poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

[natsforever]

Re: poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

scrapn'clone, I don't know if you know about this from reading the forum, but I think Morgan drove OVER 20 hours to get to the nationals. That's probably why he said that.


By the way, how far would you drive to go to the nationals, or a major regional event? Would you go if it were in the Detroit area?

Just wondering.

 

[natsforever]

Re: poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

Sorry, just saw your earlier post about going, if it's in Detroit. What is that, 5 hours or so.

 

[Captain Morgan]

Re: poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

scrapn'clone, I don't know if you know about this from reading the forum, but I think Morgan drove OVER 20 hours to get to the nationals. That's probably why he said that.

Yes you are correct, my first Nats was 2002, which was a 12 hour drive from North Jersey where we all met up, so basically a 14 hour drive for me.

2003 I did not attend SyTy Nats for certain reasons, but I did go to S-Series Nats, so I still drove 20 hours to Kansas City that year anyway.

2004 I went to both SyTy and S-Series Nats in Kansas City. Broke my propshaft at some point on the way out, Dennis Klinger gave me his old one since he won at new one at Nats.

2005 was my 4th consecutive year of driving my truck halfway across the country for Nats. I broke my front diff this year, got it repaired in KC, got halfway to St Louis and it failed again. Stopped at the Dourty's place in MO, where they helped me disable the AWD so I could continue to St Louis for the S-Series Nats in 2WD mode.

2006, first year going to Nats without my truck, but I came in handy helping Don tow out his GN so I was still in a vehicle for 20+ hours. I had all parts to fix my truck and make it AWD again but honestly just didnt feel like it dealing with it, either way I was going to get there somehow and I did.

2007, you bet your ass I'll be there or Im gonna die trying. What will I be driving? Who knows...... but since I don't fly, I can promise you Ill be driving wherever it is, most likely Kansas City. Detroit or anywhere in Michigan for that matter will still be a 12 hour drive for me. 20 hours..... 12 hours..... at that point who really gives a crap, my trips are still longer than what 97% of anyone else that have driven to Nats has done over the past 5 years.

I have no pitty for people who whine about driving their truck for an extended period of time once a year. I would drive 10 hours in reverse if I needed to, heck I drove from New Jersey to California in a damn Toyota Celica last summer (80 hours total), 10 or 20 hours in a SyTy is a dream in my book.

All I can say to everyone is get over the fear of driving your truck, its meant to be driven, otherwise sell it and let someone else enjoy it. If its a reliablity issue or you dont trust it enough to drive it that far, either invest some time and money and make it reliable or trailer that turd out!

Worst case senario, drive another vehicle, hitch a ride with another SyTy owner in your area or even fly. Either way everyone should be planning to get their asses to SyTy Nationals 2007, reguardless of when and where it is. :cough: Kansas City :cough:

 

[BigBadSmoosh]

Re: poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

Worst case senario, drive another vehicle, hitch a ride with another SyTy owner in your area or even fly. Either way everyone should be planning to get their asses to SyTy Nationals 2007, reguardless of when and where it is. :cough: Kansas City :cough:

I drove from Boston MA, with Nick in 2002 to chitown..

Flew out to KC in 2005

trailered my truck out this year with a borrowed yukon and rented trailer..

Next year, I'll most likely be flying to KC.. I financially can't afford to drive or tow it out.

 

[warmpancakes]

Re: poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

Worst case senario, drive another vehicle, hitch a ride with another SyTy owner in your area or even fly. Either way everyone should be planning to get their asses to SyTy Nationals 2007, reguardless of when and where it is. :cough: Kansas City :cough:

some of us would but we have kids and a family that makes it a little difficult

 

[BigBadSmoosh]

Re: poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

some of us would but we have kids and a family that makes it a little difficult

its a weekend, i'm sure the wife wouldn't mind some time alone with the kids :rotf:

every year i hear of someone that left the wife at home with the kids, and every year i hear them getting an angry phone call from the wife. :lol:

