SEBRING VIPER CLUB EVENT CANCELLED!

[Gary Lashinsky]

Due to lack of VCA member support, we have decided to cancel the planned Viper Club corral and hospitality tent for the 12 hours of Sebring this year. Thanks to the few who did support our efforts to provide a first class event. This is the first time we have ever had to cancel VCA participation at a major racing event since the the inception of the club in 1995. Sebring tickets are available from the track ticket office if you choose to go. I am very upset about this and really wonder if any of our members really understand the effort the local club put forth to set this major event up. We had a prime location on turn one with a Viper corral,private tent, catering and great tickets with paddock access in a high visibility location with four days of racing topped off by the 12 hours of Sebring Saturday March 15. No other car club had this. I am deeply sorry we have been forced to cancel.

 

[DEVILDOG]

That *****. If I lived close I would not have missed that opportunity. Sounds like you put together an awesome event. I hope this does not hamper future support from the VCA and Dodge regarding sponsoring of events of this caliber.

 

[Brad04Mamba]

Gary

I feel your pain, we had the best view at Leguna Seca and had to give it up because of lack of interest from club members. I enjoyed going but reeeeally enjoyed watching the Vipers kick butt. Without Vipers racing i can see how interest from a Viper Club can wain.

Brad

 

[Y2K5SRT]

With all due respect, I think that to say "lack of support" is misleading. I think the better term would have been "lack of interest" and/or "lack of funds". The vast majority of members support everything that the VCA has to offer. HOWEVER, not everybody shares the same interest in certain events. You might also note that a lot of Viper owners have tight funds right now and aren't necessarily putting money into "extraneous" events, especially if they are pricey (which I would guess this was). I don't think it has anything to do with "support".

Chris

 

[Craig 201 MPH]

I have very little interest is going to the ALMS mosport weekend simply because there is not a factory Viper team. Yes there is AVR who puts forth a great effort but they simply cannot compete with the vettes. Who wants to go cheer for a team whose not on equal footing with the other cars in it's class?

I'll probably spend my $60 somewhere else.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Gary does a great job handling all these events but Chris is right, $$$ is difficult sometimes. So many events this time of year, Daytona 500 and 24, Sebring, Gatornationals and recently the St Pete GP has been added. I'm just digging myself out of a hole that started nearly two years ago. But good times ahead.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

I'll probably spend my $60 somewhere else.

$60??? If that were all it was I could go to ALL of them!!!

 

[Craig 201 MPH]

I'll probably spend my $60 somewhere else.

$60??? If that were all it was I could go to ALL of them!!!

I guess it's pretty cheap but the facility is nowhere near as nice as I'm sure sebring is. Plus that's just admission into the track, not for a hospitality tent etc... When we had a VCA tent it was $150

 

[Fred(DrivingSchool)Kinder]

Gary, These events take a lot of effort and it is painful when member interest falls short of viable numbers. Sorry!

However, I do feel that Chris has hit the nail on the head. No ORECA = No Interest for many members. Our biggest events were the FIA/ALMS events at Laguna Seca when ORECA was racing. We had the best track side suite(turn 1) at the track and best parking, Great Dinner with ORECA, etc. When Dodge pulled the plug on ORECA many of our members lost interest. We tried to save the event by opening it to everyone but that also failed.

In my opinion ORECA brought more to the Viper Nation than Dodge realized. I am sure this loss also trickles to lower Dodge brand sales. The Viper parking area was loaded with spectators looking at and taking pictures of our cars.

Sorry Gary I know how you feel, been there! We likely lost the suite and parking forever!

 

[GR8_ASP]

I agree wholeheartedly with Chris. After giving up $81,500 a week ago I have little to spend on luxuries at the moment. As with many other Viper owners, I have been unable to convince myself to part with the RT/10, thus the new car is all "out of pocket." Plus, with all of the snow still on the ground here, it is somewhat difficult to do a Viper event.

I would guess this is a somewhat temporary thing that is impacting many of our Viper firends.

 

[DEVILDOG]

I agree that DC has made a big mistake in not supporting a factory VIPER team in the ALMS to compete with the factory Vettes. Many uninformed people now think the street Vettes are better than the street VIPERS as a result. As far as Oreca, sorry, pick someone else I won't support anything french...ever! DC should rethink putting all their racing funds in NASCRAP. How many people race Intrepids? As far as the price of admission being an issue for VIPER owners I don't buy that...it's decimal dust compared to VIPER ownership and the life-style of most VIPER owners. Cut your own grass for a month this summer and you've got it covered and you got some healthy exercise too. In the final analysis I too would conclude it is a lack of interest due to no factory VIPER teams....are you listening DC??? However, I still would have attended to see some great sports car racing...as France's GRANDAMCRAP dosen't cut it either. What a coincidence his name is France. Like I said I won't support anything associated with the traitorist, chicken $hit, no honor, dumb a$$, arrogant, non-world power, insignificant french. Germany better get it's act together soon or there is no chance I'll ever buy any DC products including a future SRT Coupe. Sorry, got side tracked by world events.

 

[Craig 201 MPH]

who wants to go watch some intrepids at nascar?

what a great idea dodge!!!

 

[Gary Lashinsky]

Whether it's the cost or just lack of Vipers running other than AVR, it still is a big dissapointment for me to have to cancel. When Dodge supported Sebring as well as had ORECA competiting in the ALMS series there was a great deal of interest.

