BHF to a 1 day race sechdule for the rest of the year.

[gixxer188]

I don't care who else shows up, I'm going racing as long as there is a series and I can afford to do it!

[Sobottka]

I was asked by a number of racers, racers that wont race Midwest safety crew staffed races because they no longer feel safe, to head up a new safety crew organization that offers better trained safety crew at no charge to the track or race organization. I had the financial backing to boot. I finally agreed to do it and within 15 minutes of agreeing to form this new organization, I got a phone call telling me to vacate the idea immediately or I will be banned from CCS events, BFR and RA.  The caller also laughed at the idea of anybody doing anything with CCS... "quote.... the fact that you plan to do anything with CCS is a joke considering they are not going to be around much longer, be suprised if they make it to the 2011 season" unquote... I quickly vacated the idea for the sake of my husband. As he was being punished for my words. The entire thread in which this all took place was moved out of the public eye, the next day I was informed by the site owner that BFR/Motovid requested access to the private section of the site or face the backlash.  BFR is now has full access to this site, and the thread in mentioned above... locked

In March I was personally informed that there  is a 90% chance that there will be no CCS at BFR in 2011.... although there is a chance that there will still be racing at BFR, take a wild guess at the name of the organization that will be heading this up...

so CCS is losing racers for a couple reasons IMO...

1.) because of trackdays...... it is cheaper
2.) some racers do not feel safe out there anymore
3.) I hate to say this, ( I luv you Jason, Brian, Dan and Ron.. and other top guys) BUT, you guys really pushed out alot of people... You have alot of money to race, alot of money into your bikes, and your FAST! It is no fun to enter a race you know you don't have a chance in hell of winning or even getting a podium in... You guys have been on top for a long time... While new blood would be AM some day they are going to be EX.  what is the point of paying all that money to race if you can't come close to being competitive because you have an older stock bike and make 30K a year.

Brian, Jason, Dan......Sorry... ( please do not be offended)  you guys pulling out might actually help CCS because that means other people have a chance to win for once in those 10 races. You guys need the conting money to race, what do you think the rest of the racers need to race?  There really is no interest in spending $85.00 to get your ass handed to you...

The economy tanked.... the poor man can't win.... so don't race.... do trackdays and save a ton of money to get nothing more then track time......  

You guys staying in club racing so long really has contributed to people doing  trackdays ( same experience, lower price, no humiliation of getting lapped) and not racing..

You guys have the speed, talent and the money to go AMA and leave club racing... so why do you stay? Easy wins? Cheaper?

What about recruiting riders for your selves and teaching a noobie to be fast like you guys. pay for half or maybe even a full weekend for them? Ya know... be the sponsor instead of looking for the sponsor?

I love watching you fast guys race don't get me wrong. so no offense to you guys or anything.... I am just giving you my 2 cents as a spectator

i've never heard from somone that they quit racing because "they dont feel safe out there anymore" ...its always money or family.
you say " It is no fun to enter a race you know you don't have a chance in hell of winning or even getting a podium in..." but everyone does have a chance, all you have to do is get to the line first. if it wasnt brian, tommy, dan, jason or whoever, it would be someone else. the beauty of racing is that it can be you, everyone does have the same chance but only the cream rises to the top.  the point of spending all that money to race these guys is to race them and beat them, its not supposed to be easy!

[Jeff]

I'm going to resist the rest of my comments, but do want to address this:

The entire thread in which this all took place was moved out of the public eye, the next day I was informed by the site owner that BFR/Motovid requested access to the private section of the site or face the backlash.  BFR is now has full access to this site, and the thread in mentioned above... locked

I'm not sure what website you're talking about here, but let me just state that it's not this site (ccsforum.com).

[Jeff]

i've never heard from somone that they quit racing because "they dont feel safe out there anymore" ...its always money or family.

I'll throw in my $.02 here. 

I hung up my leathers in 2007 to pick up the Red Flag Fund.  I knew I couldn't do both successfully and wanted to make sure the RFF had the attention it needed to begin.  I fully intended to come back.  However, after being away, I don't see myself ever coming back, and safety DID have a part in it.  It had nothing to do with the safety crew in general, but the very real physical risk began to outweigh what I was getting out of it.

In the end, I say that I raced for 7 years, improving every year, and got out of it before I was bankrupt, divorced or maimed/dead, and I will carry that through my life as a successful racing career.  That, however, is my PERSONAL experience and risk tolerance.  Others obviously vary.

So was my getting out for money, family or safety?  I contend it was all of them.

[Sobottka]

jeff- what you say here totally makes sence. what riderupred said "dont feel safe out there anymore" makes it sound like the safty crew is no longer providing adaquate safty and people are quittintg because of it. this i dont agree with.

