July 8th: 1st Annual Modern Automotive Performance Proving Grounds

[v8klla]

After extensive communication with Al Corda, the owner of Rock Falls Raceway, we were informed that the structure of our event does not comply with their track rental agreement in regards to charging people to attend a private event. As such we are not in a position to rent the track without charging said fees and have been forced to cancel the event.

I want to assure you that we did everything in our power to avoid having to cancel the event we all worked so hard to organize. Throughout my conversation with Al I stressed the power of the internet and online communities in regards to attendance and interest in the event. I pointed out the vast number of new potential customers that would be attending and conveyed to him the number of people that had never heard of Rock Falls Raceway. I conveyed the number of forums that were embracing this event as their own and my opinion regarding the tremendous marketing value such an event would have for Rock Falls Raceway. I even offered to cover the remainder of the fees for any amount of cars less than 150 as we were very confident in regards to attendance, but to no avail.

For those that are interested in the position of Rock Falls Raceway regarding this event I will do my best to explain Al’s thoughts. The major reason for his decision is his feeling that our event would adversely affect attendance of his future events like the sport compact day on July 28th. I tried my best to explain that the majority of those attending our event would either still attend the event on the 28th or would never have attended at all. I feel that our event would have had great success based upon the support of local forums and our customer base, not simply because it was another race day at Rock Falls. He also conveyed his dismay with the fact that this conversation occurred at the very last minute, which is based on a simple misunderstanding regarding the terms of the rental which was not realize until recently. He feels that the event was not appropriately advertised and that Rock Falls would not have control over the event and as such their reputation could be marred based on lack of attendance. I once again stressed the power of the internet as well as the marketing and advertising ourselves and the supporting forums had done for the event, but to no avail. Our conversation ended when Al had decided that the risks to his reputation and future events were greater than the marketing benefits of our event.

In a final effort I recommended that we change the structure of the event so that Rock Falls Raceway would collect and charge for attending, but based upon the above states reasons this was not a possibility.

I would like to personally apologize to the forums and individuals that were looking forward to attending this event, and I urge you to visit the following link:

http://www.petitiononline.com/mappg/petition.html

The purpose of this petition is to convey to Rock Falls Raceway to power of the internet and online automotive communities. Perhaps we can persuade Al to reconsider if we can show him enough interest in the event.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and again I am very sorry it came to this.

Chris Carey

[A//// Guy]

That really blows... Petition signed.

[Swifty1638]

Wow.

-A. Swift

[TkrPerformance]

well a big fuck you to them for this. Aly took off work. I paided extra to get pte to rebuild my turbo in a day and get it back to me fast.

This is a big mistake for RF. This would have been my first time going, as i assume it would have been others first time as well. For him to talk about his reputation i think is a little extream. Now he will be getting no business on the 8th instead of some. This was going to be a fun day where people would have been able to get more that just 1 or 2 runs in. Even tho i didnt, i know a lot of people put a lot of last min money into their cars for this.

[v8klla]

Again guys this is partially our fault, I assumed they knew we were charging and they assumed that we weren't. I wish we had found out sooner, we were really looking forward to this...

[Swifty1638]

So charge. Tell them to, or you guys charge. Someone's gotta make money. Not like they've got anything else scheduled that sunday! Shit.

-A. Swift

[TkrPerformance]

I tihnk I can say that most of us on here dont go to the sport compact days because we want more runs and a preped track. I would not want to be there all day and get in a few runs when most of the cars that go are in the 14's or higher

[carltalon]

Petition signed. I was really looking forward to this event. I agree with TKR I cant stand sport compact days.

[v8klla]

Please keep the feedback coming guys, I will be forwarding the petition and links to the forums to Al in the next few days in hopes of a last ditch reconsideration...

Chris

[EclipseGST]

"Can we agree that your car is a piece of shit"?

Famous words from Al himself when we tried to test the parachute on the back of the corsica. Sure the car looks like shit, but what if we tried to get the car to look like that? And it was for the same fucking reason as well.

I highly doubt I would have been ready for this race but I still would have came and watched. Its fucking pathetic when they pull this shit.

Hey Al... Can we agree you, your track, and rules are a piece of shit?

They just lost any business I would have gave them. Looks like Tri-state and Cedar Falls it is.

Petition signed for everyone else.

