Rapid Racing Blog

From The Seat
Greg Wright
Rapid Racing Inc.

As this is being written the holiday season is breathing down my neck and as I look out the window from the palatial World Headquarters of Rapid Racing I see about ten inches of snow on the ground.   At first glance it would seem that racing season is far, far away but the truth is here in the Midwest at least we should be testing in as little as ten weeks. Maybe it’s time to get ready; time is growing short really fast.    This time of the year is a good time to think and reflect (both dangerous things for me I know.) Reflect on this past season and its many highs and lows and what to do about them.    More importantly it is time to think about where the sport is heading and how to deal with the future of an evolving sport.      There is a lot of talk every winter about what’s right and what’s wrong with kart racing. The problems aren’t hard to identify but the solutions? Well that’s another matter! One of the subjects that keeps coming up is how do we get new people into our favorite form of motorsport. The answer to that is simple, we have to quit preaching to the choir and get the message out to motorsports enthusiasts rather than just telling each other. A good example of this would be the recent Stars All-Star race held in conjunction with the annual PRI (Performance Racing Industry) Trade Show in Orlando in early December.    This event put karting in front of tens of thousands of motorsports aficionados, exactly the market we are looking for. The PRI show also is a great example of what a motorsports based industry can do if they all pull together. What I feel might be the bigger problem is how to keep new racers in the fold. I think I just might know at least part of the answer. EDUMACATION!! Yep! Edumacation (don’t bother to look that one up) is the answer. I feel that the sport has actually done a reasonable job of getting new folks involved but where we have failed is to educate them on the realities of racing. For example, recently I talked with a NCMP spec Tag racer who was selling out. When asked why he told me that the reason he had chosen this class was because everyone has the same equipment but now guys are adjusting their carburetors and changing the flex length and he was sick of it and was through. I was totally dumbstruck and couldn’t come up with a reply at all. This ex kart racer was no dummy, but we as a racing community failed to educate him.    We need to educate any and all new racers that; 1. Racing isn’t easy 2. Racing isn’t cheap 3. Racing isn’t always safe 4. Racing isn’t always fair 5. Hard work pays off 6. Talent and experience count 7. Things break 8. S**t happens 9. It’s not all motor 10. Instant gratification ain’t gonna happen If we don’t make these points with newbies to the sport we can’t expect them to stay around any more than the two to three years that seems to be the norm. On the mechanical front TaG seems to be on a route to success although I expect it to eventually consolidate to a smaller number of manufacturers. I also would not be surprised if a single engine TAG type class (Example, Parilla Leopard) springs up and becomes huge.   Stock Moto, from here on out to be called Spec Honda is the only way to put growth back into shifter racing. The recent rule discussions have come up with no nonsense, user friendly set of parameters that avoid the often misused term stock. Stock is nothing more than a concept, no two of anything are identical nor will they perform identically. This concept of what is or isn’t stock is what has haunted the TAG rules to a huge extent but common sense is slowly coming to bear. The cost of building and maintaining a Modified moto or ICC engine has finally gone over the top and the affordable but still blazing fast Spec Honda shifter will no doubt define the future of shifter racing. What will 2008 bring? Good question, but I anticipate continued growth in TAG and Stock Moto/Spec Honda. I also would not be surprised to see a resurgence of 100cc racing particularly if the disparity between the US Dollar and the Euro doesn’t start going the other way. The exchange rate is causing prices to rise dramatically and hopefully some policy changes will ease this up a bit. In the meanwhile just to be safe we had better not throw our KT100 Yamaha tools away. Well that’s enough ranting and raving for this month. Oh yeah and the mysterious Gooseman (?) says hey. 
‘Til next time Race Hard, Race Safe, and God Bless America 

This Saturday April, 19th the Purdue Grand Prix will run its last race at the current track. Rapid Racing has been involved with this fine event for many years and has several Yamaha engines in this year’s field including the pole setter. Rapid Racing wishes all the competitors the best of luck and a dry race day!