Rant regarding Vega FKS State series Races

1fasttiller

1fasttiller

Member
Hi ladies and gents, I don't do this often but I felt compelled after this weekends mess that we suffered through... (kinda long I know)

For 2+ years now we've ran the Florida Karting Series state races put on by Vega tires. This is my sons first year stepping up from Jr classes to Med and Heavy to run with all the big names and gain some valuable experience.

Saturday we attended the 3rd race held at Original Speedway park in Fruitland Florida. Gates open at 7am for tech and tire check in. Due to rain the night before we the track was quite wet and we didn't turn a single lap until after 1PM. We were entered in Clone heavy and Clone Heavy Pro. Total entry fees with transponders was $150. Not counting parking, 3 sets of new tires, fuel etc. They ended up cutting practice sessions from 2 10 lap sessions to 2 3 lap sessions, then cut qualifying from the standard 3 laps to an all field qualifying 6 lap session taking fastest times of the group, if you got stuck behind slower karts you were screwed. Either way, we qualified 4th out of 18 in both classes.

By 5PM another small rain storm came and soaked us again, they should have called the races but decided to do another roll in and wait. Track lost all groove slowed down by 2 seconds. Heavy is the last class of the running order and of course the Pro (Money) races aren't until the end of the night. Fast forward to 11PM they announce a made up "curfew" and said that any classes that haven't ran by 11:59 would not run and would be awarded points per qualifying, fine OK, we'll take 4th but the pro races were for $1000 cash, cost was $75 to enter. They kept our money and we didn't get to run a SINGLE lap in a feature race. I asked for my $75 back and said I was fine with the 4th place points for the regular trophy races but was NOT accepting that for the Pro race. Was I wrong???

I held the transponder hostage and demanded my $75 back, needless to say my son and others looked at me like a jacka$$. In the practice sessions we were the fastest kart on the track so I felt we were robbed any chance at the $1000 prize money. Vega made their pockets fat and didn't care one bit about the racers!
 
LDR said:
Yikes that's pretty crazy right there. We used to have a big car track that we raced at that would NEVER cancel. "Come on down, rain is clearing and we're rolling the track." Only to get there and it's pouring. LOL
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I thought so too... hence the reason I held the transponders hostage. I was getting back my $75 entry fee or selling it on Ebay! It was hard for me to believe a series this size would do that to its racers.... very disappointed.
 
1fasttiller said:
I asked for my $75 back and said I was fine with the 4th place points for the regular trophy races but was NOT accepting that for the Pro race. Was I wrong???

I held the transponder hostage and demanded my $75 back, needless to say my son and others looked at me like a jacka$$. In the practice sessions we were the fastest kart on the track so I felt we were robbed any chance at the $1000 prize money. Vega made their pockets fat and didn't care one bit about the racers!
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There's a lot going on in this thread that is pretty typical of the big shows that I attend. I'm not sure if the "made up curfew" has you the most upset or the fact they didn't cancel the race and refund the entry fee. Maybe it's both.

I've never heard of a kart race refunding entry fees if they completed qualifying. The series did what I would have expected by paying out what I presume to be the top 3 qualifiers after a rainout.

Did you keep the transponder or get your money back?
 
Burris Racer said:
There's a lot going on in this thread that is pretty typical of the big shows that I attend. I'm not sure if the "made up curfew" has you the most upset or the fact they didn't cancel the race and refund the entry fee. Maybe it's both.

I've never heard of a kart race refunding entry fees if they completed qualifying. The series did what I would have expected by paying out what I presume to be the top 3 qualifiers after a rainout.

Did you keep the transponder or get your money back?
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I did get my money back for the pro race ($75) I figured that was more than fair considering Stock heavy was the largest class with the most entries and they didn't get to run a single lap under green!
 
Ikf did that too us as well .
Didn't cancel till just after start time . Gave everyone first place points . And of course your punch for attending . They required Three punchs before you could run the Grand National .
 
