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Re: VTR Nationals, Re: John and Val's Excellent Weekend

To: "R John Lye" <rjl6n@UVA.PCMAIL.VIRGINIA.EDU>, "Lindberg, Andrew (MN12)" <Andrew.Lindberg@corp.honeywell.com>, <emanteno@ix.netcom.com>, <fot@Autox.Team.Net>, <spirals@ESINET.NET>
Subject: Re: VTR Nationals, Re: John and Val's Excellent Weekend
From: "Bob Kramer" <rgk@flash.net>
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 18:36:48 -0500
Cc: <Sandolarry@aol.com>, <TRDriver@aol.com>, <Triumphs@Autox.Team.Net>, <vtr@Autox.Team.Net>
As far as racecars go, I choose not to bring my TR3A mostly because my wife
and I wanted to drive to the event (2 TR6's) and take two of our kids as
navigators.  We've been dragging them around (and the car) to most events
that we go to. Another consideration was that the car has a welded diff.
and based on my experiences with the Dallas area VTR regionals autocrosses
I knew to expect a tight course.  There's no fun in driving a car that's
hopping around the turns. We have a local club in Austin that runs some
outstanding A/X events with some straight sections and wider turns (they
require shifting!), and I think that's the type of event we need as a
minimum at a VTR National. Racers are used to getting a lot more track time
as well.  It's frustrating sitting around all day for three 50 second runs.
I hate to point to Savannah again, but they rented a track and gave one day
to autocrossing and one day to racing.  Both days had track touring for
everyone.

If we want people to show up in force, we need to have the features they
want, whether they are racers, tourers or shiners.  There is room for us
all.  The event then needs to be scheduled well, the right location picked
and certified (some minimum requirements?) with no conflicts with other
events, priced right, marketed well and all the contingencies covered. The
Dallas club tried some new things with the internet tech sessions and Billy
Bob's.  Some things worked, others didn't. The awards dinner was near
torturous in length. But isn't that always the case? Each group that runs a
National seems to be starting from scratch. Some clubs do better than
others, but it comes down to the host club. I know with our club and the
1997 regional we ran, many of the key people from the 1991 event had
changed and the newer folks didn't seem to want to believe the old hands,
preferring to "do it their way".  I guess that's why corporations hire
firms to run their conventions. Whatever.  I don't want to sound like I'm
griping because I really enjoy these events.  I look forward to next year. 
With Maine and Oregon totally out of reach it's I 35, border to border next
July!


Bob Kramer, Austin TX
Hill Country Triumph Club
TR6x3, TR250 x3, TR3A vintage race
rgk@flash.net

----------
> From: R John Lye <rjl6n@uva.pcmail.virginia.edu>
> To: Lindberg, Andrew (MN12) <Andrew.Lindberg@corp.honeywell.com>;
emanteno@ix.netcom.com; fot@autox.team.net; rgk@flash.net;
rjl6n@UVA.PCMAIL.VIRGINIA.EDU <rjl6n@uva.pcmail.virginia.edu>;
spirals@ESINET.NET <spirals@esinet.net>
> Cc: Sandolarry@aol.com; TRDriver@aol.com; Triumphs@autox.team.net;
vtr@Autox.Team.Net <vtr@autox.team.net>
> Subject: RE: VTR Nationals, Re: John and Val's Excellent Weekend
> Date: Friday, July 18, 1997 7:17 AM
> 
> On Jul 17, 11:00am, "Lindberg, Andrew (MN12)" wrote:
> > All that said, however, if the Chicago 
> > Historics are again on the third weekend in July in 1998, it will be
the 
> > weekend before the '98 VTR.  The Historics are held in "nearby" Elkhart

> > Lake, Wisconsin.  Does one of the racers on this list know the correct
date
> > of the '98 Chicago Historics?  Irv?
> > 
> >> R John Lye wrote: "It was nice to see so many race cars in the show -
this
> >> is something that I'd really like to see the VTR encourage.  There are
a
> >> lot of really neat cars out there on the vintage circuit that a lot of
> >> folks would really enjoy seeing."
> > 
> >  -- Couldn't agree more.  What can we do from our end (host club) to 
> > encourage their attendance? 
> 
> ..couple of thoughts.  I don't know what (if any) you advertising
> budget is like.  However, you might want to try reaching some of
> the Triumph racers who might not normally get VTR mailings by
> placing an ad in one or more of the vintage racing magazines like
> Victory Lane and/or Vintage Motorsport.  Maybe you could get the
> Chicago Historics people to include one of your brochures in their
> registration application packet.  I suspect that most of those
> folks would need considerable lead time, since they'll probably
> be planning their racing season early on.  Maybe an announcement
> in the newsletters for some of the vintage race clubs (especially
> those with a strong presence in the Midwest).  Also, you'll need
> to have events that they'll be interested in like some driving
> events; maybe a day of lap time at the track, some of them might
> be interested in the autocross, also the idea of a race car section
> in the car show.  You might even want to try and get some of the
> racers to talk about vintage racing - maybe a workshop of some
> sort.  I don't know if any of these ideas are feasible or not,
> but the caffeine is starting to kick in this morning...
> 
> John Lye
> 
> rjl6n@virginia.EDU
> http://avery.med.virginia.edu/~rjl6n/homepage.htm

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