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KARTING INDUSTRY TO HOLD NATIONAL CONFERENCE |
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kmg
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Kart Marketing Group, Inc.
e-KMI.com,
KartFax.com, KartSearch.com, and producers of Kart Expo
International
Contact: Darrell Sitarz
Phone: 630-653-7368
karting@msn.com
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Wheaton, Illinois — The first-ever U.S. Karting Industry Conference
is slated to be held February 23, 2006 at Pheasant Run Resort and
Convention Center in St. Charles, Illinois, on the Thursday prior to
the 2006 Kart Expo International presented by SodiKart. The purpose
of the conference is to identify the problems within the industry
and the sport and determine definite solutions and courses of
action.
Meeting organizer, Darrell Sitarz said, “As many in the industry
know, karting is and has been in a deep downslide lately with many
companies having had one of the worst years in their history, some
down 20-50% in sales, and there doesn’t seem to be solutions as to
what can be done. At least not yet.”
Sitarz continued, “You would have thought there would have been an
increase in awareness, and therefore sales due, to the “Danica
Factor”, but the opposite occurred. Needless to say, there is an
urgent, some say desperate need to find solutions before the
problems in the industry get worse.”
A stellar panel has been assembled – some of the best and brightest
in and out of the sport. Some have a deep involvement and investment
in karting, while others have an outstanding business acumen, as
well as a knowledge of the sport. Organizers feel they have a very
balanced group of individuals that can, hopefully, offer insight and
possible solutions.
The Moderator: Curt Paluzzi (National Kart News)
The Panel: (In alphabetical order)
Bob Cycon (The Inside Track)
Jim Donovan (Max-Torque Ltd)
Dave Gough (Gough Racing)
Rob Howden (Howden Communications)
Maria Jannace (Maxim Sports Management)
Garry Lobaugh (MRP/Birel)
Marc Miller (MMP)
Susan Nuttall (IBM Corporation)
Paul Zalud (Stars of Karting)
Jim Donovan of Max-Torque Ltd. likened the situation to the
Hurricane Katrina disaster. “Everyone knew it was coming, heard
about it, saw it approaching, and what did they do? They blamed the
disaster and problems on anyone but themselves and expected someone
else to clean it up and solve their problems.”
Again, Sitarz: “Well, we all know there are problems and we have a
fairly good idea of what some of them are – the question is, what
are we (as an industry) going do about them? Do we just sit around
crying the blues, wishing and hoping that someone or something will
solved the problems or do we take a positive approach? I feel the
industry must be proactive and this meeting will the beginning.”
With that in mind, over 1,000 companies both in North America and
overseas have been formally invited to the free one-day meeting at
the suburban Chicago resort and convention center. The meeting will
divided into two sections: The morning session will be devoted to
identifying, disseminating and paring down the industry problems to
a workable list, and the afternoon session will be used to identify
possible solutions.
The host hotel for the meeting is Pheasant Run Resort and Convention
Center in St. Charles Illinois (about 40 miles west of Chicago). For
room reservations, phone: 630-584-6300. Mention “Kart Expo” for the
best room rate. It is suggested that attendees make hotel
reservations as soon as possible.
“This will be a non-political, invitation-only working forum for
those in the kart racing industry only! The meeting will not be open
to the racing or general public. However, prior to the conference,
the racing public will have an opportunity to make their thoughts
known via various Internet karting forums, by e-mail or by regular
postal mail,” Sitarz said. “This will be an outstanding opportunity
to really make a difference in the well being of an industry in
which so many have huge investments.”
Those not receiving formal invitations may contact Kart Marketing
Group by e-mail at karting@msn.com to see if they qualify for
admittance. And those wishing to interject thoughts may do so by
postal mail to: Karting Conference, PO Box 101, Wheaton, Illinois
60189 or by e-mail to karting@msn.com using subject: Karting
Conference.
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EDITORS FOOTNOTE It has long been our assertion that the
business model of karting is upside down. As the performance level of
karts progressed under Moto power of the 90's SKUSA visionaries saw the
potential to build karting into a viable stand-alone spectator sport.
While this dream was slow to materialize it was moving forward until about 2002
when the bubble began to burst. The economy was in a downturn, and the
period of growth brought new business interests to karting. Kart racing
budgets were being trimmed while promoters, retailers, and most of the media
were up-marketing the price of racing. Between escalating cost to compete
and the growing number of races and promoters the value to the 95% of the
customers (think Joe Karter) tumbled. Many scaled down their racing
programs while others just quit karting. Had many in the industry paid
attention to the warning signs of the last three years the grids would still be
full.
The real problem is there isn't enough money in the collective pool of
karting budgets to pay the debt the industry has incurred. Not enough
karters to spend $10,000 on new equipment every year. Where that may be OK
for the top shoes on a national tour, that cost issue spilled down to the
regional and local levels too. Those of us who race Motos know that lesson
all too well. The industry was bent on making the Moto obsolete hoping the
Moto racers would buy new ICC's. Some did, but most quit karting.
And they weren't about to say wonderful things to promote karting afterwards.
At this point there is no painless solution for the industry, yet there are
solutions - solutions that are far better then doing nothing. All karters
need to be considered customers, not just the ones who bought the latest and
greatest gear in the last few months. Rules intended to obsolete equipment
have to be eliminated. No double talk on this just do it. Older
track worthy equipment has to have a place to race otherwise karters won't have
a down payment on new stuff. New karters have to be recruited. They
don't need the latest and greatest in their first year and given a sizable used
market the price of admission becomes far more affordable.
Track time is vital. 95% of the Karters don't want to spend any time at
the track Monday-Friday more then once or twice a year.
There are 3 geographical divisions in America. It just so happens there
are 3 major "National" organizations, one for each division. Respect that.
We don't need another year in Texas where there are over 40 weekends of regional
racing within a four hour drive of Dallas, and it's doubtful any other part of
the country needs a schedule that busy. Why on earth would anyone want to
go to a "regional" race and spend 5 times the money to race against 2 others?
Cooperation among promoters. That goes from the clubs, to the regions
to the divisions. It doesn't matter if the name has "International" or
"World" in it, the only way we'll have a true National is if all three
organizations run one together - at some place like Kansas City.
One rulebook, on the web. No more then 12 National classes. You
can have all the divisional classes you want, but in the end we don't need more
then 12 National classes. The retailers don't need to throw their
hard-earned profits away on rulebook advertising.
Media needs to look beyond the karting business for advertising revenue.
Media needs expand their exposure beyond just those who already have a go-kart.
It's not rocket science it's just plain business discipline.
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