Originally Posted by carrytheleftfront:
i think it is actually great scheduling. You go to Terre Haute wednesday, then kamp, b-town, and tri-state. For those who stay in hotels like most all the drivers do or teams... You get a room at one hotel for 3 nights as opposed to having to book hotel rooms at 3 different places. race at terre haute.. stay there. go to kamp roughly hour and half race and come back to terre haute for the night.. then you have like an hour drive to b town the next day. then back to terre haute.. then the last night when u have the longest drive your half way there with your room in terre haute and have a shorter drive to tri state.... as a former mechanic on a team it is nice to not have to check in and stay at diffferent hotels every night.... having one hotel for 3 nights is much nicer... plus u can normally get better rates when staying for more than one night...this schedule is reflecting by having a former racer working in USAC...McCord who understands what is nice for the race teams and drivers to get the most rest. 2 thoumbs up to USAC:thumb:thumb :usacfan also for the out of town fans it helps them the same way....
I'd much rather have to book at a couple of different hotels than to have to drive 77 miles from Kamp to Terre Haute, or 62 miles from Bloomington to Terre Haute.
I don't mind making long trips during the day, but the whole point of getting hotels is that you don't have to drive long distances after the races. I'm much more likely to hang around in the pits after the races if I know I don't have an hour or more trip back to the hotel, and I'm sure the racers feel the same way.
The "backward" scheduling of THAT and Kamp only adds 84 miles to the 3-day stretch of TH, Kamp, and Bloomington. But, still, why make folks burn 84 miles of fuel if they don't have to?
I'm thinking that the protesting has more to do with folks being upset that Kamp is back on the schedule. That race was a nightmare last year, but the track is just 105 miles from Chicago, the 3rd largest Metropolitan area in the country. And I'm sure sponsors have some influence on USAC's thinking.