Mohawk-Hudson Region SCCA -- Go Kart Night 2003
Thursday night, June 26, 2003
Mohawk Hudson Night at Victory Lane Speedway
Exit I90 #11 E
East on Rt.20 for 1 1/2 miles.
The track is on the right.
It wasn't certain that the Go Kart Night would happen at all.
The track was actually closed when we started to plan for the event as Paul Balich was not going to manage the place this season and a new operator had not yet been found. Paul, good guy that he is, decided to open the track for us so the event could be held after all.
Then there was the problem of finding a date. It had to be before the insurance expired and couldn't conflict with various driving events that Paul and others were attending. We had about five dates in mind and eventually there was only one that was feasible, Thursday night, June 26, 2003.
Since the equipment was in "moth balls", food and beverages were not going to be available. At the last minute, a new operator, Dan Jackson was found and he went to great lengths to get the place almost fully operational so that a quantity of good food, soda and ice cream was available for our event. It was too late to get the notice in the KO however. Dan basically handled the food and Paul orchestrated the festivities, chasing down and extricating spinners who occasionally became stuck on the guard rails and generally orchestrating the on track activities with great energy and enthusiasm despite the heat.
Even though it didn't rain, the
temperature was in the low nineties with high humidity. People started to arrive about 7:00 PM and the first session
went off around 7:45PM. I don't know when the event ended as I had to leave early. (My elderly MR2 had some mechanical
problems and I didn't want to risk breaking down on the road after dark).Attendance was lower this year than last. I don't know if it was the heat, the date being sandwiched between driving events and races or if Thursday is just a bad day for folks. Send me some e-mail if you didn't attend for and let me know why. This will help us organize the next event.
Racing driver attendance was down this year from last compared with the solo community attendees. Overall attendance was also down with only something like twenty five or thirty people. This is about ten to fifteen fewer than last year. Dick Stewart did his normal thing and was probably the fastest driver there. (If you want to go up against the best in the region, show up for the next one!)
Even though the timing system was not fully functional I think everyone who showed up had a great evening of fun. Ernie Riggi took a lot of pictures with his wonderful digital camera and as soon as I get them, I'll post them on the web site.
I would like to thank Paul Balich, for organizing this event at the track end, and Dan Jackson for changing his schedule for getting the facility back in operation just for us. Thanks also to the members for coming out and supporting this event.
We are considering having another event in the fall. If you have some preferences as to when would be a good date/day, please let me know.
Dave Wachtel
Activities Director/Membership Chair
webmaster@mohud-scca.org
dwachtel@acmenet.net
http://www.mohud-scca.org
Photos in the article were taken by Jim Bucci and Nancy Boice
Rides and admission are limited to SCCA members, family and guests. Rides are discounted 50% and are $2.00 for each session. The track opens for our members at 7:00 PM with the first session getting underway around 7:30 PM. Food, ice cream and soda will be available for purchase at the track. Sorry, alcoholic beverages are not permitted. Victory Lane provides picnic tables for your convenience.
Please note that this is not the date announced at the meeting. We had to reschedule to June 26 due to a conflict.
IMPORTANT NOTE - If it rains, the karts cannot be run on the oval. If Mother Nature is not cooperative, we will try to reschedule.
See you there.
Feel free to e-mail Activities Director Dave Wachtel with any questions you may have.
Our event is being operated by Mo-Hud member and competition driver Paul Balich.
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This page updated 08/13/2003 08:39 PM
Mohawk-Hudson Region SCCA / webmaster@mohud-scca.org
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