June Sprints/Lowest entry since 1963

[butchdeer]

I saw my first vee race at the 1963 June sprints. As I recall there were 6 Formcars and they all raced in a pack. The followning moday I ordered a new kit and had it on the track before the end of the year. This years entry appears to be 10 vees. This would be the second lowest sprints entry since vee beacame a class and 6 cars showed up in 1963. By 1964 the fields were up past 30 and just got larger for several years. Road america is a great track if yoiuare racing in a pack and the old 50plus fields allowed almost everone to run with a group. At the last run offs the 2nd to whatever group of 15 or so cars had a great exciting race. Whats going on with this years sprints? Are vee guys just that scarce or are they boycotting the sprints?
Butch

[Matt King]

Entries are still dribbling in, but overall the entries for the Sprints this year look to be down considerably this year. Last year there were over 525, so far this year less than 400 with a week to go. Maybe it has something to do with the change to the Runoffs qualifications.

[Bill_Bonow]

I remember those golden days of FV at the June Sprints. A number of times, I started the race with more than 70 others FV's. I think Matt has a point with the Runoffs qualifying changes, but June Sprints FV entries has been slowly shrinking (other than the 40th in 2003) for the past 10 years.

Here is a shot of the first lap coming into T6 in 1990 (just 20 years ago). There were 45 FV's in the race that year.

[ external image ]

[FV80]

From a strictly Vee aspect the Sprints schedule this year really SUCKS. My tow is a bit over 1000 miles each way. Having to be there Friday - have Saturday off and be one of the last groups on Sunday took it out for me. Too much time off required (for Linda) - not enough vacation time to go around

Bill? .. who's that car leading your pic into T6? Looks kinda familiar to me
Steve, FV80

[P-2 Mark]

Steve,

That's a terrible schedule for Vee's! I don't blame anyone for skipping this one because
sitting around all day on Saturday with no track time is a waste of time. Good luck to
those who go!

Mark

[Bill_Bonow]

Steve,

I'm at the front of the line in this photo, but I was actually 6th or 7th in the race at that point.

I get "the schedule really sucks" thing for this year, but does that carry over for the previous 10 years as well? (Excluding the 40th in 2003 which started 75 cars IIRC?)

[hardingfv32-1]

The June Sprints has absolutely no significance to anyone new to sports car racing. SCCA is hardly known to enthusiasts. That leaves you with a aging and dwindling competitor base for the Sprints. It is just a very well established trend. Get use to it and make the most of the time we have left.

Brian

[brian]

Brian makes a true but sad point. Watching entry fees go up nearly 600% over the past 30 years, twice as fast as the CPI, and loosing track time certainly doesn't help either. Gas prices, hotels etc. all make matters worse. RA has always been a bit stiff. They were the first to charge for motorhomes and hotels in the area are quite high. All of which contribute to the trend.

Guess my age is a benefit after all. I remember the big fields and recall the west coast June Sprints at Laguna Seca that drew 50,000 fans, factory teams and great racing.

[Speedsport]

Unfortunately, I think the classes like FV's are stuck in a "dead" zone. No one wants to pay someone what it would take to prep a FV, yet fewer and fewer people are willing to do it themselves. We all have more happening in our lives now then 10-20 years ago. It's the downside of all this technological advancement. As other things occupy our time, thoughts, and mind, the effort people are willing to spend on specific interests, i.e. racing, goes down. Some call it progress, I suppose.

Look at the expensive formula cars - FF's, FC's, FA all have much bigger fields registered for this years Sprints. But most of them are maintained by shops. It's easy to continue racing when all you have to do is show up at the track.

The shift is trending toward paying shops to prep cars. FV's are not suited for that market.

The last few years I have put 110% effort into winning the runoffs. My life revolved around it. It wasn't until after I won it that I realized what I had given up to do so. That effort cost me something that was very special to me, and might never be replaced....looking back at it, it wasn't worth it. My point being I'm not so sure that the effort it takes to go racing can be justified anymore. I never understood how/why people could quit something like this. I now understand.


*edited to re-phrase my last sentince.

[butchdeer]

There are plenty of shops that will gladly prep yor FV (some for much less than a FF,FC,or CSR). The market does not appear to be there. I guess going to a spectator race is Just very taxing on low key guys. Even the Vintage Vee guys avoid the high profile vintage events like the black plague.
Butch

[Matt King]

You really do get nickeled and dimed at the Sprints compared to a regular National, and the schedule just piles it on. For example, it cost me $499 to enter the double National at RA a few weeks ago. To register for the Sprints was $360, plus I got hit with a $40 late fee for entering "late" three and half weeks prior to the event (the late fee for the Cat National didn't kick in until a few days before the event started), plus another $30 to park in the same spot I had parked in for free at the National, for a total of $430. For that entry fee I get much less track time than the double, plus an entire day of nothing much going on. Fortunately I live 40 minutes from the track, so I will just stay home when I don't need to be at the track. But as bad as all that is, let's not even discuss the Runoffs format!

[CitationFV21]

....
The last few years I have put 110% effort into winning the runoffs. My life revolved around it. It wasn't until after I won it that I realized what I had given up to do so. That effort cost me something that was very special to me, and might never be replaced....looking back at it, it wasn't worth it. My point being I'm not so sure that the effort it takes to go racing can be justified anymore. I never understood how/why people could quit something like this. I now understand.

"looking back at it, it wasn't worth it" - But if you never did it, how would you know? I have been racing for 30+ years and if I can last as long as Paul Newman did, that would be over 55 years. Some years I did one, some I did none, and this year I am taking off to regroup. When I think of the time, the effort and the money (don't want to think about the money)...... but if I hadn't gone racing, I would not have know so many great people, and had so many great stories. I would end up a boring grumpy old man. Learn from the past, live in the present, dream of the future.

Whatever you do, do it with passion, enjoy it while it lasts and do it well. Then if you move on you have no regrets.

Back to the Sprints - the middle class (most FV racers) is what has taken the biggest hit - the wealthy still have their money. Now add in the greying of the class and the excuses and demands on our time - they sound pretty lame compared to when I was in my 20's and working 18 hours days for Skip Barber, but today they are real reasons we don't support our club with entries. Cost, track time and travel are real considerations for today's racer. Until the club gets that, the entries will stagnate. I predict the Runoffs qualifying rules will change for next year, BTW. In the meantime, I will someday get back to working on my car, keep doing running races (shoes are less than tires by a long shot) and doing some indoor karting.

ChrisZ

[Bill Carroll]

There are a lot of cars not running SCCA anymore, for many of the reasons mentioned here. Some clubs are really trying to cater to the FV group, more track time, longer races, open wheel only. The SCCA is a business, they will continue to put the small fields in where they can, or in the FV case have to.