This is Mark from the Depoe Bay Raceway.
I wanted to stop in and clarify some things about our place. We have been up and running for the past five years. The owners do not have plans of closing any time soon. They don't need to.
Our little place started out with ideas that the local people would want to come and have fun and support a racing program. We were wrong about that.
Unfortunately, we only have a core of three racers locally (sadly one of the racers left us early in life to go to the other side), sometimes four from someone coming from Eastern Oregon (once in a six month stretch)
Our racing program involves four classes run in rotation every other Friday night: Flexi Wing, Flexi NASCAR, GTP, and JK Super Truck. Once in a while we all do a Group 12 race.
I was told recently that if we couldn't get more people involved in our race program, then we just might have to shut that part down since it takes up the one track availability to the public. Try as I might, I cannot get the locals around here to get involved. I think they would rather be at the bar or something. I must have sold a hundred Flexi chassis to people around here in the past five years. They buy, run 15 mins on the track and are never to be seen again. I have no idea why or where they went. We used to get the guys from Portland to come and race with us, but since the closure of the Vancouver, WA, track, all have disappeared.
So, what we do have is a tourist entertainment center, renting cars and track time, miniature golf, and a small arcade for the kids and adults to play. Our busy times are in the summer and our dead times are in the winter. Just the opposite from most the other track owners I have talked to.
Now to Jairus...
We have a program called Autotrak that runs the track time and race program. When you lost that one lap, it was noticed and I added a lap to you and subtracted a lap to, I believe, Carrie's track. The one heat you missed due to being on the wrong track... realistically other tracks would have said, sorry.
But I have found that by doing an average of the next two heats and adding that average gives a pretty close indication of what you actually did. What I won't do, though, is move someone into first place using that method.
When we started our race program, we all decided to base the rules of set-up against experience. So we started out with Flexi cars with Parma S16s. When the racers got good enough with those, we moved to Pro Slot SpeedFX motors. Now we have the Pro Slot Outlaw American arms. All our racers (now just three) know that if we get new people involved in the races seriously, we will start following a more stringent rulebook. Mostly we would probably get the new guy up to our speed instead of the other way around... but that needs to be discussed when we actually do get more people.
Most of the time, I am the only corner marshall. I witnessed a race where they use the track call system. It took twice as long because everyone was busy calling track. Crashing and pausing track just doesn't get the good driver anywhere fast. It also teaches them to watch all lanes instead of coming around and just hammering the next guy into the wall. I think you just need to learn to drive the track with minimal desloting. We still have our nights of wrecks though, the one posted on YouTube is a witness of that. We have paused our track a couple times due to a huge pile up, but most of the time a track call isn't necessary since our guys do fairly well.
We don't do much tech since I know these guys and what they have in the box. All I really need to do is look at the tires to see if they have enough to finish the race. I think I have a good eye to visually tech a Flexi chassis within rulebook tolerance.
We don't do ceremonies because the guys just want to get their practice in and race. Only one guy, Jim, actually paints his body so concours judging would be a waste of time.
Most just want to buy off the wall, put on a body and motor, adjust a couple things, and go. Hence we don't have the interest in building Hardbody NASCARs like the OSCAR group or Retros like your group. I'd do it if it was agreeable with all, but majority rules here.
We all discussed whether or not to do awards or just a cash back type of race prize. All our racers chose the cash.
The guys leave pretty quick after the race because they have other things they need to do before it gets too late. Most want to be gone by 8:30 PM. Jimmy stays later sometimes and once you get to know him, he will be a little more open with what is in his box. He may even offer to zap your magnets or true your arms for free. He even builds the slot boxes (best I have ever seen anywhere) at a really incredibly cheap price. He is a cabinet maker by trade, and he is good at it.
Anyway, these are the reasons our racing is different than most other tracks. If we had the client base, such as being located in Salem or Portland, things would probably be different.
The other thing I wanted to mention was, it doesn't matter if they are standing up or sitting down. Its how many laps you got at the end of the race. I'd put our little Carrie up against any of you standing up.
We aren't "hicks" here. We are just a small group that likes to have fun and race without all the foo-foo.
Everyone is welcome here, and if you have a special group of cars you want to race, just get in touch and I'll set up a race for it. Nothing here is chiseled in stone.
..... Big or Small ..... I build them all 
