National Events At AMP

[Nokones]

After giving this some thought and time to formulate a response myself on the question raised last night, the subject of holding a National Solo event at AMP came up, why don't we (PASR) hold an event, and the response was, some of the inherited site restrictions outlined in the Use Permit may not be favorable in the Eyes of the National Solo Department. I don't believe that the site restrictions would  be the limiting factor(s) for the National Solo Department to not approve an event at AMP.

Although, there will be challenges to overcome for holding an Event at AMP, anything is doable, if a good team of doers want to put a strong effort into making it happen.

In my almost 40 years of experience in this sport, attending National events (Divisionals before National Tours, National Tours, Match Tours, Pro Solos, and Solo and Pro Solo Nationals) throughout the Country, I have seen smaller sized sites and attendance cap restrictions at numerous National events.

If my memory serves me right and based on my experience as being an Event Chair numerous times for past events of this magnitude, a Past Chair of a National Solo committee, being a Speciality Chief in various positions and the understanding what are the expectations of how the National Solo Department conducts business, at least in the past, and now that they deploy a contingent of Event staff and equipment to National Solo Events, there was, and I'm sure there still is, a minimum number of entrants that have to be met before they cancel an event, and I believe that minimum was and may still be 125, probably for economic/cost-effectiveness reasons.

I believe that there are several options that the Region could explore in pre-planning for a National Event and to help keep the attendance below the permitted number of allowed attendants on site.  A couple thoughts are, the event could be held during the work week instead a weekend, during the winter months like January. I don't believe holding an event in the late spring or summer in the hot weather months would discourage many since I seen National events held in areas jn the summer where the weather was a lot worst than our summer heat.

Also, I believe the National Solo Department may cover the Event expenses such as the site fee, security cost, and any other related event expenses. The Region only needs to do is the planning effort, do the local leg work before and up to the event, and put together a team to staff the setup crews and various event speciality chief positions. The National Solo Department will bring the timing and scoring,  public address equipment and systems and I believe the cones.

I think the Region should explore this possibility of holding a National Event at AMP and see if the National Department is interested and let them say no instead of the Region assuming that they would say no. 

The PASR Board should entertain/support the suggestion made last night and initiate action to explore the possibility of holding such an event locally for the PASR members.

PASR members needs to know, the entry fees to National Events are not the normal $35.00 reg fee and you get at least 4 runs and there will be fun runs later in the day. The reg fee will be in the neighborhood of $130-140 and you only get 3 runs on each day and no fun runs later in the day however, if you place good in your class you will be recognized in front of the competitors and get some hardware to take home and place on the wall and be proud of.

Members, would a reg fee of such be acceptable to you so you can compete and maybe collect some National hardware and/or get whupped by an out-of-town National caliber competitor?

Edited December 1, 2022 by Nokones

[freakin_elrod]

Ken thanks for posting this. I don't nearly have the years of experience that you have, but I have been autocrossing for over a decade with some national experience as well. This was one question that I've asked in the past and even trolled it on here from time to time, but I do believe that this region is more than capable to support such an event, even if it was something like a match tour that the SCCA did away with.

I'm curious as to what the answer would be if someone actually asked the national office now as I'm sure it wouldn't just be a simple yes or no answer but yet something detailed with what would be needed on the regions end. 

I agree with the take on the current site inherited info in that every site has some kind of stipulation as to what they must meet and really it's all dependant on whether or not both parties can come to terms with regards to holding the event. 

I for one would be willing to help as I'm sure a few others would, in potentially landing a national event here. One things for sure, meeting minimum entrants wouldn't be a problem here.

Edited December 1, 2022 by freakin_elrod

[Zuko305]

Sounds exciting. I'll help in my usual capacity.

I believe there may be a contractual restriction with the maximum number of persons allowed on site at any given time and why we've not hosted one previously. 200 people max rings a bell. Kim or Kevin will have better details. Farmington, NM hosted a few of these and that site is no bigger than AMP. 

I'm sure with careful oversight, we can limit the site to the appropriate restrictions. 

Ken, pick a date in 2024 and lets get the powers that be to identify and overcome obstacles to hosting a national event. 

Ben Z

[Nokones]

SCCA Rio Grande Regon has hosted several National Events both Tours and Pro Solos at McGee Park in the past. McGee is definitely a nice site and the County will let people leave their trailers on-site and camp overnight. Road Runner PCA Region also hosts events at McGee. Farmington is less than a day's drive and the weather is cooler than here in the summer and I try to make their events when our Region is on the summer break.

[jw1]

A few years ago I had an agreement from Howard to bring an event to AMP in October, but once we were unable to overcome the 200 person limit it was a no go.    It is a restriction from the county, not from AMP itself.   Hopefully it is has changed, but I would be surprised if it has.

[Nokones]

12 hours ago, jw1 said:

A few years ago I had an agreement from Howard to bring an event to AMP in October, but once we were unable to overcome the 200 person limit it was a no go.    It is a restriction from the county, not from AMP itself.   Hopefully it is has changed, but I would be surprised if it has.

Jeff:

The max number of total people on the entire AMP property is the same.  Years ago, I've seen a max cap limiting the number of entrants for a National Tour. If my memory serves me right, I think the limit was 185 for some reason and I guess it may have to do with the physical size of the site.

Another challenge may be the subject of leaving trailers on-site overnight.

Edited December 5, 2022 by Nokones

[SEymann]

We have not seriously considered some of the other sites (like Attessa) because they are prohibitively expensive for a local event. The economics are quite different when talking about a National Tour Event.  We could consider other sites.

[Kim Kemper]

please keep in mind that if a autox road course is considered, for other sites like Attessa, we do not have an approved course map in place and will require DSSS process and approval 

[jw1]

Kenny,

The problem wasn't with the number of entrants, but we also had to consider friends and family for the attendees.    With national events the number of non-entrants is much higher than local events.

[Nokones]

8 hours ago, SEymann said:

We have not seriously considered some of the other sites (like Attessa) because they are prohibitively expensive for a local event. The economics are quite different when talking about a National Tour Event.  We could consider other sites.

Hmmm

[SEymann]

6 hours ago, Kim said:

please keep in mind that if a autox road course is considered, for other sites like Attessa, we do not have an approved course map in place and will require DSSS process and approval 

I shouldn’t have mentioned Attessa. I thought they had a large parking lot. The point is we should consider other sites that aren’t in the conversation for local events. 

[CMarkmann]

13 hours ago, Nokones said:

Another challenge may be the subject of leaving trailers on-site overnight.

NASA used to permit people to leave trailers on site overnight at AMP as recently as 3 years ago when I ran with them. You just had to let them know ahead of time during registration, and pay them a fee associated with them hiring an overnight security guard.

[Nokones]

8 hours ago, CMarkmann said:

NASA used to permit people to leave trailers on site overnight at AMP as recently as 3 years ago when I ran with them. You just had to let them know ahead of time during registration, and pay them a fee associated with them hiring an overnight security guard.

That's good to know. Thank you.