Sort of a poll

[clubford00]

I was just curious how many people are going to limit or stop their racing this upcoming year do to the state of the economy?
If you wish to elaborate, please do. Or you could just say limit , quit, no change etc.

[hughie 56]

Our team plans on doing all the MARRS regional races again this year. We also have two new drivers in our team this year. And two more future FV drivers going to school at some time this year. (In place of the FV Birthday Party I plan on trying out the new track in South Jersey one weekend.)

[jmattox]

I plan on getting my national license this February and continue to race. My son will continue to race regionally. Same car for now, both cars when we get the Zink rebuilt.

John and Shawn
FV42- CFR

[kwillmorth79]

I plan to retire from racing effective this year. The business environment I work within is undergoing a dramatic change in technology that is creating an opportunity I would be an idiot to pass up since it is the only area moving at all right now. While not everyone saw it, I've been fighting this recession all through 2008, on top of building a new company at what may be the worst time to do that. The greatest demand on my resources in this environment is time, which has become impossible to deal with - not enough time to work on the car and no time to do the necessary testing (or money to keep up with tires, track fees, etc.) - so our performance was truly horrible to say the least. We seemed to always be scrambling and not getting anywhere, making it feel like work, not fun, sapping any energy I might have had for doing long hours to catch up.

2009 will be worse due to the continued slide in the economy, as this will simultaniously increase competitive pressure, while reducing market potential, and drying up some of our side contract work that provided us the gravy to play... We need to conserve cash to insure survival, at the same time I need to invest even more time and fund projects to prepare for when things do finally recover. I just can't see trying to shoe-horn racing weekends, and diverting capital into it. I also need the garage space for other work projects.

By the time all this stuff sorts itself out, I will have to start all over again to get back into the swing of it. Probably not in the cards. We just got started way too late in life, combined with the impact of the economic conditions and activities in my core industry... It is a shame as I really enjoy driving, and will miss that. Will probably do a couple of HPDEs to get some track time when I can get the schedules to connect, or I might just take the bike out for a rip every day to keep the pulse up.

[Matt King]

I decided last season to focus on events closer to home in 2009. That decision was partly a result of the Runoffs moving to Road America, which is 40 minutes from my house, but also by the cost in time and money of running a season schedule that included three events at Mid-Ohio, which is 865 miles r/t, when gas was averaging $3.75/gal. So I sold one of my cars that I race in a non-SCCA class to raise the money to buy a FV. My plan is to run a regional schedule this year and try to qualify for the Runoffs in 2010. I am also committed to NOT towing through Chicago in 2009, which means sticking to Blackhawk Farms, RA, and Milwaukee Mile!

[Cooper 64]

I had planned to do only Nationals this year and go to the Run Offs. After the bad last couple of months in my business I will be cutting back. I still hope to run about 6 events but the run offs may be out. I live in Ky and most tracks are very far away so it requires lots of travel and money. It also suck to travel 6-8 hours spend lots of money ,take days off work and only have two other vees. I know this does not happen all the time but it seems to be happening more and more. I made a big investment last year and hope this year to have some more fun. The Great Lakes Div. has changed the schedule so that it combines the regionals and nationals in the same weekend, I wish they were double nationals and not single type events so it would be more cost effective. I also think the entry fee is getting out of hand. If that keeps on going up I may be out of even more races.
My 2 cents.
Billy Cooper #64

[Martinracing98]

2007 was my first year in cars after 10 years in karts. At the end of the year I decided I did not like some things on the frame and body I built for Formula First. Over winter I planned to change that and do some other work needed including repairing a broken engine and adding a dry sump. That changed Nov 13th 2007 when my wife suffered an near life ending aneurysm in her brain. It reminds you what the priorities are. I am thrilled to say she has come a long way since that day. While she and we have a long way to go to re-capture a life that is not focused around recovery, we are slowly moving that direction. For me that means looking back towards racing again. I hope to be able to return by 2010. To keep my juices going I am using this time off to build the car I wish I would have built the first time. For now that will have to do.

[shirleymac]

I plan on doing my drivers schools this spring Midiv has a double school/regional race on the scheduled for April 17th-19th at MidAmerica Motorplex. I'm planning on running the other two regional races at MAM if everything goes okay in April.

Tony
Shirley MacLane sm1 FV #19

[SR Racing]

From a retailers perspective...

We track our gross sales closely and saw a very untypical decrease in sales in October. (about the time the talking heads told us we were in recession.) This hit was mostly from the grass roots sales. (FV, Miata etc. guys.) There seemed to be no real impact at the AS, GT-1, American Iron levels. Off the street walk in sales (Dyno testing, Helmets, Lubricants, etc. dropped slightly). Janurary sales (on-line and walk-in) are up so far. (We did about 15 "Getting Started in FV" books and seemed to get a lot of calls on questions about FV / FST, so that is a good sign.)

Engine rebuilds were also down in October/November, Decemeber, but there was a significant increase in January and from calls it appears Feb will also be good. (FV/FST. V8 stuff is also decent)

Our plan is to do a minimum of 6 weekends with 3 to 4 cars next year (FST) . (Mostly rentals.) We will also run 1 or 2 SM cars in the N.L. 24 Hour.

[Mad Dog Racing]

I ran every SowDiv race in 2008 season (Labor Day to Labor Day) both regional and national and I'm pooped. Skipped the fall R/R and will skip the R/R next weekend, so I'm 0 for 4 in 2009. Will start with the R/N in February. Will run one new track in division this year, if the race happens, think it's time to get back on my bucket list. I used to try to pick up a new track each year and over time I've crossed off Lime Rock, Road Atlanta, Mid Ohio, IRP, Blackhawk Farms, HPT, Hallett, Pueblo, and six or eight others, some gone now like Second Creek and Lake Afton. High on the list are Laguna Seca, Watkins Glen, VIR, Sebring, and Road America. That's five year's backup right there. At least one goes this year. I'll go for more quality, less quantity.

[satterley_sr]

We will have an additional driver this season, my grandson Trey Brawner is moving up from go-karts. My son Chris may be doing more races this year at Waterford. I'm hoping to do my usual 6 races week-ends this year.

Dave Sr.

http://WWW.ddcracing.com

[CitationFV21]

[quote="kwillmorth79"] I just can't see trying to shoe-horn racing weekends, and diverting capital into it. I also need the garage space for other work projects.

By the time all this stuff sorts itself out, I will have to start all over again to get back into the swing of it. [/quote]

You need a guy like Dick Stewart out there http://www.fvrentals.info/

Just show up and race and for a price not much more than running your own car. Even doing 3 - 4 races a year is enough to keep licenses active and have lots of fun. And the garage is empty for the street car!

Off topic -maybe we should be advertizing to all the F2000 and Atlantic guys to put the car away for a year, and with the money they are saving they can come FV racing with us and still start rebuilding that 401....sorry 201K.

ChrisZ