[Jeff]

Rob.  Totally agree...  and I've never heard anyone quitting because they felt the safety crew was inadequate...

Now, there are trackdays that I would never consider attending due to safety factors, but that would really take this in another direction.. LOL

[twilkinson3]

SO.... just to try to steer this back on the original target ... what are we the racing community going to do to increase the grids?

I'll say it a gain I've got cantacts in some places that might let me post up some racer propaganda or some such - who's got ideas on what that could entail, and to Alexa's point what has to change business model wise to keep us afloat till the economy recovers (and if we do nothing but survive till then we'll still be here...)

[Jeff]

You can post up whatever you want, but honestly the only way that is going to impact the grids is if you manage to generate a sign contract with someone who needs money to race. 

The economy is the primary issue here.  As people who have managed to continue racing, you need to understand that with a smaller turnout, the whole show is going to get smaller.  The weekends (perhaps classes and formats, etc) will be revised to make the events sustainable. 

This isn't rocket science.  It just takes some creative thinking and flexibility and willingness/support from the racers.

[riderupred]

I'm going to resist the rest of my comments, but do want to address this:

I'm not sure what website you're talking about here, but let me just state that it's not this site (ccsforum.com).

No it is not this website. I will not mention the site that it is on, but the people who know me definitely know what site it is on. The members of this  un named site that this thread is on also make up at least 5% of race entries at BFR  used to be closer to 10%, but make up at least 50% of the trackdays at BFR and the percentage of trackday guys is growing fast.

[riderupred]

i've never heard from somone that they quit racing because "they dont feel safe out there anymore" ...its always money or family.
you say " It is no fun to enter a race you know you don't have a chance in hell of winning or even getting a podium in..." but everyone does have a chance, all you have to do is get to the line first. if it wasnt brian, tommy, dan, jason or whoever, it would be someone else. the beauty of racing is that it can be you, everyone does have the same chance but only the cream rises to the top.  the point of spending all that money to race these guys is to race them and beat them, its not supposed to be easy!

that is the problem though....many people do not have the money to put into there bikes like these guys do... most guys have one bike.

I never said any Jason or Dan have Brian's checkbook.. Brian is a very blessed man financially. Jason and Dan work there asses off between races.... but both have very good paying jobs and paying sponsors.... Tommy does not race anymore.... But he too owns his own repair shop like Jason...Tommy does car repair --- Jason does bike repair.  But all of these guys are very talented racers to say the least.

The above mentioned fast guys have multiple bikes, usually new at the beginning of the season with $5K to $10K put into them, mostly into the suspension, they run new tires almost every race. add it up....

new bike $15K
new tires $350.00
mods    $5 - $10K
race fuel   $80 per 5 gallons

one of there bikes  = approx $30K 
$350.00 every other race X 10 races = 5 sets of tires a race weekend = $1750.00
$80.00 for a can of fuel X 6 cans = $480.00
10 races $85 for the first and $55 for the rest X 10 = $580

so for one race weekend these fast guys are arriving with a $30K bike because stock can't handle at the speeds they are going....and they are shelling out an additional approx $3k. Season total for a mere 7 weekends is $21K for these guys

I know I don't have an extra $3k laying around every month / $21K a season, nor do I have an extra $30K to throw at a bike every year.... and don't know of many other people that do either.

To be competitive with these fast guys your looking at a cost of approx $50K a year... $20K a year if you don't get a new bike every year.

with those numbers stated....

they say anything below $30K a year for income.... you are poor.............Personally around $50K a year for us is making ends meet --- married with 2 kids ages 4 and 7, rent to own our house, not much on credit cards, a truck payment and a trailer payment ( bikes are paid off :D ) 2 cats, a dog, a snake, and 5 rats to feed the snake. this is a net of approx $50K annually.

in order for a single person to be able to live and be competitive with these guys they need to make at least $85K if they buy a new bike every year or $55K without a new bike every year,  a year net income.....  But this means that single person is living off of $30K a year and the rest is to racing. somebody recently told me to speak numbers and not words because words confuse them.... well here are the numbers.

the average net annual income in the USA is $46K.
http://www.mybudget360.com/how-much-does-the-average-american-make-breaking-down-the-us-household-income-numbers/

I do not know of many single people making $85K a year.... and the ones that I do know, do not live around here.

Yes it will cost big money for somebody to be competitive with these guys..... I know quite a few guys out there racing that have the talent to dice it up with these guys if they had the money. So there is not a lack of talent just a lack of money.

These fast guys are making well above average incomes, while most other racers are racing on the average income.

Hence I mentioned to the fast guys with the money to pay or sponsor a newbie to be fast..... it will bring in new racers and even out the playing fields a bit.  allowing the greater majority of the racers, the average income racers to have a chance to be competitive with there peers.

