Mid States Conference TBA event

Mazda Jon

Mazda Jon

Well-known member
Anyone know when our TBA event will be announced? Any rumors to where and when?

I'm thinking it might be somewhere in Texas since they don't have an event yet.

I need to get all my 2015 vacation time in before the end of the year.
 
Lots of rumors, but yes, it'll most likely be in Texas. One option is a place that would rather be a new housing development, sometime in mid-spring. The other is a personal favorite of the current world champ, but sometime in mid-summer, when it's hot as hell and the Runoffs is only a month away.
 
There will already be a divisional at TWS just a few weeks before they shut down. I would put my vote there, just as a nice way to say goodbye to the track. I'm going to miss that place.
 
I was hoping for another pre-hotaslivinghell time of the year.

Disappointed that they moved the 2 Colorado races back to the summer. I hate to say it, but High Plains in July is miserable and Pueblo at the end of July will be just as bad. Both tracks are not know for their trees or shade. Lasy year having both races in May was great.
 
Yes Jerry that would help. Right now I'm planning on Hallett and Kansas and where ever the TBA will be. I love High Plains and Pueblo, BUT not in July or August. Jesse was right, to hot, to hard on the car (temp and altitude make a poor combo) and hard on drivers. I had a great time this year on the weekend of the 4th, camping in the mountains, cold drink with my feet in the stream.

Texas has it right taking the summer off.
 
Jerry Oleson":3f1f69jo said:
OK, so if Texas is going to be then, maybe Colorado can move one back to May. Would that help Jon?
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Jerry, Jon,
First, is High Plaines and Pueblo available in May?

If your Colorado races need to be moved on the Majors schedule, get with your Area Director Bill Kephart and have him bring that to the Club Racing staff.

Peter
 
Thanks Peter, our RE says we were already turned down by Topeka. Our club Christmas party is tonight maybe Bill will be there and we can talk to him then.
 
Well, I would imagine we were given those dates because all the spring dates were taken. They won't double up dates. Since we will only get 70-80 cars for these events it's not a big deal. Just disappointed. We continue to schedule all our events on the 3 big holiday weekends, Memorial, 4th and Labor day. I'm tired of spending them at the race track and now I'll drive 1000's of miles more next year to get qualified than run at tracks 100 miles from the house.

Same with trying to get workers. We end up with 1 maybe 2 workers per corner, not counting the bunkers we leave empty. We even have the tow truck and flat tow trucks parked on corners and struggle to run the long course at HPR.

Here are the Texas Region event dates. Notice they take June and July off and call there 1 August race the "Summer Sizzler". Great plan.

January 17-18
February 14-15
March 7-8
May 2-3
May 23-24
August 15-16 Summer Sizzler
November 14-15
December 5-6
 
I wonder how well different regions communicate with each other in order to have successful events. For example St. Louis (MiDiv) has already set 3 events and made them public, which means those weekends aren't available. And it appears that there is some confusion in regard to my region (NRSCCA, Also MiDiv) holding an event with Colorado Region at Motorsports Park Hastings (MPH). Colorado's schedule shows them at MPH June 27-28th, however MPH's schedule shows an NRSCCA Solo event on that Sunday, not a club race. NRSCCA is shown having a club race Aug 8-9th. NRSCCA hasn't announced a schedule yet, but I'm sure there is some frustration trying to schedule events that will be somewhat successful, especially when one now also has to compete with the Majors schedule.
 
Continental Divide Region already has Pueblo Motorsports Park reserved for Regional races on May 23/24 (Memorial Day) and has requested through our Area Director that our Majors event be moved to that date. OK, National the ball is in your court.
 
Jon, I'm with you on this. If I never have to race at HPR or Pueblo in July that would be awesome. My cool suit quit on me one day at HPR (in the RX-7) in July, 97 degrees, l almost had to pull in, my brain just quit working. Last years schedule was great. For us Texas guys we like the fact the CO dates are within the same month, then we can just make one trip up and fly back.

If that last race is going to be Labor Day weekend, it's too close to the Runoffs IMHO. My vote would be for TWS, as Matt suggested.

