rdcyclist said:In reply to ThatsNoUsername :
Nope. San Jose, CA. 2700 miles to Gainesville. I hope when I finally make it out there someone doesn't drive from Eastern Washington...
......i may destroy your dreams there.
rdcyclist said:In reply to ThatsNoUsername :
Nope. San Jose, CA. 2700 miles to Gainesville. I hope when I finally make it out there someone doesn't drive from Eastern Washington...
......i may destroy your dreams there.
In reply to ThatsNoUsername :
Hope should not be considered a viable course of action...
I have A car, probably needs a couple things , kinda ran out of money , well under budget and,
I might not be good Looking,
BUT, I SURE CAN DANCE
Time and logistics for me just don’t work. I really want to go but owning and running a company makes it difficult. What little time I have is spent with my wife and kids.
Stefan said:Mndsm said:For those playing along at home- they did do a west coast one once. It was won by a hybrid fiero. That was also the only car that showed up.
And every berkeleying time you bring that up, you don’t flesh that out with the rest of the issues surrounding that event.
1) it wasn’t put on them, but by another group who completely dropped the ball. They didn’t even know anything about The Challenge when he showed up!
2) the economy took a huge dump and many people were hurting (me included as I was out of work for 6 months), especially on the West Coast.
3) There were other issues, but none of which should stop another event from happening today.
so maybe, just maybe you should shut up about that as it doesn’t really pertain to the present conversation as GRM has said that they’ll never allow another group to put on an event of theirs again.
Dude...easy. it was one anecdote about one thing, that happened one time. Telling me to shut up isnt really an effective communication tool.
There is nothing that can get me to go, and that really isn't your fault or the tracks or anyone related to the Challenge. Essentially I Mofo'd myself. I took on far more than I can chew at one sitting and it has come back to bite me. I have 80% of the necessary components here, in the garage or yards. I have been working 7 day weeks, building another garage to clear out space for the Panhard, paying for a wedding coming up in June, and buying a terrible tow vehicle.
All in all I blew it again.
So without making any promises or unrealistic proclamations I hope 2019 will be a different story.
Conflict with SEDiv SCCA race weekends has been an issue most years - including 2018.
Anyone need some cheese?
There's a lot of wine in this thread.
JmfnB said:There is nothing that can get me to go, and that really isn't your fault or the tracks or anyone related to the Challenge. Essentially I Mofo'd myself. I took on far more than I can chew at one sitting and it has come back to bite me. I have 80% of the necessary components here, in the garage or yards. I have been working 7 day weeks, building another garage to clear out space for the Panhard, paying for a wedding coming up in June, and buying a terrible tow vehicle.
All in all I blew it again.
So without making any promises or unrealistic proclamations I hope 2019 will be a different story.
At least you're not blaming it on someone or something else!
Robbie said:At least you're not blaming it on someone or something else!
Yeah, I own my failures. Kinda have to.
Take up an office collection to pay off my credit card debt that i racked up building the Datsun and attending $2015-$2016-$2017?
The shirt you guys sent me is badass, btw. See you at $2019(or maybe PRI)
just don’t let a potentially bad turnout this year be the end, because we’re coming for blood next year. Whose blood I don’t know. Hopefully not mine, and hopefully it’s just a little scrape, but I want blood.
I am actually part of the way to my 2019 entry (first timer) so I hope this year doesn’t end things.
In 2016 I drove my Challenge car over 2,000 miles round trip from the Midwest, a mere 10 days after replacing the engine with an unknown junkyard unit. I took 2 days off work for the trip and had been planning to do so all year.
If you really want to go to the Challenge, you will make room in your life for it. But based on the answers in this thread, the level of 'want' is inversely proportional to distance from the event, which is completely understandable. If the Challenge was in California, there's no way I would ever go, and therefore I would not be building Datsaniti right now.
It's always a touchy subject talking about changing the venue to a more centralized like Missouri or somewhere like that, and I totally get the arguments on all sides. But at the end of the day, it's the magazine's event and we can participate if we really want to.
Hoping to be there next year.
Tom Suddard said:For the parking lot build, go ahead and register it now. That keeps things way easier for all involved.
Parking lot build is REGISTERED!
Edit: also just realized I may have an extra banquet ticket because I am entering the saab and the PLB. First dibs will go to someone working hard on the parking lot build car, but just throwing it out there.
maschinenbau said:In 2016 I drove my Challenge car over 2,000 miles round trip from the Midwest, a mere 10 days after replacing the engine with an unknown junkyard unit. I took 2 days off work for the trip and had been planning to do so all year.
If you really want to go to the Challenge, you will make room in your life for it. But based on the answers in this thread, the level of 'want' is inversely proportional to distance from the event, which is completely understandable. If the Challenge was in California, there's no way I would ever go, and therefore I would not be building Datsaniti right now.
It's always a touchy subject talking about changing the venue to a more centralized like Missouri or somewhere like that, and I totally get the arguments on all sides. But at the end of the day, it's the magazine's event and we can participate if we really want to.
You are not wrong. I was planning on coming this year but our wedding is a few days after and i have people flying from halfway around the world, it was planned before the date for the Challenge came out.
Next year our plan is a long road trip vacation with the challenge in the middle. 6000 ish miles round trip
I think the event really needs more drag racers. I don’t know how many low dollar drag races there are, but a quarter miles is a quarter mile everywhere. It is easier to compare to other vehicles. It is the reason we love 0-60 and quarter miles times, it’s a standard we all know.
For the most part autocross has been a very stick to the rules sport where drag racing can have a very open rule set like the challenge.
Maybe try to cosponsor with motor trend or hot rod.
I'll be there spectating and looking to steal ideas to incorporate in my $2019 build.
For anyone who has never been, it's a fun time even if you don't bring a car. Try it, you'll like it.
Reasons - all of equal level of bitch-out-ness
Basically, while I love the struggle (the $1500 challenge issue was what got me as a subscriber and I have been a constant subscriber since that issue came out), the realization is that I would be hard pressed to ever field a top 10 car without sacrificing things I am not willing to sacrifice.
Having the event outside of the traditional school year would be huge. Until the kids are old enough to look after themselves, the timing of the event has never worked out for me.
If course, then we're talking about Florida in the high summer months, and that might turn people off, too.
As it stands, I may just try to convince my wife to let me combine my dream Florida fishing trip with a Challenge run. It'd be two bucket list items at once.
In reply to 93gsxturbo :
I’m one guy in a two car garage. Yes it is well equipped and i have nice tools and I learned how to weld when i was 12. I am a father and a husband and my family time is important to me. I was on the podium last year. I understand the competitive part, I don’t want to ever be outside the top 10. My first year i had a rotten trailer that barely fit the car and my truck broke in Florida and had to fix it on the side of the road. I have a good truck and trailer now. Wisconsin is farther than Cleveland from florida, and it’s a long haul over 2 days for us with kids.
Everyone has their reasons to go or not, you don’t need to justify them to anyone.
If anyone has pit pictures, it looks way more like your local test and tune night than professional operations. There are a few popup tents and folding tables and a handful of big diesel trucks with enclosed trailers but mostly open trailers with well used trucks or cars just driven to the event.
In reply to 93gsxturbo :
I'll disagree on several of the points you made and agree on others. I'm daily driving the car I finished 8th in last year, my first year. In real terms I currently have $1800 in it. I'm building my 2019 car in my garage using a chop saw and tubing from Craiglist and a Sears Craftsman welder. The top teams don't have fancy shops that I'm aware of. It won't be a class legal SCCA autocrosser, but it will serve to have fun autocrossing anyway. It's the first car I've ever built, rather than assembled from parts. I fully expect to have less than $2K (exclusive of tires) of real money it in when done. There will be lots of my time in it. Will I beat the top 4 or 5 teams? Don't know until I try. I'm in Michigan, that's closer than you, but not a lot. Last year I used my 23 year old trailer and rented a truck to tow down to Gainesville. Yes, that was almost $1,000 in rental and gas. I wasn't expecting to do well, just get to play. If you have never been you owe it to yourself to come down and spectate. It's like a free hit of heroine.I'll bet your opinion will change.
One more reason to come play/spectate/enter........I can roll into the parking lot and be greeted by Calvin, Andrew, John, Patrick, Paul, Cameron, Stampie, Pete, Steve, Lonnie and many more.....people I consider friends now that I've been to the event a few times (only once with a car). Please don't talk yourself out of being part of it.
My Car WANTS TO GO, I WANT TO GO, I figure it will cost about the same to go, as I spent this year on the car, to get there.
next year fer sure.
Spent the morning at AMP, Man that is a lot of track in a itty bitty space, I like it.
measured the distance to track from my house 18.5 miles, come here and we can drag on the road to my house with a 3 mile straight, IT'S N.Georgia though so straight but up and down and only a couple hundred feet elev. change. Hah.
In reply to 93gsxturbo :
Last year I came down with Saul Goode Racing, all questions about this event will be answered AT the event by yourself. I am pretty upset I can't bring my car I bet 50 people said 'just come and see' , 50 times I answered with one of your reasons. just come check it out you will be back. and it will be there for the 20th
BRETT M. THIS WEEK KIDS HERE ARE OUT OF SCHOOL FOR THE WEEK, this could be a good date but likely not a nationwide thing
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