There are a fair number of people voicing their opinions on-line and at WI hare scramble events about how the racing has been this past season. Its my opinion that two clear topics of discussion have surfaced throughout the year – that the races are poorly attended and that the two series don’t get along.
There are several bi-products of the low race attendance – it makes it look like the sport is dying, the venues hosting and the people promoting the races don’t make any money, the racers don’t compete against all of the riders in the region and rider’s sponsors don’t get the return on their investment that they should. These points are the same for both series; it makes sense to me that there needs to be a better game plan for 2010 so that no one suffers as they have in 2009.
The reason two series don’t get along is beyond me. Seems to me that WIXC would benefit from the structure and power of the AMA and the D16 series would be better off using the WIXC venue connections. The reason they are now separate is a matter of ego, and the riders (and in my case, my sponsors) are the victims.
While I agree that multiple series can exist, I believe that we don’t have enough woods riders in WI, the UP and neighboring states that regularly compete in hare scramble events to have parallel series. If we had 300 rider lines like IL has or a series with the maturity of the OMA, it would be a different story. D16 and WIXC need to remember that without the riders, they don’t exist. Thinking that you can run a successful series with half the number or participants that you had in 2008 isn’t great business sense.
Judging by the timing of when the race schedules needs to be set, this might be preventing better cooperation between the two series. This is a perfect example of how the main players need to put egos and politics aside and map out a schedule of events that makes sense for the riders and promoters. Firming up a WI hare scramble calendar of events probably has more leeway than we are lead to believe. Discussing options on an open table is the best way to find out.
So, although the economy might improve enough to get some riders and their families back and the D16 organizers will have a year under their belt to have learned from and the WIXC series will have located new venues to race at, 2010 will again be a bust if something isn’t done. The root of the issue is that WIXC doesn’t like the politics of D16. There may be no way to get one series back in WI because of this but there certainly can be a better way of doing things than how it is now. Perhaps the two series can have more shared venues/events rather than trying hard to not overlap? The series should share the resource we have rather than hoard them.
Here is my suggestion: we invite any and all – riders, organizers, sponsors, race venue owners, D16 reps, WIXC reps, etc – to attend a meeting at a venue in central WI (hotel, casino, where ever). We listen to the issues that everyone has and we work to finding a solution for 2010. I think the meeting could be too heated to be productive so I think we should have a person to mediate; a person that has no invested interest in our situation. (It would be easy to find a local law student that wants debate practice.)
I’m all ears and willing to help organize a meeting. SOON!
Scott – (920) 390-9136
