Read this from USAC karting today… It gives us a glimpse of what the near term (and likely beyond) is going to look like for events that will be help this year…
We had a great meeting at USAC HQ yesterday with all the USAC sanctioned series nationwide represented. Of course the topic was racing in 2020 post COVID-19…
The good news I have is it looks very good for the Battle at the Brickyard to be on schedule July 23-26 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway! That being said, it is highly likely there will be some different procedures in place to assure the event is as safe and as “normal” as possible (as normal as racers can be😂). Of course, this is a very fluid moment in time as we all know; things could still change for the better or worse…
Likely procedural changes will include, but not limited to:
All registration will be done online. There will be NO at-track registration.
Trailers will be spaced 6-8’ apart.
Grid rows will be spaces apart; only driver & one other person allowed on the grid for each kart.
Scales: driver only & karts will maintain an approximate 6’ distance between each while in line.
Drivers meetings will be virtual. Look for your “Friday” drivers meeting to be emailed with your entry pre-race packet in June. This will give you plenty of time to ask your questions & have them answered via social media, email, etc.
And I’m sure there will be more… USAC is working closely with ACCUS partners and tracks nationwide to best mitigate this situation along with city officials. Please follow this page and check your emails for more information to follow…
Thanks for your patience and understanding! We’ll all get through this and back to racing soon…
Also spotted this from New Castle Motorsports Park
Here we go! We have been approved to race this weekend!
Obviously, this will come with a few restrictions. We are also watching the weather closely to determine if we will be able to do this comfortably. We will make our final decision on the weather by Friday afternoon.
As mentioned previously, we will be moving our registration table, parts sales, and food sales outside of the main building. All services will be available but will be handled by runners. There will be no customers inside the main building.
Unfortunately, we are not able to have the kid karts this weekend, but we will offer a KA Junior and KA Senior exhibition class.
We will also be spacing out the grid and pit spots to maintain distance from other racers as well as leaving additional time to scale so that 6’ can be maintained in the scale line.
We do encourage those who are at greater risk to skip this event. If you attend this race, please bring the minimum number of people that you can race with. We also ask everyone in attendance to practice preventative actions.
Stay home if you are sick
Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing. If soap and water are not available, use hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands
Maintain a minimum of 6’ from those around you at all times.
Refrain from physical contact such as shaking hands or fist bumping
We are excited that we have gotten approval for this event and will be strictly enforcing the social distancing guidelines so that we are able to continue to race moving forward.
Just to reiterate, this will be a STAND-ALONE, NON-POINTS event and we encourage anyone who has reservations to skip this event
"…please bring the minimum number of people you can race with…
I’ve been wondering about this for a few weeks now. How will some tracks manage the number of people at their race if the state they are in imposes a maximum number per event.
1000 people maximum would be more than enough for a Club race, 500 would work too. Things start to get dicey if the max number drops to something like 250, which I noticed a lot of locations imposed right before they shut everything down.
Some clubs would easily get below that number too, previously. But I bet, since larger, national and regional caliber events will have to be postponed for a bit longer, there will be a lot of demand for club racing events early on. I hope some don’t think it’s essential they have 2 tuners, a driver’s coach, and a data acquisition guru, along with a small entourage of friends/family/assorted onlookers, for one driver at a club event, especially right now.
I saw the new castle announcement and it’s peaked my interest esp because they are running KA which still isn’t a regular class with KRA (holding on to Yamaha till the bitter end).
But with the weather forecast being a high of 54 with a good chance of rain it makes the decision to not go pretty easy…now if it was going to be 65 and sunny that would be a much more difficult internal debate for me.
I can see how a kart race might actually work. Lucky for us, it’s not a spectator sport. It’ll be like to old days when we raced out of back of a pickup, which I do today.
The race structure might look like:
Only adults and no mechanic or allowed if mechanic is your shelter at home roomate(s).
No big kart tents
Self starting engines only
Powered kart stands
Spectators allowed but only in the stands, spaced appropriately
If there is a limit then first in racers, then mechanics, then spectators
Not sure how to address the paramedics and whether they would even be available.
Meanwhile, in the rental\concession segment… Helmet sanitizers are now a thing.
As a customer and would-be track owner I approve this greatly. Not even for the COVID aspect, but even just the “It’s nice to have a nice clean helmet when I go karting”
New Castle Registration is already pretty darn good and highly no-touch…final check-in moving outside is a good thing. Moving sales and other things outside also is a great move to not have anyone inside the building.
But how to you deal with the bathroom situation and keeping it clean. That’s the biggest question I have.
Should be ok, all the drivers should have face coverings to protect them from the disease. lol, At least that’s what my daughter said when I told her of some of the guidelines.
It’ll be very interesting to see how clubs try to go forward under the new and ever changing guidelines.
For instance if you space out the scale line at our local track that will leave karts out on track prohibiting the next race. Likely a concession that will have to be made. Also as mentioned bathrooms are harder to manage, tech barn/process, and clubs without online registration and/or payment. Hell how do you pay the cash gate fee?
As drivers are we going to wear masks under our helmets? Or are we going with the idea that leaded race fuel kills the virus? Haha
I’m glad to see tracks trying to make the best of it. I’m stuck between “support your local track” and “be ready to go day 1” all the rookie stuff has been cancelled or delayed as of around March 13th and we have a shorter season than most, May>October. We do have a winter Karting series December>February. Unfortunately I’d expect July/August start time for our season in all honesty. I’m holding out hope that we get a season at all given the circumstances. The worry is becoming whether it’ll be worth tracks opening at all in 2020 at any level given the microscopic timeline to make money, the two Clubs that actually update their information have given us May off. So here’s hoping!!
LOL, that’s what I’ve been doing. One town around here requires face masks, so I just wear my full face helmet. Some fun with the smoked visor down, feel like the stig going into a store.
I’m glad to hear that at least some are opening. Outdoor activities are good, and most states are over the hump already.
NCMP is Racing this weekend with some specific cautions in place as well. Hoping it works out for them and can be a guide as to how other tracks and clubs move forward.
Talking to lots of racers around the country, it sounds like initially it will be easier/more acceptable for some clubs to start operating in limited capacities again, if they have adequate pit space to keep everyone spread out, limit people in and out of the facilities etc.
Some tracks have tight paddocks that would be tough to maintain social distancing. Some tracks are more open and spread out and you can run a club race while maintaining safe distance from everyone. Time will tell.
For now it seems club racing or smaller series will have more flexibility. Bigger races with groups of people traveling are likely to still be an issue.
