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Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 4:54 pm
by Reed Gibson
Hey everyone,

I just got word that Fresno's chapter has secured their first official event at Minter Airfield on March 9th/10th.

Minter is a large concrete airstrip (similar to the now deceased El Toro) located in the Bakersfield area (it's just east of Buttonwillow on Lerdo Highway for reference).

Hopefully some of our members can head out to the event in order to evaluate the lot characteristics. A few of us have been out there before but the course layout was not a proper SCCA autocross so it'll be interesting to see what Fresno comes up with. If we hear good things, future events may be held there where we can compete with our NorCal brethren!

I will update this thread when I receive the registration information for the event!

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 8:34 pm
by Anthony P.
Any ideas on cost? Ideal places to stay?

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 8:40 pm
by Reed Gibson
Anthony P. wrote: Tue Jan 29, 2019 8:34 pm Any ideas on cost? Ideal places to stay?
Cost for the site or the event? Event wise I'm assuming in line with Fresno's typical prices which should be close to ours ($40 range?). Site wise, I'm not quite sure. We've had some discussions with SFR regarding the site price but I haven't heard what the final negotiation was, I'm assuming its affordable if Fresno can afford to host the event there.

The site is about 15 minutes from downtown Bakersfield so it shouldn't be hard to find a place to stay.

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2019 10:58 am
by David Watson
If this happens, I am available to go, and PMd you.

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2019 7:59 am
by Scott McHugh
http://minterfield.com/airport/

Above link has run/taxi way dimensions.

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2019 10:46 am
by Earl Merz
I saw the Porsche Club running there years ago. This was after one of our events at Buttonwillow, so that gives you an idea how long. If I'm available I'll swing by there on the event day. My friend is only about 20 minutes from the airport.

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2019 6:17 pm
by Bill Martin
Reed Gibson wrote: Tue Jan 29, 2019 4:54 pm I just got word that Fresno's chapter has secured their first official event at Minter Airfield on March 9th/10th.
I know it's late breaking, but odd that I'm not seeing discussion of this on Fresno SCCA AX forum, nor has it made their schedule.

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2019 10:03 pm
by Anthony P.
Bill Martin wrote: Fri Feb 01, 2019 6:17 pm
Reed Gibson wrote: Tue Jan 29, 2019 4:54 pm I just got word that Fresno's chapter has secured their first official event at Minter Airfield on March 9th/10th.
I know it's late breaking, but odd that I'm not seeing discussion of this on Fresno SCCA AX forum, nor has it made their schedule.
Super special direct vice chair to vice chair acknowledgement.

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2019 4:56 pm
by Reed Gibson
Anthony P. wrote: Fri Feb 01, 2019 10:03 pm
Bill Martin wrote: Fri Feb 01, 2019 6:17 pm
Reed Gibson wrote: Tue Jan 29, 2019 4:54 pm I just got word that Fresno's chapter has secured their first official event at Minter Airfield on March 9th/10th.
I know it's late breaking, but odd that I'm not seeing discussion of this on Fresno SCCA AX forum, nor has it made their schedule.
Super special direct vice chair to vice chair acknowledgement.
Exactly, this is something we've been working in the background with SFR as a potential new site to host a shared event at in the future. At this time I've been told that Fresno has secured the date but I'm sure they're still working their schedule same as us.

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2019 11:25 am
by Earl Merz
Has anyone contacted Kern County Raceway Part? The whole infield of the oval is paved. The area might be a bit small, I count 26 semi truck parking spots on the short side. But I think it would be similar to PIR Pro Pits that the Oregon Region used to run in, not sure if they still run at PIR.

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2019 2:39 pm
by Anthony P.
Earl Merz wrote: Sun Feb 03, 2019 11:25 am Has anyone contacted Kern County Raceway Part? The whole infield of the oval is paved. The area might be a bit small, I count 26 semi truck parking spots on the short side. But I think it would be similar to PIR Pro Pits that the Oregon Region used to run in, not sure if they still run at PIR.
The goal for the location was to be able to host a nor cal so cal divisional, so they were looking at something larger.

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 9:35 am
by Tony R
I'll preface this by saying I'm not the "official" liaison to Minter Field. That is Ric Quinonez, and he is (almost) working alone with the March event.