 

[warmpancakes]

Re: poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

its a weekend, i'm sure the wife wouldn't mind some time alone with the kids :rotf:

every year i hear of someone that left the wife at home with the kids, and every year i hear them getting an angry phone call from the wife. :lol:

I would have 30 calls she might be small but shes fiesty :rant: plus I would have to take friday and monday off work, and that just about requires a act of congress

 

[Captain Morgan]

Re: poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

some of us would but we have kids and a family that makes it a little difficult

thats fine, but I havent seen anyone bring that up as a reason/excuse for not going, not to mention there were numerous owners there with there families this year, I can think of 4 families off the top of my head that had 3 - 10 year olds, and I know there were 2 families with little ones under 2 years old.

Im not trying to get into a pissing match with anyone, but not wanting to drive 5, 10, 15 hours to go to a 1 time event each year, thats just lame.

 

[warmpancakes]

Re: poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

ever spent more then 4 hours in a car with a 2 year old? its a 12 hour drive for me that means 2 days of driving or one all nighter because kids dont travel well

 

[JSM]

Re: poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

I must be lucky, my daughter has traveled all over the US, planes, cars, etc.

Longest was 1800 miles non stop aside from gas. Yep car seat all the way I think 3-4yrs old then.

Last trip was baltimore 600 miles each way, just couple weeks ago.

Last dec was texas, 2 days there, non stop back 1200 miles.

Last sept Kellers and I went ~800 miles or so each way, 2 kids. One 5 one 2.

When she was 3, trip to salt lake city. 3 days of driving.

Then of course anytime I fly to seattle is 8+ hours of planes, airports. She has made that trip ~10 times.

 

[dgoodhue]

Re: poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

every year i hear of someone that left the wife at home with the kids, and every year i hear them getting an angry phone call from the wife. :lol:

My wife didn't complain that I left her home. She didn't want to hang out with a bunch of car guys for the weekend. She would have made both of miserable if she attended. She also can't drive go more than 1.5 hours with out stopping...

 

[natsforever]

Re: poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

I want to agree with Morgan but I heard what was holding up that torture bill in congress. They were going to take some of those gitmo prisoners and chain them to a seat and fly them back and forth across the country in a plane FULL of 3 year old kids. Everyone in congress agreed on two things. First, it would work. After two round trips, they would do anything to make it stop. Second, if that isn't torture, what is.

Warmpancakes, what kind of job do you have that you can't take 2 days off? Fly, then you only have to take Friday off. I don't want to leave the Nats on Friday; but, I will drive to the airport and give you a ride to the hotel and back Sunday afternoon, if that's what it takes to get you to show up. A rental car is better though, some people have more fun with them than a SyTy.

 

[dangerous]

Re: poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

some of us would but we have kids and a family that makes it a little difficult [/QUOTE]

I am a wife and we have a son and a baby on the way......With the right motivation you can do anything you want....
We will be at Nats no matter what, have been there every year and been a part of planning it for about 5 years. The 10th anniversary Nationals is scheduled to be in KC..........

It would be so nice if this community of ours could work together instead of against each other........Sigh........

 

[GM TURBO]

Re: poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

Everybody wants the Nats closer to where they live - that just makes sense. I'd rather have everyone camp out on my lawn so I can sleep in my own bed. Does that make it right?

More than likely I'll be at both events.

 

[warmpancakes]

Re: poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

Warmpancakes, what kind of job do you have that you can't take 2 days off? Fly, then you only have to take Friday off. I don't want to leave the Nats on Friday; but, I will drive to the airport and give you a ride to the hotel and back Sunday afternoon, if that's what it takes to get you to show up. A rental car is better though, some people have more fun with them than a SyTy.