[TkrPerformance]

I would just tell them you are not taking any money for it now. and just get every one that want to go paypal you or stop by the shop to cover it. Sence it is not to make money on this at all just for everyone to go and do somthing fun on sunday.

[Swifty1638]

I can say that with as few runs on sport compact day as most get, I won't be in attendance. I guess Brainerd will be my track on wednesday evenings.

-A. Swift

[EclipseGST]

Shit... You could collect money out on the highway from people driving up. You arent collecting it at the track. Who's to say you cant collect it before hand or out on the street somewhere?

[niterydr]

I can see both sides on this topic.
It sucks but Al does not want anyone profiting on his track.
MAP doesn't want to have to shell out the $2k or whatever to "rent" the track for the day.

In the end, I think a lack of communication and understanding lead to the breakdown of this event.

Has anyone talked to Cedar Falls or Tri-state about track rental?
BIR?
Or as other people have mentioned, cover the track rental and ask for donations incongnito .
Good luck guys, I would have loved to see this event happen.

[Kracka]

Originally Posted by niterydr

I can see both sides on this topic.
It sucks but Al does not want anyone profiting on his track.
.

Chris told RF that he was willing to give them the profit (if any) they make off the admission price. He is doing nothing to RF except bringing in business and revenue that otherwise wouldn't exist.

[v8klla]

Originally Posted by niterydr

I can see both sides on this topic.
It sucks but Al does not want anyone profiting on his track.
MAP doesn't want to have to shell out the $2k or whatever to "rent" the track for the day.

In the end, I think a lack of communication and understanding lead to the breakdown of this event.

Has anyone talked to Cedar Falls or Tri-state about track rental?
BIR?
Or as other people have mentioned, cover the track rental and ask for donations incongnito .
Good luck guys, I would have loved to see this event happen.

As Hughes pointed out I am not trying to make a profit here, simply get some advertising time and set up an event for our customers and friends. I offered to let him collect and keep all of the proceeds, but he declined. I even offered to guarantee him a certain number of racers and pay the difference in the event that attendance was not up to expectations, but to no avail. And it wasn't necessarily a lack of communication, but a misunderstanding that was not realized until the final written contract arrived.

Oh, and it was $3750 to rent the track

Chris

[curt_gendron]

What a piss poor business decsion by Rock Falls. This will just give them another black eye.

I remember talking to a guy last year that put on my new roof on my house about Rock Falls. He is an old muscle car guy that knows Al for the last 20 years. He had nothing good to say about Rock Falls and the way it is managed. I guess this latest development just adds to it.

later,
Curt

[niterydr]

Originally Posted by v8klla

As Hughes pointed out I am not trying to make a profit here, simply get some advertising time and set up an event for our customers and friends. I offered to let him collect and keep all of the proceeds, but he declined. I even offered to guarantee him a certain number of racers and pay the difference in the event that attendance was not up to expectations, but to no avail. And it wasn't necessarily a lack of communication, but a misunderstanding that was not realized until the final written contract arrived.

Oh, and it was $3750 to rent the track

Chris

$3750, ouch.

I wasn't saying you were trying to make a profit, but I was mearly pointing out his point of view to all the people yelling to "burn him at the stake".

Lack of communication, missunderstanding due to not having anything in writing before planning the event, same deal...the communication lines broke down.

I don't see why he feels threatened about the sport compact days, I mean hell they do have a whopping 6 this year? (pathetic)

Maybe we should get a bunch of the local shops together and put together a MN shootout at a different track this next season?

[v8klla]

Originally Posted by niterydr

$3750, ouch.

I wasn't saying you were trying to make a profit, but I was mearly pointing out his point of view to all the people yelling to "burn him at the stake".

Lack of communication, missunderstanding due to not having anything in writing before planning the event, same deal...the communication lines broke down.

I don't see why he feels threatened about the sport compact days, I mean hell they do have a whopping 6 this year? (pathetic)

Maybe we should get a bunch of the local shops together and put together a MN shootout at a different track this next season?

I agree that the events this year are few and far between. Al shared his thoughts on scheduling with me and informed me that especially in the hot summer months he feels that having too many events would result in poor attendance. I tried to explain that the reason many of us don't attend is that there are too many cars and not enough chances to run, but he is pretty set in his ways.

But yes next year we should arrange something...

Chris