CMC dead?

[Den34]

I would not use attendance at National events as the barometer of CMC health. I would look towards each region and judge it on a region to region basis. CMC is a very budget minded class and it is expensive to go to a National event with a entry fee of $500 to $700 bucks depending on when you sign up, and that does not include fuel to get there or hotel etc etc... To convince a CMC guy to give up 2 or 3 regional events to go to 1 national show can be a tough sell. In the past 4 years Derek Wright, Kent Owens, Tim Bennett, Spencer Caudle and myself have been pretty regular attendees at National events. Last year at Road Atlanta we made up 5 of the 9 entries. We kind of got tired of showing up to these events and not having many guys from other regions showing up. So this year we decided we were not going to go. Had we all went we would have had 8 cars. We decided to go to Hallet instead.

Bob Denton
CMC Midwest

[mach1]

We decided to go to Hallet instead.

How was it?

[Supercharged111]

I would not use attendance at National events as the barometer of CMC health. I would look towards each region and judge it on a region to region basis. CMC is a very budget minded class and it is expensive to go to a National event with a entry fee of $500 to $700 bucks depending on when you sign up, and that does not include fuel to get there or hotel etc etc... To convince a CMC guy to give up 2 or 3 regional events to go to 1 national show can be a tough sell. In the past 4 years Derek Wright, Kent Owens, Tim Bennett, Spencer Caudle and myself have been pretty regular attendees at National events. Last year at Road Atlanta we made up 5 of the 9 entries. We kind of got tired of showing up to these events and not having many guys from other regions showing up. So this year we decided we were not going to go. Had we all went we would have had 8 cars. We decided to go to Hallet instead.

Bob Denton
CMC Midwest

SM can also be considered a budget class. Sure the guys at the front run a new set of tires every weekend, but it's still a cheap car to get into. You can spend a ton of money in any class, no matter how cheap, but the fact of the matter is SM is a nationally known class and most everyone who owns one knows that the class exists regardless of if they just drive to work, autox, HPDE, or race their own Miata. SM exists in both NASA and SCCA. SCCA is better known to the masses, even the ones who don't attend their events. What vectors an HPDE1 guy to any race class? Typically the car he HPDEs will have a bit of sway in his decision, i.e. if he started with a gutless, well-balanced car and he wants to go W2W cheap without converting whatever he's driving, he'll likely be inclined to go with SM or Spec 944. If he's got a little more money and wants a well populated class, perhaps GTS is where he'll go again with a gutless, well-balanced 3 series. Someone who shows up in something fast like a Vette or a GTR will probably be enticed by the ST1/2/3 or STU classes, though here in the RM region those guys tend to go TT and stay there. It seems to me there's a very small pool of people who show up to the track from the get go with any predisposition to this class. They must be convinced very early on. In my experience, a lot of the HPDE guys show up just to have fun and are very passive. There's only ever a few of them that are willing to haul some ass for the whole session, most aren't concerned with progression and are content to stay in HPDE for years and years. I think most of those people are probably making the right decision if they don't have the personality to get side by side and not just hand it over. So to recap and trim it down a bit, there are a lot of HPDE participants who don't become NASA regulars, count them out. A lot more that will stay in HPDE forever with most who do progress beyond that going the TT route as they don't need to get a new prepped car. The few that do go race gravitate toward platforms that are generally associated with taking turns in the first place.

[AllZWay]

I would not use attendance at National events as the barometer of CMC health. I would look towards each region and judge it on a region to region basis. CMC is a very budget minded class and it is expensive to go to a National event with a entry fee of $500 to $700 bucks depending on when you sign up, and that does not include fuel to get there or hotel etc etc... To convince a CMC guy to give up 2 or 3 regional events to go to 1 national show can be a tough sell. In the past 4 years Derek Wright, Kent Owens, Tim Bennett, Spencer Caudle and myself have been pretty regular attendees at National events. Last year at Road Atlanta we made up 5 of the 9 entries. We kind of got tired of showing up to these events and not having many guys from other regions showing up. So this year we decided we were not going to go. Had we all went we would have had 8 cars. We decided to go to Hallet instead.

Bob Denton
CMC Midwest

I think Bob has nailed it. It just cost entirely too much to go a national event when you consider travel, entry fee, tires, brakes... etc.. for a entire week just to race a few cars. Hallett has traditionally had way more than Nats each year.

[Fbody383]

I think Bob has nailed it. It just cost entirely too much to go a national event when you consider travel, entry fee, tires, brakes... etc.. for a entire week just to race a few cars. Hallett has traditionally had way more than Nats each year.

Speaking of Nats... have 2016 locations been announced?

We should literally just have CMC nats at Hallett.

[Suck fumes]

Plus having a split nat champ event takes away the lure to want to drive across country. Because even if you win you are still not a "national champion" until you win the mx5 race which is another week you have to take off. I really hope they go back to ONE event.