Really really late to the game here but my belated response:
Series/Events have to think about karting as a consumer product, just like ordering a pizza or buying a pair of shoes. The event is the product, entry fees and anything else we have to pay for is the price. The price needs to be appropriate for the product. I wouldn’t pay $30 for a small cheese pizza. Xander makes a great point about track challenge. Every street race except Quincy is a glorified square. For a while I stayed away simply because the product didn’t seem worth the amount of money and effort involved. Why would I spend so much money and time to drive in a square?
Carson Smith eventually convinced me to run Elkhart last year and I had the time of my life. Even though it is a square, the hard braking zones and differences between the corners actually made for a track that raced INCREDIBLY well. Matt Burpo and SIRA carried that momentum into this year and once again we had a track that raced really well and had enough braking to spread the field out and reward faster drivers. The layout at Rock Island this year had a similar feel. We were only on the brakes lightly, and only in a few corners, but the track had enough character to create some unique passing opportunities. If the track was smoother, I would say it would be the best street course layout I’ve raced on so far. If they can continue to create tracks that involve more braking and technical sections, they’ll garner even more interest.
Price is where I think SIRA nailed the mark and RIGP missed it a bit. Elkhart was a $100 all-you-can-race buffet and you could source your tires from anywhere. Some of the lower budget guys showed up with some lightly used tires, others may have a coupon from a dealer or may get discounts from dealers to get a set of new tires cheaper. In order to run both 206 Medium and 206 King classes, it costed me close to $700 after having to buy a new set at MSRP from the track. I think that was a little high. I dont expect the same kind of pricing SIRA provided, but certainly not 7x the cost.
I believe street racing is growing in popularity again. I’m here for it. Our group will be running all 3 of the big street races next year and maybe a few more. In order to get others interested as well, they simply have to cut the cost and relax the tire rules (a long-winded way of still cutting cost).
Us as racers, need to help curve the opinion that street racing is some blood-thirsty roman colosseum and convince others to try out street racing who otherwise wouldn’t.