USAC Racing Forum

Hey Kids, anybody got any date info yet for some of the big events in 2010? Lots of us have vacation time that needs to be requested in advance!!

I got all excited when I saw this! I thought you were gonna have the dates! :( I am right there with ya needing to ask off. Hopefully soon we will know....

Schedule June 16-20th. These are the date ranges that Disney has available for us. We are finalizing exact race dates now (starting on the 16 or 17). Stay tuned for the OFFICIAL announcement, but these dates are good.

Kevin

Yo Kev-

You da man, thx buddy! Vacay days being requested tomorrow. Cheers!

this is a question for usac, are you willing to hall cars down to disney like you did for Tampa last year? If so i know it would help some of the ohio and indiana racers make that event.
                                                     Thank you
                                                         Greg Adams

not good dates for me, have to be at roebling road that weekend for company track  event...
what type of races will these be, national points? and where will they race ? in parking lot ?

gadams  ---  and others   ---  If everything goes as planned I will be able to take a bunch of cars down with me. We are finishing up a new hauler for the focus cars and can use it if there is enough interest from the area. And if USAC took theirs too they could haul some of the Indiana racers south.

We also may be able to take some out to the California track - Orange Show in early may.

If anyone is interested let me know and I can put you on a list and then keep you updated. I am a little overwhelmed with my life right now so I don’t want to commit 100% just yet.

soooooo How will this Disney thing go?? Will everyone stay in motor homes or will Disney resorts have a deal for racers??

I was thinking it would be the second week... so I have some adjusting to do! :)

Just Booked at Fort Wilderness campground 14th thru the 21st I sure hope im not there all alone!

Im not sure how people can afford this -- regardless.  This will be a race for the rich and will discourage my driver as I tell her we can't afford to go.  I realize that some will have fun, but I will have to face my kid and say we can't go.  The budget just wont allow it. 

This sounds like a good idea on the surface, but I would much rather see events that everyone can afford to attend.

What specifically do you fear will make this event so un-affordable?

Orlando is a relatively inexpensive town.  There are tons of really cheap hotels.  We usually get one with a kitchen just a couple miles from Disney then we have as many meals at the hotel as possible and it hardly costs us more money for food than if we stayed at home.  Other than that everything else race related will cost the same as a race anywhere else.

For those that dont know there is a KOA campground 15 min to the west on I-4 at hwy 27 its nice  and cheep! lots of room I have stayed there a couple of times !

I do have a question about parking our trailer ! when and where and will the race be on the infield of the track or the outside parking lot? also will Disney be involved in the program at all because I know they dont do little things so if they are it should be cool!

Good question. I was wondering the same thing. When and where will we park our rigs for the event. What dates will be open for practice, sign ups, and etc.

Thanks,
Mike

It all depends on where you're coming from and if you consider it racing or a vacation and what you would spend on the vacation....Hauling from say, Indianapolis, is what a 14-16 hour drive?  So you've got a day or two invested each way, a hotel if you drive 2 days each way.  Gas will be $3 if not $3.50 then, so you're looking at least $300 in gas, then your hotels for the week, even if cheaper, you're looking at another $400-500 for the week, then add in food.  And what good is a race down there if you don't actually go to Disney World for a day or two....there's another $200 minimum, probably more.  You're well over $1000, before nearing any type of actual racing costs.   Don't get me wrong....I'm not saying I wouldn't do it.  For a trip to Disney and racing, thats not all that bad actually.  But, in this economy, and if you have to travel a decent ways from out of state, there will be quite a few who don't make it, because they can't spend that on a "racecation",   Hey....I'm copyrighting that phrase!!!! 

In perspective, this weekends trip to Columbus before racing expenses takes 2 1/2 hours each way and will cost me about $100 in gas and food, I choose to go over early Friday and stay so my driver is well rested (ok...me too, lol), so its $200.   I suppose the coolness of racing at Disney is worth 5x what Columbus is (Columbus guys dont take offense please), but I think the bigger problem and cost comes into the days off from work. 

If somehow bigger haulers and USAC can move some of the cars down, it would help, but you still have to get you and your family down there one way or another and with the ridiculous additions of baggage fees, its getting darn near cheaper to drive everywhere....

All of the same can be said for the people driving from the south to go to all the races in the north. Don't get me wrong -- I know nothing is cheap in Orlando -- it's a tourist trap. I'm just saying there are way more races up north so if we choose to run these races, it will cost us much more!!

I agree, and don't know how you can all do it....

It will be very tough. It will be even more of a hardship on any southern driver to find him or herself running for the championship. I figured it would cost one about $27,000.00 +/- a few to be able to run at least 6 races for a championship. This includes all expenses. Times that by about 5 years and your child has a great start in life. Don't get me wrong, there will be those out there that have the money to spend, but to just run and have fun, you can do this all season on a local side for about $2,500.00. I will be interested to see just how this National tour turns out and just what region the driver's with the   5 or more races come from. I am with the other Southerner's, financially it just doesn't add up for the youth level. Hopefully Kevin reads these and hears the concern's from the south with 3 races and the cost for us to go north to compete for the National title. I hear the ones from the north talk about how much it will cost to come south to Orlando once, just add that up for the south to come north at least 3 to 4 times.

Thanks,

We are from Tampa so this one in Disney isn't going to be too expensive for us, but we plan to attempt to go to Indy in July, Charlotte in March and Atlanta in April.  On top of that we will hopefully make it to one other of the National events (we would love to try the dirt one at Eldora) so the boys can contend for the Championship.  Sure it isn't cheap, but then again no racing is...