Maybe in the future I will examine event cost versus value and scale back our offering to something more economical for the members. It does seem kind of strange though, talking about a couple of hundred dollars to go first class to Sebring when we have thousands invested in our Vipers and other Dodge vehicles. Oh well, just a sign of the times. Thanks for the comments.

 

[cstegall]

Gary,

I was out of town and missed your post on this issue. If I can help/participate in the future please let me know. Sorry I wasn't there for you this time.

Clark

 

[GTS Dean]

Gary,

I'm sure that anything you put on is first-class all the way. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to go first-class all the time. Lack of Dodge factory participation, coupled with a generally disgusting economy won't bring out many high rollers.

Best of luck next time.

 

[Vipermed 97.01]

In the past i have attended these events,but at a fraction of the cost, I think it is truly unfair to put the guilt on our shoulders and the burden of sponsering the club event @ 250 a head,We do appreciate the effort put forth by you to attempt to make this happen,but to put any sort of blame on club members in my opinion is absoulutly wrong.Look around times are changing along with priorities.

 

[cstegall]

DDog...

I want you to know that I read you post and I immediately threw my Jack-in-the-Box french fries out in the back yard for the stray cats to eat, however, does this mean that french kissing is out too?

Hope all is well with you my friend
Clark

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

I'll probably spend my $60 somewhere else.

??????? $60 Canadian is probably $35 american.

 

[DEVILDOG]

DDog...

I want you to know that I read you post and I immediately threw my Jack-in-the-Box french fries out in the back yard for the stray cats to eat, however, does this mean that french kissing is out too?

Hope all is well with you my friend
Clark

Clark,
LOL! I don't even credit the french with french kissing anymore. I doubt that a culture that has women with hairy armpits invented passionate kissing. What is the status on your DLM upgrade progress?
Take care,
Jim

 

[Gary Lashinsky]

The reason the cost jumped from $70.00 per person last year to $250.00 this year for Sebring was that DODGE was a sponsor of the event last year and provided us at no cost with certain imenities such as the Viper corral, tent, tickets, track tour, etc. for club members. All we had to charge and pay for as a club was the catering, TV feed and Television, tables and table clothes and drinks.

To provide the same set up without DODGE support this year, raised the cost to $250.00 per person. Believe me I was very upset to have to raise the price but out of all the members we have (122) in the Central and North FL. as well as the So. FL VCA, you would have thought there would be no problem getting 40 VCA members who wanted to go to Sebring. Boy was I was wrong!!!!

 

[Tomcat]

Gary, thanks for all of your efforts. I hope to see you at the race. I guess it is time to order tickets and parking pass.

Tom and Cindy Wilson

 

[Mike H]

Sorry to see Dodge won't splurge alittle with the event. We are there for our first World Challenge event with our Viper and with AVR in the 12 race would have been nice for Dodge to show some support. Plus we are entering our Comp Coupe at WCGT event at Mosport. Whats 10K to Dodge? They want everyone to get hyped up and buy the CC's but offer absolutely nothing, Nada, no support for any Viper program, no parts, no contingency.....Nada. No wonder there are so many Vettes in WCGT. They offer parts, chassis rollers, tech support and parts contingency funds.

 

[Gary Lashinsky]

Hi Mike. I will be at Sebring for the World Challenge race as well as the big one. I've been invited to run the Pro-GT Panoz Race on Saturday, but don't know if I will. I know how you feel regarding support. You and your checkbook are the best sponsor to have.
I am going to run my Comp. Coupe for the first time at Thunderhill if it is ready the end of the month. What changes are required to run World Challenge with the CC?

 

[Fred(DrivingSchool)Kinder]

Gary,

Looking forward to seeing you at Thunderhill!

 

[Mike H]

Hi Mike. I will be at Sebring for the World Challenge race as well as the big one. I've been invited to run the Pro-GT Panoz Race on Saturday, but don't know if I will. I know how you feel regarding support. You and your checkbook are the best sponsor to have.
I am going to run my Comp. Coupe for the first time at Thunderhill if it is ready the end of the month. What changes are required to run World Challenge with the CC?

Gary,

We will look for you. We are hanging there to watch the 12 hour race also. I rented a Motorhome to hang at.
The CC will have some restrictions. It has a 100 Lb weight penalty for the brakes so it is 3300 Lbs "as raced". Splitter is to be no more than 4 inches pass body work and a series of 5 restrictors are to be on hand in case they want to restrict the car inlet.
As far as Dodge, we can only hope.

 

[Gary Lashinsky]

Mike, when are you coming down? Thanks for the info on World Challenge restrictions on the new CC. See you guys next week. Is Adel or the Dillers coming down?

 

[JBenko]

Well, at least you'll get to see the Corvette team run. Interesting how GM has stayed in the game even without the competition from the GTS-Rs. Apparently GM thought that the PR in its Ads everytime they win LeMans, Petit, ALMS, etc. is worth the cost to field a team. Apparently DC still does not think its worth it. Maybe their still sore over the "flying" Merceded prototype cars. Personally I'll be rooting for the ProDrive Ferrari's to take it to the Vetttes.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Let's face it, GM sponsors more racing than anybody, thereby getting rules changes to their favor. No matter, the Viper is still the clear winner stock for stock. But it would be nice to watch more than GM and a couple longshots out there.