[Doug Woods]

With about six weeks to go until the Sno*Drift, does anyone know the answers to these questions:

1) Will there be a series sponsor?
2) Will Subaru have a team?
3) Will the AFR have a car?
4) Will there be TV conveage?

The closer we get to 2004, the more the answers look like no, no, no and no.

Doug Woods

 

[Eric_Anderson]

>3) Will the AFR have a car?


As I posted in another thread, not that it necessarily means anything, but the Air Force Reserve Focus has been for sale for a couple of weeks.

http://www.rallyclassified.com/detail.php?cat=19&de=724

 

[Ray]

The SCCA has been real hush about what is going on.
Not sure if that's a good thing or not.
I believe Sue has her hands full, but I wish things were not so secret.
There is not entry list up on the "Sno*Drift" site yet either.

Whiplash RallyeSport

 

[Jim]

>
>>3) Will the AFR have a car?
>
>
>As I posted in another thread, not that it necessarily means
>anything, but the Air Force Reserve Focus has been for sale
>for a couple of weeks.
>
>http://www.rallyclassified.com/detail.php?cat=19&de=724

They planned to replace it for next year before anything happened with Mitsubishi. What they do depends on what Subaru does.

 

[jandreini]

Sno*Drift is still 5 weeks away. Why would an entry list be posted yet? Surely no other events are held to this standard.

 

[Foghorn]

Uncle Joe,

Unless my memory is really bad, I believe that last year the Sno*Drift site had a continuously updated list as entries were received. I believe it was keyed into an on-line registration system that is absent this year but would be something that the registrar would still be able to do in the absence of that.

Kent Gardam

 

[jandreini]

On-line registration has suffered numerous difficulties. As we cannot trust it, we are not using it.

P.S. Before all you experts start chiming in about how easy it is to do all this stuff: You're hired. Your assistance is welcome and valued beyond monetary levels. Ergo, pay will be three times what a Club Rally Steward receives(see post elsewhere in this forum). Next meeting is tonight at seven. Be there. We have lots for you to do.

 

[J Nelson]

RE the questions

95% certainty that the answer to all questions is NO. There is always the possibility although highly improbable, that a series sponsor will come along that can provide enough cash infusion to satiate 1. SCCA PRORally staff funding and expenses. 2. provide assistance to PRORally organizers to put on events at a reasonable cost to competitors 3. Fund TV coverage and of course lastly, 4. a prize fund for competitors.
I do sincerely believe that there is no such series sponsor willing to do this. In the past, the so called series sponsor paid a relatively small sum to get their name on the Marquis of each event and on each car entered. Nothing ever got to an organizer or competitor and there is no indication that this situation will ever change.
John Nelson
#382

 

[Bjorn240]

FWIW, the PRB doesn't really have anything to do with the manufacturer/distributor team involvement, so I don't have any more answers than you do, but these are my best guesses.

>1) Will there be a series sponsor?

I remain as mystified as you. Two weeks ago, I heard (again) that an announcement was imminent. I am growing severely annoyed, as my personal credibility has been strained saying (upon repeated promises) that a series sponsor is on-board. I remain hopeful.

>2) Will Subaru have a team?

Don't know, but do know they will continue with contingency funding etc. I am guessing they will return with an effort, though a smaller one than 2003. This is only a guess.

>3) Will the AFR have a car?

Per Greg Pachman (on SS.com, though I can't find the thread), the Air Force Reserve's involvement is almost entirely contingent on television broadcasting.

>4) Will there be TV conveage?

This would appear to depend almost exclusively on Subaru's willingness to fund it, and would seem likely to depend on the size of their program. I think it is unlikely, but would love to be surprised.

I would personally like to see SCCA make an announcement with respect to Subaru, AFR, television this week, but I think they are still awaiting team announcements.

There are no excuses for not making another progress update/"it's finally dead" announcement about the series sponsor, especially after it's been publicly promised for so long. I'll be writing an email to the responsible parties at SCCA about that today.

Warm regards and happy holidays to all,
- Christian

Bjorn Christian Edstrom
www.christianedstrom.com

 

[Foghorn]

Well, good luck to you on your request, Christian. You, as a PRB member, should carry a lot more weight than those of us in the hinterlands.

As I had indicated on a previous thread, http://www.specialstage.com/forum/cgi-bin/DCForumID2/2022.html , I had emailed Sue, Garrett and Steve Johnson about sponsorship and communication issues on Friday December 5th. Sue replied the next day that she knew no more than the rest of us but hoped to hear soon. Steve Johnson replied on Monday the 8th that Garrett was out sick that day but that he suspected that he would reply to me on his return. Still no word from Garrett yet but we all know how notoriously unreliable electronic communication is ( ) and/or maybe Garrett's still off work.

Kent Gardam

 

[Greg Pachman]

In response to your questions I can say the following

1. I can't speak for Subaru so you will have to wait on their announcement.

2. It is almost a certainty to me that we will not have a car competing in the 2004 series. As I have said before, we will participate in the Pro Rally Partnership Program to get the organizers the money they were promised in Topeka.

3. I don't know anything new about the series sponsor.

4. I would say television seems unlikely for next year. This is for a number of reasons that I don't wish to list here.

Obviously this is frustrating, especially to me, as we had our operational, TV, and partnership budget finalized in September and I have been waiting since then for announcements from others. Unfortunately, those announcements have not been good and I don't expect them to get any better. I know we can't fund the whole series ourselves so without partners, and none have come forward yet, we are finished.

However, this is the nature of motorsports marketing. The decisions to stay or go or what to do are not made by the racing people in the company but by people who are paid to watch the bottom line. I know that the the rally people want their programs to return but the decision is not in their hands. Things like this happen in every form of motorsports every year. Unfortunately this year it happened to us.

I'm not going to cry about it, I am just going to get back in there and try to put together a motorsports program which will make my bosses happy.

Greg

 

[MDBodnar]

Greg:

As always your candor is greatly appreciated.

Mike

 

[Griswold]

I want to thank Greg and Christian for their comments. Neither are in a place to answer every question but both are doing as well as they can. Hopefully with Sue on board she will open the communications from the main office so we can have the balance of our questions answered. I think its safe to say that rally in 2004 will be very different than it was in the prior two years. Maybe its for the best but we will not know that until year end 2004.

Gary
Loose Nut Racing

 

[Brian J]

>I want to thank Greg and Christian for their comments.
>Neither are in a place to answer every question but both are
>doing as well as they can.

Amen to that. Thank you both for taking the time to try and keep us informed as best you are able!

Brian Johnson

 

[Glenn Wallace]

I don't think I can stand all this common sense, rationality and lack of hype.

 

[rally7]

This should make for an exciting season full of highly competitive privateers. Stay tuned...

 

[RallyGTX]

>With about six weeks to go until the Sno*Drift, does anyone
>know the answers to these questions:
>
>1) Will there be a series sponsor?
>2) Will Subaru have a team?
>3) Will the AFR have a car?
>4) Will there be TV conveage?

My guesses.....FWIW

1. NO
2. Group N car for Ramana
3. No (see #4)
4. No

Matt
Everett, WA

 

[Guest]

Regarding the sponsorship "deal"->

Who would be coordinating that and actually know what's going on?

I have a vague idea about how the structure is laid out, but I might not understand something because it feels like too many people who should have information just don't have it.

Does it all go through Garrett and he is the mouthpiece?

 

[Bjorn240]

>Does it all go through Garrett and he is the mouthpiece?

Yes. Yes.

-BCE

Bjorn Christian Edstrom
www.christianedstrom.com

 

[shortcakes]

If we're still talking about the same Speed coverage, this was in a October 17, 2003 Press Release...

"In addition to the SCCA Speed World Challenge, SPEED Channel announced that it will continue to broadcast the SCCA ProRallyTM Championship and the SCCA Valvoline Runoffs® Club Racing Championships through the 2008 seasons."

Here is the link. http://www.scca.com/news/press03_139.html

Thanks, Holly Remington