Norcal Alameda Pro Canceled

[Annie Bauer]

Annie, you have your rose colored hindsight goggles on. While the Kent site was big, it was a gravel field.

Oh, yeah, that's a good point - I remember Kent being the most "unique" surface I raced on, I just loved it's location I DEFINITELY think Packwood is the best site in the greater NW

[Keith Brown]

I just loved it's location

So did I, less than 10 minutes from the house

[Keith Brown]

Back on topic, it looks like there is some pretty significant movement to provide a replacement event. I hope it works out.

[Steve Ekstrand]

The mystery brews.... So, who is Alameda Auto Park? Sounds like an individual has stepped up to a promoter role to improve the lot and make it a regular motorsports site. In order to fund the improvements the lot fees are obviously higher, and so people are trying to end run the promoter and deal direct with Alameda. Alameda freaks out and slams everything shut for a month. I don't know... Sounds like a pretty ugly situation. Need that popcorn emoticon....

[Mike Simanyi]

As Keith says, one way or another there *will* be a Pro Solo event that weekend. Stay tuned for breaking news... hopefully before the end of the day tomorrow.

Mike

[Michael Wood]

If it is at Wendover, count me in.

I don't know why you guys are so excited about El Toro, so much so as to want a second Pro there...place chews up tires and smells like a landfill...

JK, it is a great site for course designers to play with and has lots of (very abrasive) grip.

[Tom Berry]

Hey Tom Berry!

Should we contact Howard about two swings through Nirvana...uhm, El Toro? Maybe a storage option available at El Toro would encourage participation in both SD and the two El Toro events???

I'd love a return to Castle is that is possible, but lets not lose a West Coast pro again. Lets start early to see if an El Toro back up is possible.

Too late Steve... we are already on it dude.

[Aaron Goldsmith]

If it is at Wendover, count me in.

I don't know why you guys are so excited about El Toro, so much so as to want a second Pro there...place chews up tires and smells like a landfill...

JK, it is a great site for course designers to play with and has lots of (very abrasive) grip.

We don't notice any bad smells at El Toro after running at AAA speedway all this time with the garbage sorting site next door. :barf:

Never noticed El Toro being much harder on tires than the other sites down here.

[Michael Wood]

If it is at Wendover, count me in.

I don't know why you guys are so excited about El Toro, so much so as to want a second Pro there...place chews up tires and smells like a landfill...

JK, it is a great site for course designers to play with and has lots of (very abrasive) grip.

We don't notice any bad smells at El Toro after running at AAA speedway all this time with the garbage sorting site next door. :barf:

Never noticed El Toro being much harder on tires than the other sites down here.

You know I'm just playing around, El Toro is a very cool site and you guys are lucky to have sites like that available for big events. I do think El Toro is tough on tires, but I've only run there once, big Hoosiers/little RX8 rims, and had Matthew Braun also hammering on the car, so maybe I'm biased...

The deal with Alameda is too bad, it is a really, really good site. You guys are going to love it. The current issues do need to be ironed out, which is going to require some "uniting, not dividing", in terms of the vested interests of the parties involved.

As it stands, AAS still has a full schedule permitted, scheduled and ready to go. Each AAS event is a full weekend, so it may be worth the tow up North to come up and play...

[Scott McHugh]

All I can tell you is there are a LOT of moving pieces in this story...some would argue too many.

It is a bummer, no matter to what you attribute the cancellation.

All that hype and now no Alameda and natural air conditioning! Oh well, now I can go to Sea Otter at Laguna...

[David Avard]

I'm sort of surprised Lincoln is only 200 further. Is Lincoln shorter than Topeka? Time to map out the schedule again. My memory fails...
I used to have all the major events sites saved along with side trips and such. Damn hard drive crashes....

With the highway 54 "Shortcut", it's only ~20 miles less to Lincoln, but over 2 hours closer. And there really is only one good way to get there: 15->70->76->80.

And Google maps shows South Pas to Packwood as about 1100 miles, vs 1490 miles to Lincoln, although the time difference is only 4 hours, or even less if you take into account 400 more miles of CA at the 55mph towing speed limit going to Packwood.

For Marshall, who starts 50 miles east of you, it's 300 miles and 3 hours.

[Jason Rhoades]

The drive up to Washington and back is pretty nice, but I think the drive through Utah and Colorado will trump it. There's also the "sneak peek" at Lincoln factor. Would be best to not need to do either though.