I have ZERO issues with these fast guys and love what they do. But they are more then capable of affording full AMA seasons.  Instead of investing all this money into a guarenteed podium, why not put the money back into the sport via protoges ( sp)?  for the cost of one of them racing for the season they can sponsor 5 new guys each.

Yeah I know it is all about the experience of the prep, the hot lap, the grid, the boards, the start, the white flag and the glorious checkered and not about the end result............. How many times is a guy gonna live that experience, get lapped, and only get in 10 laps out of a 12 lap race that they paid for before it gets old? I bet it feels great to win! but the majority of EX racers will not feel that glory because they simply can not afford it. That kind of frustration is what is turning racers away.

Yes I think cramming all of the races into one day is very dangerous..... As Jason said.... just wait till he buzzes an AM, scares the shit out of him and send him off the track. That is going to happen alot with this new one day thing... CCS does not use the blue flag thus the lappers have no idea that a guy going 10 + seconds faster then him is about it pass him through turn 1. It is dangerous for the fast guy and the lapper. 

I would say they need to start with the blue flag but there is no time to train the safety crew or the racers of the new addition. heck most guys don't know what a debris flag wave off is....or how to proper conduct it.. how are they to know what a new blue flag is or how to conduct it?

[J Farrell / Speed Tech Motorsp]

Jenny,

Your right on a few things but what your not realizing with me and a couple others is that I don't have or make anywhere near the $ you might think I do.
I know your just throwing out examples but I have to mention something.
I have been road racing for 16 years. I started off just like the back marker Amatuer from day one. I had just a beater pickup truck with a street bike just like the next first time racer guy. I was jealous of all the more well-off racers who were A. either faster than me as an expert rider or B. Slower with a whole lot of money.
The only thing I could do was complain for the rest of my life or devise a plan to make it to the top. So after 16 years of yes only doing 3-4 race weekends a year pretty much my whole racing career. I'm now able to do what I always wanted. I finally achieved sponsorship due to my hard work effort after all these years. What I want to bring up is that even though my sponsors paid my entry fees for the season, if I were to not win most of my races each weekend I wouldn't be able to attend the next race weekend due to making no contingency $$.
I have done well this season and have been able to afford racing due to winning most of my races due to hard work all year.
I understand that you have a family and other responsiblities of which makes racing hard to afford.
Trust me when I say at the end of the day I make no more money than you guys & I run a business on top of that.

I don't kids or a house to show for it. Nothing. I'm basically a slave to my business & my sponsors. If I had kids I would probably quit racing all together. Being as quick as I am take a lot of hard work and dedication. You get what you can put in with this sport. I literally go home to go to bed. Thats it! I'm home at most 8-9 hrs a day 7 days a week. If I'm not racing I'm working at my shop or figuring out how to go faster. Not with money but with knowledge & self discipline.
Now with your #'s and looking at my $2000 tire bill, $250 fuel bill, travel cost, days off of work where I'm losing money, try to understand that I HAVE to win or I won't be racing period.
I choose not to run AMA due to the fact that there is no money to be made this year. No contingency. Trust me, it cost WAY more money to race AMA than CCS.

I'm only going to imagine that Dan and many others are in the same boat as me. Now Brian on the other hand...... I know he is not making anywhere near the contingency I'm making this season. He spends a lot on his racing because it is what he enjoys it and he has earned his money and can do with it what he pleases.
He has had some unfortunate things happen to him this season of which if those things happened to many others they would not be racing any longer this season. Brian has won 3 Overall Championships in CCS in the past 4 seasons. I will have to say that it is due to riding very well and yes having enough money to make that happen.
Brian is getting bored with racing and its no secret that he won't be around after this season.
I'm working on finishing out my season well and using my resume to gain more sponsorship to contest the AMA series next season but only if I get enough sponsors.
I've been racing since I could run on my legs. I've worked very hard and have sacrificed many other lifestyles of the "normal people". I've heard it all from family & friends. I wouldn't trade if for the world. I wake up thinking about a different line on the track or different riding positions and write them down at 4am. Its all I do. I anyone else were to whore themselves out to racing like I do they would be fast like myself also.

I have had much fun racing this season and honestly racing in CCS this season might make me a slower rider cause I'm not used to competition. Racing for a hard earned win is much more fun.  3 weekends to go. Lets all make the best of it!!

[riderupred]

Well said Jason :) Oh yes I know all to well you working your ass off everyday day, day in and day out.  That is a very respectable quality many admire about you including Jim and myself. Having sponsorship makes a huge difference in the cost of racing too.

slower?!? didn't you break the BFR track record on the 600 in July?  But slowing down to have somebody to play with I understand. 

I hope with this new one day thing, Everybody's body can handle it.... it is gonna be hell on everybody :(  Good luck to all.