entries are more than going to a nascar race almost...its gotten ridiculous.
 
your right barry about the lack of disposable income....blame that on others above my pay grade! tire prep and the whole tire situation is greatly understated and slightly out of hand....but there isn't a lot that anyone can do about that.

be that as it may, great tracks have come and gone....the economy tanked and a lot of good places nearby suffered and closed. now we all have to travel to get our fill of racing and it costs....when the average racer can't afford to travel, you get those that say "if you can't race against the best, then you need to give up"....those are the ones that i'd launch a snot rocket at....and that my friends is a real low down dirty shame...

not the distance traveled, not the entry fees, not the tires or engines or chassis or any of that.....its that there are those that turn thier collective noses up and show thier backsides to the local saturday night racers who pour what little they have into the sport they love.....they are the ones that have the deep pockets and pay no matter the cost are driving all the prices up.......

i enjoy racing....always have and always will....but you can take your premadonna's with the major sponsors, the poor attitudes, the sunglasses at night, the cry baby whiny voices, roll them up in a tight little ball.....well you get the picture...

sorry for the rant, but i get tired of hearing about how you need to suck it up and pay the price.....because it's driving more and more away from the sport than it is getting them to come in.....like the predators....instead of embracing the engine for what it's worth and help bring more racers into the fold (which means more money into the purses!)....no, they bad mouth it as a waste and tout how this other engine is the wave of the future....

we can all make a difference....we can all have a voice....we can all make the sport into more than what it is....if we would only look past the end of our noses and see what is really happening....
 
Hey, let's just start a welfare system for Karting!!!! Or a Karting for Socialist Association so EVERYBODY can be equal!!!! Look, it's just like any other forms of racing; you have your upper tier level folks, your middle of the road folks and your folks who skip the electric bill so they can "race" kind of folks. Know your level of racing and stick to it. No one says you have to travel the country and race against the professionals. That's for a select few. It just cracks me up how people base their whole arguments about what they think is wrong with karting around the doings and success of upper tier racers. Don't be mad at them and pass judgement on their character because they can afford to do what most can't. They aren't to blame for anything just because they can do things that most can't. They've earned the right in one way or another to be where they are. Most of the so called "premadonnas" do not carry themselves as many choose to believe. They are actually regular people who are simply successful at what they do.
 
No one likes to be told no, and no one knows how to race in their means.
Just like people don't know how to live within their means, lol. Everyone wants what they don't have.

Some want to run world wide, some want to go to the track a cross the street and drink beer and drive in circles for fun. People want the UAS to be more like stockers and have big payouts, but most in stockers want to go back to a simpler format and less costly format. No matter what form of racing you can spend to your hearts content in anything. So it's not about the cost, it's mainly about your budget and how much you're willing to spend to be competitve on whichever level you choose to race at. It's all your choice, no one makes you spend the money.
 
welfare system for karting? where do i sign up! lol!.....my statements aren't meant to single anyone out or to say that every top tier racer is a premadonna. there are exceptions to everything....but! we are our own worst enemy.....what wins on sunday, sells on monday....and that my friends, is what drives price to insanity. i race within what my budget allows, always have, always will. i don't sacrafice my family for my bad habit. others may, and still others might in the future....nothing i can do to stop this.

karting is like any other sport....it has it's ups and downs and we will forever be bound to spend more for less no matter what we choose.

and everyone wants what they don't have? i think i wants me another beer! i got that!!

sometimes it's good to rant and rave and get it out of your system.....
 
Rebsfan

Thats the problem us racers that dont care about tge money and big politic races cant find anywhere low budget to race anymore..all the big races seems to have run them out of business. .so now only choice is to go to one of these big time deals where ya it cost an arm and leg...thats the dam shame I referring too..our fun sat nite local tracks and races are a thing of the past looks like.
 
what hurt karting in my parts is the series races the same people raced at the local track and the series races to low of kart count for the local tracks to survive.
 
Slowing karts down? Like dale Earnhardt said about the restrictor plate, put some kerosene rags on your ankles so the ants won't eat your candy but
 
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candy ..... nope....safety first and always....speeds that we are reaching eclipse safety by a wide margin. we aren't racing on a tenth mile or smaller bull ring. we are on a 3/8 mile, medium banked paved track. the slowest class, the econokarts, are pushing 70mph....the modified are running between 90 and 100 mph. we've had a couple of karts into the wall this season and the results were catastropic to say the least. the drivers got a check up in the ambulance and were fine, but the karts were toast. a friend on an econokart (regular chassis with a stock predator) hit the wall at about 70.....twisted the frame, bent the rear axle into an "L", tossed him half in and half out of the kart........no.....we need to bring the speeds down to protect the drivers. whereas dale sr had a full bodied car and rollcage surrounding him, the karts are not in any way shape or form as well protected. bringing the speed down will increase safety.....

again, candy assed? i don't think so....but, i do invite anyone that wants to bring your kart to Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele Georgia for some of the finest racing in the state and experience it for yourself. but bring your best.....
 
I honestly don't see why you would slow grown men down when they are racing. If you don't wanna go that fast. There's a gas pedal you don't have to press all the way.
 
And another question, why are yall racing karts in a track that big with walls anyways? The 10 mph your gonna slow the karts down isn't gonna I anything..
 
I also find it hard to believe that a stock predator motor was going 70 mph. I seen some videos online if it. I've been faster on a 1/5 miles dirt track that has lots of bite..
 
roadboy3 said:
Rebsfan

Thats the problem us racers that dont care about tge money and big politic races cant find anywhere low budget to race anymore..all the big races seems to have run them out of business. .so now only choice is to go to one of these big time deals where ya it cost an arm and leg...thats the dam shame I referring too..our fun sat nite local tracks and races are a thing of the past looks like.
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Well my opinion of that would be, YOU choose to go to those races. No one forces you to go. You race by choice. If you choose to go to those races instead of finding a different hobby, you really don't have much to complain about. Not meant as anything bad. It's just we all have a choice in how we spend our own money.
 
Missing my point bryan..its "a dam shame" that its like that..grass roots racing is non existent anymore hardly anywhere..and if I want to race the sport I love I have " no choice" but to attend a big event at high prices..thus again " its a dam shame"....also if I now have to find another hobby as u say cause karting prices have gotten so crazy and people cant afford it or whatever...thats a double dam shame.lol....
 
roadboy3 said:
Missing my point bryan..its "a dam shame" that its like that..grass roots racing is non existent anymore hardly anywhere..and if I want to race the sport I love I have " no choice" but to attend a big event at high prices..thus again " its a dam shame"....also if I now have to find another hobby as u say cause karting prices have gotten so crazy and people cant afford it or whatever...thats a double dam shame.lol....
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I never said that.

You said your "only choice" is to go to a race that costs you an arm and a leg. That's not your only choice. It's just a choice you choose to make.

I have no problem with the price of anything karting related. Every time I go to a track, if I am not techning, I know for a fact that I will leave with less money than I arrived with. That's a choice I choose to make. I could sit at home and watch some feetball. :)
 
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