2020 Road Racing Drivers Letter

Greetings, and Happy New (CenDiv racing) Year! It’s been a long winter, and I hope everyone has weathered the Coronavirus shutdowns ok.

As we finally get the 2020 season going in full steam, there are a few items I would like to mention.

In the June 2020 Technical Bulletin (https://www.scca.com/downloads/50093-june-2020-tb-fastrack-final/download) there is a GCR change regarding allowed moves on the race track, and a new Appendix P Racing Room and Passing Guidelines. This is effective 6/1/20-please review. This will hopefully clarify what is, and what is not, good. We will be using this guideline going forward. If you think you’ve had contact as a result, or forced into evasive action, we highly encourage you pursue this after the session, and if appropriate, file a protest within the timelines per GCR. Stewards will take action on incidents we are aware of from corners, but we can’t be proactive on every incident (as much as we’d really like to), with our reduced volunteer corps-just not enough eyes on the racing. Also please remember, you are required to stop at Black Flag or Impound if you are involved in any significant contact.

The second item is racing in CenDiv in 2020. We have had to cancel the Driver’s School Double Regional, postpone the May Majors to the end of June regional weekend, cancel Brainerd Memorial Day weekend, and postpone the Cat Majors to what was the Kettle Regional weekend in August.

Most of you have seen the revised Runoffs qualifications. I would like to make a request: If it is at all a possibility, please try to enter 3 CenDiv events and participate on track (not simply take the pay-in option). While I fully realize that many of us have had work/income interruptions (where taking the pay-in is the only option), there are also many that have not been seriously impacted.

You may ask “if the regions are getting the entry fee, why does it matter?” Please remember that the entry fee provided to the region will be an average-we don’t know yet how that will vary from our actual yet. Also, we have to keep in mind our various partners that depend on revenue from participants outside of the entry fee: race tracks (fuel, concessions, track store), tire vendors, and prep shops. These folks combine to help us put on race events, and without any one of them, we wouldn’t have a racing program.

The final item I’d like to cover is entry fees. Region and division leadership frequently get questions about the entry fees. The reality is that the regions come up with budgets when the snow is on the ground and we receive our contracts from the tracks. It then becomes a guessing game as to the number of entries, so we use the last couple of years as a guide. The vast majority (75-85%) of an event’s expenses is fixed-basically the same regardless of the number of cars. At this point, it becomes basic math: budgeted expenses/projected entries=entry fee. Each year, the regions put on events that lose money-most $1,000-$3,000. However, a handful, like our drivers school last year, lost over $15,000. As the 4 racing regions split that event evenly, they each ended up being down by almost $4,000. We don’t want to have to remove any events from our calendar; quite the opposite-we’d like to have more opportunities for everyone to race. When racing regions start the year in the red, it’s difficult to make up in the good events, along with saving a little money for equipment replacement, etc.

As a reminder, most of our events do not charge your credit card until at least at track registration opens +/- a day. Please register early for our events. It helps with planning of schedules, catering for the parties (when we can have them), avoids panic attacks for region personnel, etc. Registering early may also help encourage others to register – knowing that they’ll have good competition to race against.

We are fortunate that we have had two sponsors for our CenDiv Championship series for MANY years-C&P Installations, and Tro Manufacturing. Both of these companies are run by second generation SCCA competitors. We could not do the series without them. We would also like to thank and acknowledge those that agreed to be sponsors for our Spring Training, and our Driver’s School/Double Regional-Clueless Racing and Kessell Run Motorsports, along with several anonymous donors. Special thanks goes to the anonymous donor that, for several years, has donated a significant amount to the racing regions for worker recruitment and retention purposes. If you are interested in you/your company becoming a sponsor for an event or special pupose, please reach out to myself or Peter Jankovskis, Area Director ().

For our drivers that have not participated in the last year (or more), we miss you and we want you back! If there is anything we can do to aid in the process, please let me know. No car, no problem – we can put you in touch with prep shops that have cars for rent.

For our drivers that focus on the US Majors Tour/Hoosier SuperTour/Runoffs: If you have not run a double regional in the last year, please consider adding one to your schedule. Our double regionals are the lifeblood of our club. They are where your future competitors are coming from. Some of them want to race against you there – not at a full bore Majors/SuperTour – as their first taste of top level competition. However, we need more entries to keep these events viable. While in 2020, we have lost several, as of this writing, we still have 4 on the schedule.
Thanks for being part of the CenDiv family!

If you have any questions/comments/concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thanks,
Kevin Coulter
Executive Steward
Central Division

To view this letter in a downloadable form, please go to:
https://cendiv-scca.org/wp-content/uploads/RoadRacing/2020/2020-Drivers-Letter.pdf