Edit:Okay, I see Larry posted 1st or 2nd week in August, talk about hot :roll:
 
cpa7man":16s1ge0b said:
Jon, I'm with you on this. If I never have to race at HPR or Pueblo in July that would be awesome. My cool suit quit on me one day at HPR (in the RX-7) in July, 97 degrees, l almost had to pull in, my brain just quit working. Last years schedule was great. For us Texas guys we like the fact the CO dates are within the same month, then we can just make one trip up and fly back.

If that last race is going to be Labor Day weekend, it's too close to the Runoffs IMHO. My vote would be for TWS, as Matt suggested.

Edit:Okay, I see Larry posted 1st or 2nd week in August, talk about hot :roll:
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At least Pueblo in July is a dry heat. ;)
 
All-

I can provide some insight to the Majors dates for Mid States.

The big variable right now is we're waiting to finalize COTA. This would be in mid to late August. It's not a great time of the year to race in Texas, but there are not a lot of options with the facility. That said, this is not yet finalized, but it is something that we in the National office and SW Division feel is worth waiting for if it can happen.

High Plains moved to July at the request of the Region.

Pueblo moved to July because of the conflict with the last-ever SCCA event at TWS. The track is closing June 1 based on what the Region and Division have been told. I absolutely agree that Memorial weekend is a good weekend for Pueblo, but the reality is, that event will struggle with any non-RMDiv draw when going head-to-head with TWS. There were many that went to TWS in 2014 and the effect would be even greater in 2015 (whether it's a Regional, Majors or whatever) knowing the end is near.

We did a survey about 15 months ago and it's clear that the preference is not to race in July or August in the Conference. With the exception of the early February race in 2014, we were able to have a pretty good schedule weather wise in 2014. But there are a lot of moving pieces in a 3-division conference--especially when you're trying to hold six events in such a narrow timeframe. I appreciate everyone's cooperation thus far, and most of all, all of the racer's and worker's patience with this.

I'd love to think that this will get easier in 2016. We need to be racing in May at least once if not twice, but it's all about the dates available and avoiding conflicts.
 
EPrill":27nhuzvg said:
....the last-ever SCCA event at TWS. The track is closing June 1 based on what the Region and Division have been told. There were many that went to TWS in 2014 and the effect would be even greater in 2015 (whether it's a Regional, Majors or whatever) knowing the end is near.
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So why isn't it a priority to put a Majors there in April/May, or at least change the already scheduled Memorial Day weekend SCCA Divisional to one, when it's expected to be a huge draw? I would love to run that track before its shut down, as I hear lots of great things about it, but being just a divisional basically makes it a non-starter for me. To qualify for the Majors, you have to do Divisionals OR Majors. I can't do a little of both. So as someone who plans to qualify via Majors, that makes it basically worthless to me. Plus to get contingency, it has to be a Majors as well. For me, the presence of contingencies are a big factor in what I can do in a season, so that's a big deal.

EPrill":27nhuzvg said:
The big variable right now is we're waiting to finalize COTA. This would be in mid to late August. It's not a great time of the year to race in Texas, but there are not a lot of options with the facility. That said, this is not yet finalized, but it is something that we in the National office and SW Division feel is worth waiting for if it can happen.
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After visiting COTA during this past F1 event, I can honestly say "Holy crap, what a place, I can't wait to drive it!" But if my option is mid to late August, a month before The Runoffs and when it'll easily be 100 degrees out......meh, not so much. When it was held in March in 2013, good weather was almost guaranteed, it was a great thawing escape for the northerners prior to their schedules starting, and it was the "shiny new thing", so it had a HUGE draw. Now though, no one is going to be excited about racing there in that heat, and a limited number of out of Division entries will be interested in making a long trek to it when they're in the middle of finishing their own Conference/Divisional schedules, prepping for The Runoffs, and looking at another serious trek to Daytona only a month later.

Sorry Eric, I don't mean to pick on you, as I know how incredibly difficult it is to make a Division's schedule, let alone an entire Conference. But this one just doesn't seem right to me, given the availability and circumstances surrounding the events. Just my $.02.



