Kart Racing in Ripley County Indiana?? Gauging interest for 2020

37UMAX

Member
We are looking at possibly promoting a handful of races at the Ripley County Fairgrounds in Osgood, Indiana in 2020 and are wanting to gauge how much interest we would have.

Right now we are hoping to run approx 10 races throughout the season mostly on Saturday nights.

Payout would be 50-70% dependent on kart counts with a few money races added once kart counts get established.

Clones, lo206, flat heads, animals, RWYB Jr classes

Please help us guage how much interest we may have.

Thank you for your feedback
 
Don't mean to sound negative, but trying to gauge interest by response is pretty much useless, you need to take the offer it and they will come attitude, once you take the leap the key is then do a good job of getting the word out.
Good Luck !!
 
I think opening it up 5 years ago when nothing was close by to compete with would have been better.
Now North Vernon, Columbus and Lawrenceburg all are within 45 minutes of Osgood and are running 2020. Osgood was a great track, so best of luck if you open it up.
 
Heads up I'd recommend you contact a karting insurance co and discuss coverage, might have to submit a sketch and submit some photos to get approval, if the fair grounds are not racing karts there I wouldn't trust there insurance covers you.
Good Luck !!
 
OK first of all do not call it Ripley County Fairgrounds, ever, call it Osgood. Almost everyone here in Indiana that races karts knows where Osgood is.
Second 50-70 % payout is a bit on the low side. Try at least 80, maybe even 90-100%. You will not have to worry about getting a kart count established if the track is right at Osgood, they will come from all over to run there.
Third, try and schedule around The Columbus Speedway schedule, especially the big track races at Columbus. I think North Vernon is still mainly running Sundays and Lawrenceburg is running Hoosier tires so neither one of them would affect the kart count much at Osgood if it happens.
Fourth , look up Kenny Beaman , I think that is his name. He used to run Osgood back in the day and did one heck of a job. Not sure if he is still around but I am sure he could give you some great info on track prep etc.
5th, love the idea of running flat heads and like the idea of running 10 races
My vote, for what its worth, is for OPEN tire rule.
Good luck.
KR3
 
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1st call it what you want to you are promoter
2nd if you need payouts that low try it see if people will support it and then raise it as kart count grows
3rd north vernon runs fridays this year with a couple saturday on the schedule so try to work with both tracks
4th i believe kenny beamon still lives on highway 50 outside of holton but dont believe he has had anything to do with karts since his brother passed away
5th columbus and north vernon have burriss 33 tire rules and what most karters have around here i would keep it the same if it was me
good luck getting it going if you do seems like more karters are on fb now a days might get on there and ask for input start a page on there
 
More choices of tracks is generally a good thing.
Tracks that operate efficiently and put on a good show will thrive, while those that don't get it right will dwindle off.
With your proximity to the Burg, having open tire rule would help racers who want to race with you that want to use their current tires. Open tire rule doesn't exclude anyone, whereas a tire rule forces everyone to be on that one brand (whether it's better/cheaper/faster or not.)

I applaud anyone who makes an effort to open a track back up.
The economy is certainly ripe for new tracks! Have at it!!


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Brian Carlson
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Thank you all for your feedback, positive encouragement, and experienced advice.

We have made a lot of headway and things are progressing where we may have something coming together rather quickly.

Right now we are looking at trying to run a practice race on a Saturday or Sunday in mid-late March weather permitting.

Please keep continuing to share your thoughts and advice, we greatly appreciate any and all feedback.

Thank you for taking the time to read and contribute to such an awesome sport.

Have a blessed day!
 
1st call it what you want to you are promoter
2nd if you need payouts that low try it see if people will support it and then raise it as kart count grows
3rd north vernon runs fridays this year with a couple saturday on the schedule so try to work with both tracks
4th i believe kenny beamon still lives on highway 50 outside of holton but dont believe he has had anything to do with karts since his brother passed away
5th columbus and north vernon have burriss 33 tire rules and what most karters have around here i would keep it the same if it was me
good luck getting it going if you do seems like more karters are on fb now a days might get on there and ask for input start a page on there
Well the reason I highly recommend calling it Osgood is that I have been living in southern Indiana for over 50 years and have no idea where Ripley County is. Most other people don't either. Its the same reason folks call Columbus Columbus instead of Bartholomew county go kart Speedway and the same with North Vernon. Just imagine IMS being called Marion County Speedway.

Also Columbus lost an average of 20 karts per race by going to the Burris tire rule. I have been keeping track of the kart count since they opened the track back up in 2018 just to have a general knowledge of how well things were going with the growth or rebirth if you will of karting here in southern Indiana and we had more karts show up the last 4-5 races of 2018 than any race of 2019 , including the bigger money races of 2019. Weird how all the people that favored the Burris tire rule said it would help draw more karts when in fact the opposite is true.
 
Well the reason I highly recommend calling it Osgood is that I have been living in southern Indiana for over 50 years and have no idea where Ripley County is. Most other people don't either. Its the same reason folks call Columbus Columbus instead of Bartholomew county go kart Speedway and the same with North Vernon. Just imagine IMS being called Marion County Speedway.

Also Columbus lost an average of 20 karts per race by going to the Burris tire rule. I have been keeping track of the kart count since they opened the track back up in 2018 just to have a general knowledge of how well things were going with the growth or rebirth if you will of karting here in southern Indiana and we had more karts show up the last 4-5 races of 2018 than any race of 2019 , including the bigger money races of 2019. Weird how all the people that favored the Burris tire rule said it would help draw more karts when in fact the opposite is true.
I agree 100% Osgood is well known and will have no problem pulling in karters under that name. Open tire rule is great too. Some people hate it but I can assure you it makes no difference as far as who wins. The only other thing I can add is you need to post on facebook about this. 4cycle.com is not what it used to be that's a given. Payback is the name of the game in karting hate it or love it. Put up some guaranteed money and people will show up. If you cant get the sponsors then 80% payback is as low as I would go. Just my 2 cents.
 
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Last time they tried to give Osgood a go , it didn't seem to work that well , track was on the rough side most times , if it was doable , I would recommend seeing if you could work something out at Greensburg , that track was always in great shape ! Just my 2 cents .
 
Did this ever take off? Looking to start racing next season and would like to go to osgood if possible. Used to race there many years ago. Now its my sons turn.
 
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