At this time I know that Fresno is working out logistics for the March event. The field presents a few challenges that they haven't had to deal with before, mainly because its an active airfield and the part of the taxiways we're interested in must be available for them to use overnight. This means that the trailer, cones, etc, need to be packed up and off the airfield at the end of the day. Not ideal for a two-day event (actually kind of a nightmare :lol: ).

The second challenge is cost of rental. I will not relay that here, but it is costly and will require renting additional equipment to run the event. To break even, Fresno would need to pull in more people than they regularly have at their events. Whether or not that is possible is a large unknown.

Trying to keep everyone posted on this as much as I can. We (SFR) would love to have a joint California event in the future with you guys. This location was ideal, however what the airfield is asking might just be beyond what is acceptable.

As for Kern Raceway, the infield of the oval is 400x400 in the best-case. This is smaller than what Fresno uses regularly.

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 9:42 am
by Bill Martin
IIRC, Las Vegas region has a few choices for event sites and the better ones exceed the anticipated revenue. I think they elect to do a mix of sites such that they bank some money at the cheaper sites in order to operate at a loss on their preferred Speedway sites. Maybe that model would work for Fresno/Minter.

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 9:46 am
by Tony R
I'm not their treasurer, but I do know that if they pull what they regularly do (40-50ish) at Minter, they will wipe out a significant portion of their reserves. Yes, Minter is that expensive.

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 6:04 pm
by Sean Fenstermacher
What is the the attendance goal to cover costs?
Maybe we can try to rally our members to support.

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 8:13 pm
by David Barrish
Tony,

Will this event be "kid" friendly? Having access for the "FJ" karts will give the family's the ability to increase the car count and get seat time before Crows.

David

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2019 9:11 am
by Tony R
I haven't got any official word yet, but I think the Fresno event might be cancelled. For clarity's sake, the break-even point would have been about 75 people.

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2019 6:24 pm
by Anthony P.
Tony R wrote: Fri Feb 08, 2019 9:11 am I haven't got any official word yet, but I think the Fresno event might be cancelled. For clarity's sake, the break-even point would have been about 75 people.
Could be possible to do 4 timed runs, then 8 practice runs, with a practice price at 85 a person. I dont know the costs but generally with fewer people it can make more fiscal sense.

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2019 2:51 pm
by Bill Martin
Or that could work against you if you're talking about a Fresno regional event. Double the price on people, even for more seat time, perhaps you lose a lot of them. And the numbers are small to begin with. Or are you suggesting the practice part is a separate entry and the $85 is in addition to the regular fee? Might have trouble selling 4 runs. I think I usually get more like 12 at their events.

Bigger fee might work for SoCal vs NorCal on a special event.

By the way, Sanjay was up rallycrossing with me yesterday. He's on the Fresno BoD and hadn't even heard of Minter.

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2019 7:35 pm
by Larry Frankenstein
Hi all, I used to run with GRA at Minter / Shafter airfield back in the 80s with a group out of Bakersfield. As I recall they were a pretty fun events with lots of runs. Sucks that y'all couldn't get it to happen. However . . .

Back then I was involved with an attempt to run on an airfield in SoCal at the Barstow / Daggett airfield as a kind of a challenge event against the Las Vegas region. Myself (I was the SCCSCC Rules /Tech guy) and Herb Berkman (SCCSCC head guy IIRC) and a guy named Larry Pierson flew up there one day to see what they layout was. As I recall it was "doable" - at this point I don't recall hy it did not happen. Maybe something you guys coud look at for events.

Good Luck

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 8:26 pm
by Bill Martin
Odd...I don't remember that. Bakersfield is relatively close and I went to nearly all their events back when they were active. I only remember racing at the city college and Fomosa Drag Raceway.

But there's lotsa things I don't remember so well anymore. :)

Re: Minter Airfield with Fresno SCCA

Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 7:26 am
by Larry Frankenstein
Hi Bill, I remember you name so there is that. The GRA guys from my time (1979 or so to 84 or so) ran Shafter. I went there 2 or 3 times with Grant Byers and Dick Takashima (R I P) and others. There was a overnight stay and a bottle of saki once - and ONLY ONCE). I never made it to the city college or Fomosa during my time slaloming. Interesting reminiscing about this - thing like this have come up a lot recently.

Hope all is good with you. Larry