1fasttiller said:
I did get my money back for the pro race ($75) I figured that was more than fair considering Stock heavy was the largest class with the most entries and they didn't get to run a single lap under green!
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Out of curiosity, what would you have done if you qualified on the pole and they handed you a trophy check + $1000? I'm not really looking for you to answer but showing the situation under a different lens that would be favorable to the situation. I don't have any skin in the game with this series or racers in the series. I just put myself in the series shoes and think about what I would have done.

I get your point and was in a comparable situation early in my karting journey. During the rain delay I asked other racers what would happen if they were to call the race. They all responded that it would go off of qualifying. It wasn't what I wanted to hear b/c I didn't qualify great but I accepted it as it seemed to be the unwritten rule. It was a lesson learned that changes my strategy when there's a chance that weather will be a factor.
 
It's a must for the series to have a rule set in place if this happens, as others point out this is the normal rule has been for years it's not popular but what else would they do. And if indeed that is there rule NO ONE get's any refund. For me the problem here seems to be they announced they were going to do everything possible to get the features in and then bailed, If the Curfew was not announced and indeed fabricated shame on them, When I used to put on money events this rule was in place, however everyone knew there was no curfew and my position If I told you I was doing everything possible to get racing in that meant just that, Re Ran the track in 3 or 4 times to finish 2 am a few times, but everything possible is just that when it comes to commitment there's 2 choices you either can be the pig at breakfast or the chicken, once announced everything you've made the decision to be the pig, And that's what I would expect.
 
Not trying to be an ass but there are always 2 sides to the story. Not sure they cut the original practice to 3 laps at least not according to our Mychron they didn't. The rains came part way through qualifying. After a long wait and the track personnel determining they could go back to racing they had a drivers meeting where they clearly explained the plan for the remainder of the event. They announced the curfew very clearly at that time. With the number of classes still to qualify and 20+ classes it should not have been a surprise to anyone that the show would not be able to finish. That puts an extra emphasis on qualifying well. The fact that they put all the karts on the track at the same time for qualifying could be questioned but the logic was the track was going to get better for each group so it would not be fair to send out in groups. Hard to argue with that. At that point the driver needs to realize the stakes and work hard to get by the slower karts as quickly as possible. We started one in the back and one towards the front and got 2 clean laps total for both sessions. Got to make those laps count.

It is pretty much universal norm to go off qualifying if the show doesn't finish so not sure how anyone could be upset with that. We have been doing this for 15 years and once you hit the race track you do not get your money back. It is always good to put yourself in the other persons position to see if you can find real fault with the decisions that were being made. FKS is pretty much the last state series in FL and if people bash them and criticize every decision they make we will loose that series as well.

Mother Nature always has the last say when it comes to dirt racing.
 
Bruceb said:
Not trying to be an ass but there are always 2 sides to the story. Not sure they cut the original practice to 3 laps at least not according to our Mychron they didn't. The rains came part way through qualifying. After a long wait and the track personnel determining they could go back to racing they had a drivers meeting where they clearly explained the plan for the remainder of the event. They announced the curfew very clearly at that time. With the number of classes still to qualify and 20+ classes it should not have been a surprise to anyone that the show would not be able to finish. That puts an extra emphasis on qualifying well. The fact that they put all the karts on the track at the same time for qualifying could be questioned but the logic was the track was going to get better for each group so it would not be fair to send out in groups. Hard to argue with that. At that point the driver needs to realize the stakes and work hard to get by the slower karts as quickly as possible. We started one in the back and one towards the front and got 2 clean laps total for both sessions. Got to make those laps count.

It is pretty much universal norm to go off qualifying if the show doesn't finish so not sure how anyone could be upset with that. We have been doing this for 15 years and once you hit the race track you do not get your money back. It is always good to put yourself in the other persons position to see if you can find real fault with the decisions that were being made. FKS is pretty much the last state series in FL and if people bash them and criticize every decision they make we will loose that series as well.