On a totally unrelated subject, who's job is it to get a Division's events up onto scca.com? I ask because there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to when events are added. As of this moment, once you actually find it on scca.com, the Southwest schedule isn't complete. It would be nice if there was one easy to find place to read "schedules of divisional races", sorted by division. Like now with Majors events, you click on "Majors" up top, and then "2015 Schedule" - boom, all Majors events listed, organized by Conference. Why can't we do something similar under the "Club Racing" tab, with a "2015 Divisionals Schedule" under it? I know those schedules are made with much less input from the national office, but still, it shouldn't be too difficult to organize them into one easy to find, view, and understand place, that's not waiting on the regions to add it themselves (how I assume they're done now). After 15 years being an SCCA racer in one place, I knew where to go and find things even if they weren't intuitive, and knew exactly who to talk to if I needed help or something clarified. Now being down here in south Texas, I gotta say it's not as easy as it should be to figure out what's going on, what my options are, when events are, how to get qualified for The Runoffs where I am, who to talk to, etc.? Makes me wonder, if it's like that for me, what's it like for the guy who knows absolutely nothing about the SCCA?
 
Kruck,
How hard is it? Very Hard! The three racing regions and national office have spent countless hours trying to get the races in the time frame you would like. We were lucky to get what we have. I will be at the Feb TWS race and be glad to meet and talk with you about this, as I will not put on this forum all that goes in to the process for 2015 in the SWD.
Glad you are now in TEXAS! Call me any time.
Larry Svaton
cp 281-381-5804
 
Larry Svaton":taloa55k said:
How hard is it? Very Hard! The three racing regions and national office have spent countless hours trying to get the races in the time frame you would like. We were lucky to get what we have.
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kruck":taloa55k said:
I don't mean to pick on you, as I know how incredibly difficult it is to make a Division's schedule, let alone an entire Conference.
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Yup, I know. Former RE, BOD member, and Race Chair for the Ohio Valley Region, holder of the Mid-Ohio Majors, two Mid-Ohio Regionals, and general GLDiv organizer of the schedule (one of our BOD members has been the GLDiv scheduler for quite a while now). I know what it's like to try and schedule this stuff, and how unfortunately you're right, these days we are kind of lucky to get what we can with a lot of tracks.

Larry Svaton":taloa55k said:
I will be at the Feb TWS race and be glad to meet and talk with you about this, as I will not put on this forum all that goes in to the process for 2015 in the SWD. Glad you are now in TEXAS! Call me any time.
Larry Svaton
cp 281-381-5804
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Thanks for the offer, but I doubt I'll be up there, unless I come purely to spectate. Unfortunately it looks like it's not gonna work out this year to make it worthwhile to bring my car to Texas. If I did bring it down, my options are basically NOLA in March and COTA in August, which in addition to being five months apart, also wouldn't get me qualified for the Runoffs alone. Everything else is either a Divisional, or a Major that's a 10-13 hour drive away. For the time and money commitment it would take to drive to and from those events, flying is about a wash, if not actually better.

If there was some way I could run like two Majors and 2-3 Divisionals, and get qualified for the Runoffs, then I'd probably bring my car down here and do that. But, there isn't. It's one or the other, and with the lack of contingencies and (usually) competition at Divisionals, the Majors path wins. I'd love to bring my car down here, as I'd thoroughly enjoy the challenge of running all new tracks and meeting a lot of new people, but it just doesn't make much sense for 2015. It does still remain to be seen a little though because yeah, ultimately I'd just love to run down here if at all possible.
 
Kevin, you can mix and match in the new SEDiv/Southern/Good Ole Boys/ whatever it is called now Conference Divisional Series, SECS. You can count up to two Majors and two Divisionals to make Runoffs. And now they will accept entries from the top 1/2 of points in each class for our Conference since we are the host conference. NOLA counts in our Conference for Divisional points so just leave your car with Fowler and do the Atlanta races, a Majors and a Divisional and the Daytona Divisional plus the NOLA and you're all set. There is also a Double SARRC scheduled at Daytona on the 1st weekend of August that you can run for practice. You would need to change Region of record to SEDiv region.
 
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