Anybody in the know have a best-guess as to what will happen about an Alameda replacement? El Toro 2? Wendover, Castle, ???

[Steve Ekstrand]

I'm bummed they put Lincoln in May. I would imagine they wanted some time to evaluate how the site handled a national event.

But if it was in august it would fill like a DC event. And local storage lots would be packed.

Glad Nationals is earlier. Driving Avard's Protege back over 70 in the snow on 2/32nds Flaken 215's was a little stressful.

Though a week earlier would have solved the school issues....

[David Avard]

Glad Nationals is earlier. Driving Avard's Protege back over 70 in the snow on 2/32nds Flaken 215's was a little stressful.

It's only a week earlier than when you did that (2003). Are you sure you were on the Falkens? In 2002, we drove out on different tires. Did you have no room in the car with all your stuff?

Though a week earlier would have solved the school issues....

A week earlier would have also solved the football/hotel room issue as well (rooms will be tight on Friday/Saturday nights due to football games).

Of course, the local hotels have figured out that we'll be there as well, raising prices by the same amount as they do for football games (at one hotel, rates have gone from $60 to $90 a night for the whole week of Nationals, which previously only charged more on Friday and Saturday nights for the football crowd.) Nice to know that the city of Lincoln is taking advantage of having an extra 1000 people in motels that week.

[Aaron Goldsmith]

Of course, the local hotels have figured out that we'll be there as well, raising prices by the same amount as they do for football games (at one hotel, rates have gone from $60 to $90 a night for the whole week of Nationals, which previously only charged more on Friday and Saturday nights for the football crowd.) Nice to know that the city of Lincoln is taking advantage of having an extra 1000 people in motels that week.

Crap, guess I should get one of thems.

[Steve Ekstrand]

I wish they would frickin make a decision on RV's...

[David Avard]

Of course, the local hotels have figured out that we'll be there as well, raising prices by the same amount as they do for football games (at one hotel, rates have gone from $60 to $90 a night for the whole week of Nationals, which previously only charged more on Friday and Saturday nights for the football crowd.) Nice to know that the city of Lincoln is taking advantage of having an extra 1000 people in motels that week.

Crap, guess I should get one of thems.

It would probably help to know which days you are running, of course if you are running in a class other than ST (formerly STS), you can probably figure that it will be opposite last year. I just booked for the entire week (except for the Pro Finale, as that involved the two most expensive days).

[Christine Grice]

Alameda has been replaced with Wendover a week later (4/25-26/09)

http://www.scca.com/contentpage.aspx?content=57" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.sccabb.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7732&PN=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Can you imagine Wendover in April? It might actually be "pleasent"

[Steve Ekstrand]

Isn't late April the windy time of year???

But yeah, the drive up through Nevada will be spectacular with the snowy mountains.

[Max Hayter]

Did I mention that I won $600 on the slots at Wendover last year?

I really enjoyed Wendover, but the heat was just unbelievable. A late April event seems much more pleasant. For you WW2 buffs, there is the hanger where the Enola Gay was stored, some old WW2 barracks and some plane from a movie with John Travolta just sitting there.

[Christine Grice]

Last year we just got the heat, normally there is the heat and a Fontana style wind. I always call it a blast furnace. But april might be kinda nice as opposed to july or august.

[Steve Ekstrand]

Wendover weather

Month Avg Hi Avg Lo Rain Record high Record Low
April 61.0° F 40.0° F 0.48 in 89.0° F(04/12/1934) 19.0° F (04/04/1950)
May 71.0° F 49.0° F 0.82 in 99.0° F(05/30/2003) 26.0° F (05/17/1999)



I might need to make sure teh propane tanks are full to run the furnace!!!

[Sebastian Rios]

Alameda has been replaced with Wendover a week later (4/25-26/09)

http://www.scca.com/contentpage.aspx?content=57" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.sccabb.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7732&PN=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Can you imagine Wendover in April? It might actually be "pleasent"

YES!

[Will Kalman]

... and some plane from a movie with John Travolta just sitting there.

I hope someone stops by to feed him once in a while.

[Tom Berry]

Here's the latest !!

Alameda pro is dead for sure...

However.... one week later, in Wendober Utah will be a Pro.... April 25th and 26th
put on by folks from Utah, Idaho, and Northwest regions.

More details to follow.
Tom