Conductor562 Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 Well, yesterday was day one at our first Nationals and it was both promising and disappointing. She was a little intimidated from the get go as she was the only "Rookie" on the card. The track was huge compared to most of our regional tracks and much more difficult as its set up strictly for the pros. The competition isn't really superior to what we're used to, but every kid on the track is a hot shot where at home it's always a couple that stand out from the others. Not superior competition, just more of it. We ran after the pro qualifiers, so the track was in pretty rough shape for the smaller bikes by our race. As a new comer she got the crap lane, but she still managed to get the holeshot. She took the first turn way too wide and dropped to 3rd. She picked it back up to second we heard a loud pop and everyone started going around her dropping her back to 11th. She got off the bike because she thought she'd blown the motor :mad:As it turns out, her exhaust fell off. She got back on, ran like hell from wayyyy back and finished in 6th. While 6th in your rookie run isn't too shabby, it's disappointing because she out rode everyone. The fastest lap by the winner was like 3:07, but hers was 2:57, the fastest lap of the race. She bested the winners best lap by a full :10. Here's the head scratcher. The team down the row said he saw a couple of guys checking her bike out when no one was around. How do both exhaust nuts (both checked and loctited on before we left) come off at the same time on the first lap? I dunno what happened, but I bet they don't come off tomorrow. She made an impression. After the race she got invited to be the guest of honor (customarily extended to the winner from what we're told) at the pro autograph tent. She got to hang out with the pros, got a bunch of free swag, and had a bunch of professionals telling her how awesome she was and assuring her she should have won. She also got the holeshot award which netted her $100 and some more swag. She had the time of her life, but now her head is 3 times to big for her body 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conductor562 Posted August 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 WE WON!!!!!!She got the holeshot again, rode flawless, and led every lap! She won't have a points championship because this is her first nationals race of the season, but she beat the best girls in the nation in her rookie event. Next season I'm biting the bullet, getting her to enough races, and going for a national championship. She outride the competition and still has 2 years left in her class. I'm pretty damn proud of her right now! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kruton Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 Congrats to her man! That is very impressive.Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbw55 Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 Congrats on the win, a great confidence builder for her.....the odds of both bolts falling off on the first lap is pretty slim to none, I could see a few laps in but not on the first lap. Unfortunately there seems to be a few bad individuals out there and you may need to have someone baby sit the bike when your not around. I raced late models for 15 years and all sorts of crap like this would go on.....we always had one of our crew members with the car at all times. Anyway you both enjoy your win and many more to you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comp56 Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 a win is a win.....savor it......congrats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicholasShetley Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 She kicked butt Conductor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR99 Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 That is awesome Conductor. While you can't prove anything with the exhaust you have to watch it around other parents. Some parents take any sort of kids competition way too serious now. There have been some pretty crazy stories on the news about parents fighting, or other crazy crap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigmikez Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 BIG CONGRATS Conductor!! Her father taught her well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conductor562 Posted August 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2015 I hope you some videos on you've this week. She did awesome!If we can find more cash sponsors, we're going for the points Championship next year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WigWagWorkshop Posted August 11, 2015 Report Share Posted August 11, 2015 Congratulations! Have you thought about trying to get some sponsors through Patreon? Not sure how much you need to raise, but I would throw in a little cash. Maybe we can get the TIA crew together and help out. -Steven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conductor562 Posted August 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Congratulations! Have you thought about trying to get some sponsors through Patreon? Not sure how much you need to raise, but I would throw in a little cash. Maybe we can get the TIA crew together and help out.