Topic: chump car broke it off in us
Yes, we strayed. I couldn't resist. The track is shouting distance from my house. Never again though.
Cliff notes: cut the race from 24 to 14 hours. No refunds and no rebate. Dicks
P.O. Box 1541 Morgan Hill, CA 95038 ChumpCar World Series info@ThatOtherSeries.com
14 April 2010
Memo: To All Nashville ChumpCar Teams
From: ChumpCar World Series Management
Subject: Nashville Event Format Change
Greetings, Chumps!
We closed registration for the Nashville event last Friday and we received a total of 21 team entry
applications for the Nashville-9 ChumpCar event. Here’s the final entry list:
Team Name Captain
Property Devaluation Racing Brian Pollock
Property Devaluation Racing II Brian Pollock
White Lightning Daniel Vaught
EggBoy Racing Jeff Krekeler
Ramrod Racing Michael Chisek
His Panic Racing Vince Rosenthal
Team Fustercluck Adam Thomas
Blitzen Benz Rusty Tredinnick
Son of a Blitzen Ned Gallaher
Omayonesa Omar Salcido
Kentucky Spirits Gene Young
The Rotary Rotards Les Law
Team Top Gear Bob Rutzky
Team Skid-Mark Brian Yorks
Sooper Duper Robert Drake
Team Red Rocket Bill Kropff
Team Confederate Yankees Michael Eddings
Pure Luxe Rusty Bittle
Team Non Sequitur Edward Knapp
Moneyshot Motorsports Mitch Lockler
Flying Chicken Donnie Weymer
Then we started calling to confirm entries and payments and we received 5 cancellations. That
brought the race total to 16 cars. I’d be lying if I said that I was happy with that number, as we had
higher expectations for the race. Personally, I was hoping for 30 solid entries. Regardless,
ChumpCar is 100%, solidly committed to holding the Nashville event! The issue, as with any
endurance race, is that we all know we’re going to have a few DNF’s and we want to make sure that
we have more than three cars running at the finish. After all, we’ve got more than 3 trophies to hand
out! However, the longer the race, the more DNF’s we’ll have.
So, what do we do? Do we cancel the event and make teams, like yours, which are ready to race
pay the price for those that didn't sign-up or cancelled? Do we penalize those teams, like yours, who
are committed to ChumpCar? Do we postpone the event and see what kind of date we can get later
in the year – like August or September? Or, do we continue with the event, as planned?
P.O. Box 1541 Morgan Hill, CA 95038 ChumpCar World Series info@ThatOtherSeries.com
I don't know about you, but I'm a racer. Yes, I'm a business man, but still (and always) a racer. And I
know that Lloyd, Erik, Ron, Cathy and Dave are all racers, too. If there is a silver-lining to this
situation, it’s that ChumpCar has already faced this same issue – with our event at Rockingham.
So, just like we did with Rockingham, we’ve chosen to take the high-road and support our teams,
and that means continue with the event. HOWEVER, we are experienced enough to know (as are
most of you) that a race with 16 cars is fine if it's a 30-lap sprint race; but, a 24 hour race with 16
cars is not only stupid, it's boring, and when there's boredom in a motorsports race, there are errors
and accidents. Because of that, ChumpCar's management team pulled from its experience at
Rockingham and looked at various race format options, including changing the race into our normal
Double-7 Enduro format. The problem with that format is that it does not allow for night racing, and
that's half (or more of) the fun of endurance races.
So, the best and only possible option was to create a "different" format that engaged a shorter race
(to keep the competition high and attrition low), and create a timeframe that allowed both daytime
and nighttime racing. A non-stop twelve hours would make for a great race but it wouldn't equate to
the dollars-per-seat-time that ChumpCar teams pay for when they enter a Double-7 Enduro. (The
entry fee for a ChumpCar Double-7 and a ChumpCar 24-hour event are the same. We don't
increase the price for the latter.) In the end, ChumpCar's management team agreed on a 14-hour
race… the same seat-time as in a Double-7... the same value as a Double-7… the same solution we
used at Rockingham (that worked extremely well!).
As for what hours to run the event -- yes, we could have started at noon and raced until 2:00am, but
who wants to end at 2:00am? Start at 4:00pm and run until 6:00am, or start at 6:00pm and run until
8:00am? Either of those are a total waste of Saturday and there's very little daytime driving. The
only logical timeframe was to run the race so we'd get as close to equal daylight and nighttime racing
as possible, and end the race at a decent hour -- an hour that we can either party afterwards, or go
to bed and get a good night's rest. That said, the 9:00am - 11:00pm timeframe was agreed to.
This decision was also made in consideration of team expenses and safety. Local teams can now
pack-up after the event and head home -- no later than if they were running in the 'Main' at any local
short track. Travel teams can get a hotel room Saturday night and get a fresh (and safe) start out of
town Sunday morning.
Here’s the revised event schedule:
Friday: 3:00pm – 7:00pm Registration
4:00pm – 7:00pm Safety, Tech & Theme Inspection
4:00pm – 7:00pm Driver’s Gear Inspection
5:00pm – 6:00pm Driver’s School
Saturday: 7:00am Gates Open
8:00am – 8:30am Last Chance Driver’s Gear Inspection
8:30am – 8:50am Drivers Meeting
9:00am Parade Laps and Start Race
11:00pm Checkered Flag
11:05pm Post-race inspection and Awards Ceremony
Additionally, we’re going to have to modify the race purse: $750 1st; $500 2nd; and, $250 $3rd based
on a very small pool of funds generated by the event. Hey! It’s still better than running for a plastic
trophy!
P.O. Box 1541 Morgan Hill, CA 95038 ChumpCar World Series info@ThatOtherSeries.com
Because you paid to run “The Nashville 9” – a full 24-hour endurance event, ChumpCar wants to
make sure that you and your team don’t feel like you got the short end of the dipstick. Sure, a 14-
hour race is the same seat-time as our Double-7 Enduro (which costs the same entry fee)… and,
yes, there’s still quite a lot of nighttime racing to enjoy. However, it’s just not the same and we know
it. Therefore, by means of a correction, ChumpCar will issue your team a $250 entry fee discount
(that’s ½-price!) and a letter of guaranteed acceptance at any future ChumpCar’s event… any event,
be it Homestead, Sebring, Roebling Road, Texas Motors Speedway (24 hour race), Hallet (24 hour
race), Harris Hill… wherever you want to race.
This is ChumpCar’s way of thanking you for your support and flexibility. We apologize for the format
change and appreciate your understanding.
ChumpCar feels bad about having to re-format this event, but there were very few options left to us
and we didn't want to cancel the race. I think that it's important for everyone to remember that
ChumpCar (just like any race track owner, race promoter or series organizer) puts the opportunity
out there for the teams and drivers to come and participate. That's all we can do. We present the
opportunity. It's up the teams to sign-up, commit and follow-through. Neither ChumpCar, nor
Nashville Superspeedway, can force the teams to show up and race.
I look forward to meeting all of you at the track and for a great event! We’re going to have great
time, regardless!
All the best –
John Condren
“…just another chump”