I work at one of the big three, and if im offf when I get back my work is waiting nobody covers for me, plus with the way they are "downsizing" I dont need to give them a reason

 

[NOJIMMY]

Re: poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

...maybe I`m wrong, but I interpretted the two events (KC and MI) as emphasizing two different offerings:
-KC appears to be a 10-year anniversary,
-KC appears to promote socializing more so than fast-vehicle racing
-KC appears to have very little backup of events if rain delayed (but again, people can socialize)
-KC appears to have a rather strict tech crew at KCIR
-KC appears to be shooting for Sept/labor day presence (ie kind of a wrap up event)

whereas,
-MI appears to be assembling more vehicles (proto-types, racing machines, and street/strip vehicles)
-MI appears to have a back up of events (museum, lectures, PAS Crew, etc) if rain delayed
-MI appears to be trying to get a SyTy friendly race track
-MI appears to be located closer to highest population of SyTy Vehicles, rather than centrally located
-MI appears to be shooting for june (ie a kick off event, perhaps piggybacking on Power Tour)

Given the attendance attracts different goal-oriented owners/drivers, I can see them both working.
Simply choose both, one, or none (given driving distances, vacation time, and convenience).
So whats the big deal....(I`d rather have events to attend and chose from, than have none).

-Larry

 

[natsforever]

Re: poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

Warmpancakes, enough said, I understand what downsizing means. If you think about flying and need a ride, let me know.

 

[natsforever]

Re: poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

A couple of posts ago someone said it would be nice if we could all work together, then I see this post. It APPEARS to list bad things about the KC event and good things about the MI event. That may not have been your intention, but that's what is looks like.

KC appears to be a 10 year anniversary? What's with the word appears? There have been 9, the next would be 10.
KC appears to promote socializing more? Do they promote it? It's a great setup for socializing and SyTyer's seem to like to socialize when together-I didn't think that was a bad thing. Will the MI meet discourage socializing?
Fast vehicle racing? The bully sy was having trouble with the lower altitude(it was popping and sputtering bad) and still got into the mid 10's. If they had gotten it dialed in I'm sure they would have been in the 9's, maybe low 9's. Robert's sy was in the low 9's and with a few more passes would have been in the 8's. He already has run in the 8's and maybe bully would have gotten there too. What do you call fast SyTy racing?
Backup events, in case of rain? What does this mean? Do the lectures and PAS crew happen only if there is a rain delay? If they are going to happen anyway, what does that have to do with a rain delay?
A strict tech crew at KCIR didn't happen in the past. It happened this year because of one guy from Colorado-lafinrat. What happens if he goes to MI next year?
KC Nats was in June. I heard it moved to Sept. this year because some other group booked the hotel OVER one year in advance. It may have to be in September next year if there is a major SyTy event in June. You don't want it between late June and Mid August because of the heat, bad for racing, and you don't want 2 big SyTy events a couple weeks apart

By the way, I always thought the highest population of SyTy's was in Florida. At least that's what FAST always says.

I hope the MI event is a big success, but I don't think it's necessary to 'put down' the KC event.

 

[warmpancakes]

Re: poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

Fast does have a large amount of registred trucks, but I know of 5-10 trucks that arent registered

 

[dangerous]

Re: poll If the nats were moved to Michigan would you come?

Just for the record.......

KCIR IS a SyTy friendly track and has let MANY things slide over the years. They have always been gracious and extremely accomodating....As Natsforever mentioned, this year was different because of other factors....don't blame the track for that.

As Loeryder mentioned, KCIR also has never in all the years we have rented it....raised prices on us etc. Inspite of their resurfacing and improvements, etc......

As far as rain is concerned........ :roll: Whatever :roll: .....Rain has never kept the event from happening or from us racing so I don't see this as a factor. I do believe that we had a significant amount of rain in Great Bend and there definately wasn't anything to do there but we were there anyway.

KC does not corner the market on socializing......I believe this occurs no matter what event you go to........ I think we all stood around and talked in Chicago as much as we did in KC.

I would just like to see everyone put aside all of the crap and work together to have one big event......

I think the smaller gatherings are fine but there should only be one main event...... :2cents: