Trophy Kart rule update

[BAPerf]

As of 9-18-2007, ALL Trophy Karts racing at MMR sanctioned events must have a 5-Point Harness. Those with 4-point harness' may notch the floor for installation of submarine belt. Also, a metal on/off switch on the dash in front of the steering wheel is now mandatory. No more rotary switches, or keys.

This info was posted on www.trophykartracing.com. Ultimately, this info came from both Ken and Tony @ MMR.

FYI, MMR may not post info on this site, but they do watch it! If you have questions of a technical type, please contact them directly to be sure the answer you recieve is 100% correct.

[BlueCrace]

Thanks for the update



As of 9-18-2007, ALL Trophy Karts racing at MMR sanctioned events must have a 5-Point Harness. Those with 4-point harness' may notch the floor for installation of submarine belt. Also, a metal on/off switch on the dash in front of the steering wheel is now mandatory. No more rotary switches, or keys.

This info was posted on www.trophykartracing.com. Ultimately, this info came from both Ken and Tony @ MMR.

FYI, MMR may not post info on this site, but they do watch it! If you have questions of a technical type, please contact them directly to be sure the answer you recieve is 100% correct.

[jonathanb]

I heard that they are going to not be allowing parents to have radios. The karts will still have to have them so the officials can talk to them. I guess that there have been some parents who have been heard telling their kids to hit others and whatnot.

[sweetdevil]

I heard that they are going to not be allowing parents to have radios. The karts will still have to have them so the officials can talk to them. I guess that there have been some parents who have been heard telling their kids to hit others and whatnot.

I got a call from a very exhausted and disappointed Tony this week. For those parents who got an email from Tony, you read more into what his frustrations and let downs were. As far as the radios go, he feels that some parents may be abusing the radios and has had too many reports of parents saying "Go, go, go" "Hit him" instead of things like "There is a car upside down in turn 4, be careful" or "watch out on your right."

I don't think not allowing parents to use radios is going to solve this problem. Disciplinary actions towards abusive parents and racers is what I feel will solve the problem. I used to administrate a kart racing sanctioning body and dealt with racers from 8-80 years of age, so I understand his lack of sleep.

Regardless of what I think, Tony is at his wits end and is trying a few things to see if it helps. For the CORR Chula Vista Race, all the Trophy Karts will run on channel 12 (on almost all the radios we programmed) which is a listen only channel so they can hear Tony. Parents will not be allowed to talk to the kids during the race. Tony isn't sure if he's going to keep it this way, but wants to try this at Chula Vista to see if it solves some of the problems.

If you don't have your frequency list, are unsure about the channel on your radio or had it programmed elsewhere, give me a call or come by the trailer Friday at the race and we will make sure you are all set to meet the rules.

Saturday Jimmy and I cannot be at the race. Kyle, Terence and Gerardo will be there to help you, but please come by Friday if you need anything because Saturday will be busy for them. We will be back on Sunday am.

[Tribute Productions]

I was reading the last post about the radios. I have to say that not having communication with the kids to me would be worse. My daughter who was racing on Saturday in the Jr 1 class was coming into a corner with a yellow flag and she couldn't see it. The guy who had the flag was trying to get a couple of cars untangled and wave a flag at the same time. I told her over the radio to slow down and not to pass and watch for people on the course. She would have went into that corner blind had I not let her know. I have also talked to her about the flags and if she doesn't abide by them I will personally take her out of the race. Do I tell my daughter to go fast, of course I do, but I also know that this is for fun and that we are all here to have a good time and at the end of the day for everyone to go home in one piece. We all want are kids to win, but I think some of us are taking this to seriuos and becoming pageant Moms. Taking the radios away to me will solve nothing, part of the problem is having guys out there trying to wave flags and turning cars over at the same time. They just can't do both at the same time.

[450grl]

I call them "peewee dads" - in MX, I got to where I couldn't even watch the pee wee races, because I have never wanted to backhand a few people so badly in my life. My last desert race - there was a guy on the scanner yelling at his tiny little boy for about 15 minutes.....I finally turned it off - made me sick to my stomach. Maybe this is why I have never wanted to watch the Trophy Karts either? I'm permanently scarred by a few people who tend to ruin it for everyone.....

Hope they get your guys' radio thing worked out. If it were my kid, I'd want to be able to talk to them......at least to help them avoid anything on the track.

[DailyPedal]

Understand that if it is a "hear only" channel, then the race director will tell ALL of the drivers that there is a yellow out and to slow down...it is not a bad idea to turn these into full course cautions to get everything cleaned up and it will take some of the load off the course workers trying to slow the field. I feel that it is worth trying.

[John F2000]

Although I am all for trying new things and support MMR wanting to improve, I am not sure I am comfortable with an 8 year old strapped in a car without communication.

During the last race on the first heat the cars were lead out to the staging area and the parents were told to stay off the track. The cars were then at idle for a long time and I was instructed to stay off the track. About ten minutes latter, my boy called for me, a little panicky, that he was getting too hot. I went on the track to help him, when I got to him, his face shield was closed, (no pumper), and all steamed up. He was sweating bad, almost in tears. If you have ever raced and been fully strapped into a car, with no pumper, in hot weather, it can get very claustrophobic. Anyways, all he needed was his shield lifted and a sip of water, he was ready to go. But he can barely lift his own face shield off his helmet.

So what do we do with the 8 years old completely locked in a car with no way to ask for help. I understand when they are on the track racing, if they pull off the side a course worker will help them, but during staging, if there are delays, how will anyone know if they need help?

Maybey leave the radios in for the junior 1 group and cut it for Junior 2. Most 8-9 year olds are just able to drive the car let alone react to a parent telling them to make an agressive move against another driver.

Just a thought, but I am concerned with him not being able to ask me for help. If I am standing beside the car the entire time before the start, not a problem. But from the more organized starts at corr, it seems that the drivers will be on there own thru some of the staging.

[Kritter]

I think if we cut the car count by 75% all the problems would be fixed. The track is too small, workers too few, and kids too many. With too many kids comes carnage, sort of mob mentality. Taking the radios out is a very bad idea although I have scanned channels and heard some unbelievable advice from parents it is a bad idea. A full course caution for every wreck is just as bad an idea.

The only way to solve the problems TK is having is to reduce the car counts AND split up skill levels as well as actually black flagging hack drivers.

[wild1s]

I think that everyone will have an opinion about how mmr should handle things with the races but if all the parents understood that this should be fun for the kids and not so hard core about winning everyinthg would be better. The other thing that I see is that alot of parents push there kids way to hard. Also if there were more people there to help with things and were more involved with the race and helping the people at mmr they would see how HARD the people at mmr try to do everything they can to make sure that all is fair and that all the kids are taken care of. I have been to a few races and have seen all that the people at mmr are doing and how much time they have to do everything in and I think that they are doing a GREAT job. I go to the races and see alot of people complain about alot of different things and most of them just sit back and watch everything happen rather than stepping forward to try and make things better for there kid and the rest of the sport. Bottom line try and set up and help the people that are there to HELP your kids have fun and work with them to make it easier on them and you and your kids. Just my 2 cents



P.S. Lets all have some fun and be safe.

[Kritter]

If it was only about fun, there would be no points and people would not be spending 10s of thousands of dollars to have their kids do it. In desert racing the kids races are not called races, they are called "events" and there are no points for the exact reason that is happening in TK, bitter parents wanting somebody to yell at or complain to.

I have no complaints with the job Tony is doing...its a tough job to have 80% or more of the 75 kids' parents yelling at him every race.

From my experience just about every parent(s)/crew member with a kid racing goes out of their way to help but at the end of the day when races are ruined by things out of their control(too many cars, too narrow of track, not black flagging problem drivers, flaggers shutting off cars on accident, etc...) it turns into a cluster and people are pissed. I am sure if it doesnt get fixed it will end up ruining the series as a whole. The MMR staff will be burned out as well as the parents and then nobody wins.

My only advice:
Less Cars
More Track
More flaggers
Points Penalties
No intentional carnage put into the track design

[sweetdevil]

Scott just got off the phone with Tony. There will be a mandatory spotter meeting and some spotters from CORR will be instructing parents on how to be a better spotter, how not to get so emotional, etc. Radios will be allowed for the spotters this weekend, your feedback helped!

[Bajated]

Scott just got off the phone with Tony. There will be a mandatory spotter meeting and some spotters from CORR will be instructing parents on how to be a better spotter, how not to get so emotional, etc. Radios will be allowed for the spotters this weekend, your feedback helped!

I think that's wise. My son gets a little nervous sitting in his Kart waiting to start and I'm sure he'd freak out if he had no one to talk to. Parents, let's all commit to being encouraging on the radio and controlling our competitive natures.


The one rule change I'd like to see is...

Make Fuel Cells optional. When my son rolled in AV 2 weeks ago fuel leaked out of his cap. I also saw fuel leak out of Eric Morley's sons Kart when he flipped it practicing once. In both cases we inspected the caps and gaskets and they were clean, free of debris and properly installed.

I discussed this with Ken after the race, and he has some consedered reasons for maintaining the status quo, however I don't see how allowing parents the option of purchasing a specific fuel cell and installing it in the same location as the existing tank can give anyone a competitive advantage or cause costs to spiral out of control.

In my opinion this is a safety issue that won't be resolved unless a majority of parents express their desire to change it.