Mother Nature always has the last say when it comes to dirt racing.
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Appreciate your response but I respectfully must agree to disagree. I am perfectly fine with a trophy/points race being called per qualifying, BUT a money race that was never ran should NEVER be called, especially after a botched attempt at qualifying a field that large. Any and all money races that didn't get to run due to the made up "curfew" should have been refunded. We've raced that track for many years and not once has a curfew ever been mentioned not to mention the many Saturday nights we've ran races there well past 12:00! All Pro/money races that aren't ran should always be refunded IMO...
 
It's in their rules that way 8.A.1 Page 25 reads as follows:

"When races are cancelled due to a rainout, and the cancellation comes after qualifying, points and awards will be given according to the qualifying order. If the rainout comes before qualifying, each driver entered in the class will receive 50 points."

Now if they didn't follow their posted rules you would have a legitimate beef but these rules are on their website and are the same as every other series we have run in FL or up north.
 
i think they have allways done that eveywhere. once qualyfing in its over sucks . i would be mad about curfew. you did not say how many class where left. they should have cut laps and time limit to get it in. i have run the fl series and it was one of the best run show i have ever been to but it was 2 years a go and i know things change
 
Bruceb said:
It's in their rules that way 8.A.1 Page 25 reads as follows:

"When races are cancelled due to a rainout, and the cancellation comes after qualifying, points and awards will be given according to the qualifying order. If the rainout comes before qualifying, each driver entered in the class will receive 50 points."

Now if they didn't follow their posted rules you would have a legitimate beef but these rules are on their website and are the same as every other series we have run in FL or up north.
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But the races didnt get cancelled due to a rainout, they were cancelled because of a curfew.
 
1fasttiller said:
Appreciate your response but I respectfully must agree to disagree. I am perfectly fine with a trophy/points race being called per qualifying, BUT a money race that was never ran should NEVER be called, especially after a botched attempt at qualifying a field that large. Any and all money races that didn't get to run due to the made up "curfew" should have been refunded. We've raced that track for many years and not once has a curfew ever been mentioned not to mention the many Saturday nights we've ran races there well past 12:00! All Pro/money races that aren't ran should always be refunded IMO...
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I myself have raced there dozens of times and up until this year i have never witnessed nor even heard of a curfew.. And i was probably racing at that same midnight race you are referring too. Such a shame and sorry that happened to you and your kid.
 
Bruceb said:
Not trying to be an ass but there are always 2 sides to the story. Not sure they cut the original practice to 3 laps at least not according to our Mychron they didn't. The rains came part way through qualifying. After a long wait and the track personnel determining they could go back to racing they had a drivers meeting where they clearly explained the plan for the remainder of the event. They announced the curfew very clearly at that time. With the number of classes still to qualify and 20+ classes it should not have been a surprise to anyone that the show would not be able to finish. That puts an extra emphasis on qualifying well. The fact that they put all the karts on the track at the same time for qualifying could be questioned but the logic was the track was going to get better for each group so it would not be fair to send out in groups. Hard to argue with that. At that point the driver needs to realize the stakes and work hard to get by the slower karts as quickly as possible. We started one in the back and one towards the front and got 2 clean laps total for both sessions. Got to make those laps count.

It is pretty much universal norm to go off qualifying if the show doesn't finish so not sure how anyone could be upset with that. We have been doing this for 15 years and once you hit the race track you do not get your money back. It is always good to put yourself in the other persons position to see if you can find real fault with the decisions that were being made. FKS is pretty much the last state series in FL and if people bash them and criticize every decision they make we will loose that series as well.

Mother Nature always has the last say when it comes to dirt racing.
Click to expand...
Wow Bruce, didn't know you was still here.
Hope all is well with you and yours.
Guys this man is the flow bench guru.
Want to build a flow bench?
Vist his site and forum, a wealth of knowledge
 
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