Orlando is a tourist trap, but it is very cheap compared to other cities!!!
http://www.suitesatoldtown.com/ - This is a really inexpensive hotel right near Disney.  Probably where my family will be staying.
Then you have the whole range of food options available from buffets for cheap to 5 star dining if you choose.

If it helps people plan, I want to say my family spent about $2000 to attend the Indy Nationals from Tampa last year, but we only paid for half the gas to and from because we combined up in another teams trailer and shared the fuel cost.  Disclaimer - we were in the Jr Rookie class, so we used less than one set of tires the whole time there.

i say 80% payout. :o :o :o

I understand, the only way we will probably make 5 races is our location in Indy.  Eldora, Columbus, Kokomo, Lakeville, and Indy are all within 3 hours.  Guess the way to look at it, is that its similiar to the other National series, with the midgets and sprints where most of the races are in the Indy or midwest

Don't forget Mr. Frietas....

You can go to Disney all year long....  plus residents get a pretty big discount.  Say Massive.  So you can focus on the racing, getting to/ from the track etc,...

Some may get away with making the wife cook on this trip, I wouldnt have a prayer.  This will look , smell and act like a vacation.  So this will get really expensive for me.  So I just have to say we cant go.  The other locations should not even be compared to Disney.

I had seen other comments and the travel cost is significant, but this one can and will for most raise it to another level.

I thought this was to lower cost, all I see is the sport moving to a rich only can play type activity.

 Ezoner, what would you do different then?

I think what is happening here is we all are getting away from the value of the sport. Sure we all want to race big time around the states, but we still have to remember these are kids and we are putting more pressure on them to win. What happened to the racing around your region and having a good time and still being competitive. What is wrong with state races, region races, and a national race. I remember when as a youth, your team had to earn a way to the state, then to the region, and on to the nationals. Now it is all about money, pay it and you can go anywhere you want. If we don't watch it, we will see our racing programs lessoning because we try to spread so many races out. People just can't travel all over the states racing youths and hold down full time jobs. You are right, we are driving the cost up to race when we have to compete in 5 races that may be as far as 800 to 1000 miles away from each other. As I said, nothing against the northern teams, but I just don't thing the southern teams will fair too well in the series championship. It would just cost too much, I am 11 hours away from the closest track out of Florida. I do however hope the best for everyone and I will come to Indy for the one National race. That will be about the same as if one of you came to Disney, except it would be a little more costly. Nobody has mentioned it but just think about the kids from California and Las Vegas, they would never make 5 races unless they hit the lottery.

Thanks,

We have not chased points since 2005 because I found we were not having fun! sure we were winning races but it had became a job so in 2006 we missed the first few races and started having fun again nothing beats a smile even if it because my son decided not to force a pass, My point is go to the races you want to go to, and have fun with that! Chase the points at home if you must , dont go broke ! And have fun! We will be at Disney, Little One Hundred, and Kokomo. and we will do our best to have fun, and no matter how we finish, My Son and I will have smiles on our faces because we will have raced with the Future Stars of Racing!!! GO FAST TURN LEFT!!!        Jeff James

I am not sure what the right formula is, but I can tell you that it will be a big disappointment to kids that will be unable to participate based upon the cost to travel.  Disney will be an even greater disappointment if kids are unable to attend because of money.

Anyone that feel that a Disney trip doesnt add significant cost over a trip to Kokomo etc..  -- Short of a trip to Vegas maybe, is really fooling themselevs.  It sounds good as a marketing / sales tool, but as the costs increase for these kind of events, membership will fall off do to cost. 

Most of the kids would do this in a back yard.  Its fun for them.  I feel all these large events will do nothing but drive up cost, and unless USAC plans to find sponsors for all of us, the sport will suffer.  The big trips are a nice sales tool, but are financially a disaster.

I couldn't disagree with you more.  These large scale national events will bring more exposure to the kids and give them a chance to show their talents against all sorts of great competition.  No team is expected to attend all ten of them, which is why the best five count towards the total points.

A trip to Kokomo is far more expensive than a trip to Disney for a large chunk of the USAC .25 membership for 2010.  If I am not mistaken, 5 out of the 10 races are located in the IN/OH area so the teams up there should incur the least expense to try to run for the Championship.

I offered potential solutions to help make a trip to Orlando more affordable.  My family did it when we went to Indy for the Nationals in 09.  We didn't take in any of the local sights people told us to check out and didn't even do the guided tour of the track because the trip itself wasn't really in our budget.  My wife surely would have preferred to relax a little more instead of making up sandwiches and other things for us to eat while at the track, but she made that sacrifice because it was the only way we could make the trip fit into our budget.

Speaking of sponsors, use USAC's exposure to your advantage on the sponsor front and you might be surprised what you find.  We made AJ go out and knock on doors and meet with business owners last year and he did quite well.  Without that, we wouldn't have been able to do half the races we did last year.

Glad you could get away, without the extra cost. I would never be able to do that.  Your right if you go and don't spend additional time at the parks, you might get away with it.  Theres no way I could get that past the family.

So I would just have to stay away.  -- We have tried the door to door, but live so far from the track -- like 2-3 hrs, that the local businesses wont pony in anything.  Maybe I'm in a small percentage.

Hey all, check this out:

Disney's Give a Day, Get a Day promotion. Volunteer a day to get a free day at a Disney park.

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/disneyparks/en_US/WhatWillYouCelebrate/index?name=Give-A-Day-Get-A-Disney-Day

You have to sign up for volunteer opportunities. I hear they're running out of spots, so better sign up soon. But you have a few months before the USAC race, so there should be some jobs left. :)