-StevenWe've got all our tools and equipment sponsored. The problem with the Junior classes is that's it's extremely hard to get cash sponsors. We have a local insurance company that sponsors $1200 a season, which covers our registration at the local tracks, but that doesn't touch the total price. It's like this:Entry/Admission Fees:Local tracks run anywhere from $20-$50 entry fee (per class ran) and $10-$15 per person, so even at a local track you can spend $100 a weekend to get in the gate. For a Nationals race you can figure $250-$300 if you camp (see below)Travel Expenses:These vary wildly depending on where the race is. To Tennessee we took a relatives RV. $150 each way in fuel, $300 to camp for 4 nights (hotel wasn't really an option for several reasons), plus entry fees, registration fees, and food, we spent almost $2,000 for a 4 day race plus about $300 in un-nessecery shit. That's $2300 without a single racing part or expense.Parts/Consumables:This too varies wildly. At the very least you're gonna burn $50 a weekend in race fuel, oil, and plugs. Bend a rim, axle, etc. and your at a couple hundred, blow a motor or something crazy and you may be $1500 or more just to get back on the track. Sponsorships:In the Junior classes you see mostly local businesses and parts sponsorships. Parts sponsors basically provide free labor (at their trailer and only at the race) and a 20% discount on parts. Unless it's something major, you're better off to fix it yourself most times. We're the only Juniors team that has a tool sponsor from what I've seen. It was a big help with start-up costs, but doesn't help much in the long haul.I figure a thrifty team could get by on a budget of $2000 a weekend if nothing major went wrong. There's 10 races in the series and you must run a minimum of 7 I believe to qualify for a Points Championship. But even running 7 races you'd have to run top 2 or 3 every moto to make up for missed races. It'll take probably $20,000 to run for a National Championship without any cash flow issues. I've got a couple more potential sponsors thanks to her dominant performance in the final and hope to secure $5000 in cash sponsors next season. The rest will be split between me, my father in-law, and my dad, so we can manage it. Not many kids get to win a National Championship in anything, but she's good enough to do it, and I'll do everything I can to make it possible for her. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbw55 Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 We've got all our tools and equipment sponsored. The problem with the Junior classes is that's it's extremely hard to get cash sponsors. We have a local insurance company that sponsors $1200 a season, which covers our registration at the local tracks, but that doesn't touch the total price.It's like this:Entry/Admission Fees:Local tracks run anywhere from $20-$50 entry fee (per class ran) and $10-$15 per person, so even at a local track you can spend $100 a weekend to get in the gate. For a Nationals race you can figure $250-$300 if you camp (see below)Travel Expenses:These vary wildly depending on where the race is. To Tennessee we took a relatives RV. $150 each way in fuel, $300 to camp for 4 nights (hotel wasn't really an option for several reasons), plus entry fees, registration fees, and food, we spent almost $2,000 for a 4 day race plus about $300 in un-nessecery shit. That's $2300 without a single racing part or expense.Parts/Consumables:This too varies wildly. At the very least you're gonna burn $50 a weekend in race fuel, oil, and plugs. Bend a rim, axle, etc. and your at a couple hundred, blow a motor or something crazy and you may be $1500 or more just to get back on the track.Sponsorships:In the Junior classes you see mostly local businesses and parts sponsorships. Parts sponsors basically provide free labor (at their trailer and only at the race) and a 20% discount on parts. Unless it's something major, you're better off to fix it yourself most times. We're the only Juniors team that has a tool sponsor from what I've seen. It was a big help with start-up costs, but doesn't help much in the long haul.I figure a thrifty team could get by on a budget of $2000 a weekend if nothing major went wrong. There's 10 races in the series and you must run a minimum of 7 I believe to qualify for a Points Championship. But even running 7 races you'd have to run top 2 or 3 every moto to make up for missed races.It'll take probably $20,000 to run for a National Championship without any cash flow issues. I've got a couple more potential sponsors thanks to her dominant performance in the final and hope to secure $5000 in cash sponsors next season. The rest will be split between me, my father in-law, and my dad, so we can manage it.Not many kids get to win a National Championship in anything, but she's good enough to do it, and I'll do everything I can to make it possible for her.Have you considered looking for 1-2 race sponsers.....that's what we did to balance things out. We had our full time sponsers that accounted for about half the funds needed and maybe a dozen that did 2-3 races at a time which made up the rest needed to run a full season competively. It was fairly easy finding part time sponsers as it was much more affordable and they loved seeing there company logo on a race car. What your really doing with building the sponsership is offering a form of advertising, we would participate in the small town parades, display the car at our sponsers place of business, provide there company logos on our hauler, display the car at car shows, etc.....we made arrangments to display the car at a movie theater which thosands of people saw, malls were a great place too......lot's of work but just part of taking care of business. I'm not to familar with your type of racing but these were some things that made it possible for us.....anyway best of luck with the up comming season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EEtwidget Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 Well hell. Why not have TIA spencer your team? Dan & Erick don't have to fork over money directly, they can just hype the race and chase for a championship on YouTube. The TIA members will be the real sponcer. While individually we may not have much, we can give a little. It may not be $20K, but every dollar helps keep a kids dreams alive, not to mention empowers girls. And besides, we all want to be part of a racing family Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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