The Glen charges nothing to park a motorhome for racers. Mosport
charges nothing for racers with motorhomes and there is electrical
hookup if you get there early enough. Summit Point (WV) will charge
$40 deposit if you want electrical service for a motorhome and refund
$20 when you return the lock. So the end result is, for $20 you have
electric service for the weekend. That's fine. No fees otherwise at SP.
How does MO justify the $75 fee to just park a motorhome? It would
certainly be different if there were power or other utilities offered,
but to just allow you the opportunity to park seems a bit out of line,
especially when they hope to line their pockets as a result of our
presence with gate receipts. What is the difference between a
tractor-trailer rig and a motorhome that the motorhome needs to pay?
Vintage racing is a costly hobby, and getting more expensive all the
time. I may be wrong, but I believe I heard there was no fee at the
VSCDA event at MO for motorhome parking. If in fact that is the case,
why the difference?
I hadn't heard any of the issues with the Monoposto group at Mosport
so I can't comment on that. If it was a gridding issue I will comment
from my own experiences with VARAC. I have found them more than
willing to accomodate requests of moves to other groups, especially if
based on overall speed potential in the interest of safety. I would
hope that group speaks with VARAC and works toward a resolution if
there are open issues. They even asked us as racers to just let them
know if there was anything they could do to help us in any way through
the entire weekend. Again, speaking from my own experiences, I have
never seen better customer service at any event in my 15 years of racing.
After the Triumph event in 2002 at MO I contacted the track with
accounts of some of the issues that really detracted from the overall
event and felt I got a "corporate line" response. They denied their
actions in some cases. Even Bobby Rahal was given a hard time when
trying to access his garage as was Mr. Harmon, SVRA's head of timing
and scoring when he tried to get his equipment into the timing
center. The list went on and I had specifics of times and dates to
support my accusations. Nobody even called me back after the initial
conversation.
As it is in politics, good reputations take a long time to build, but
can quickly be dashed. A long standing history of poor customer
service and confrontation is going to be even more difficult for MO to
turn around, even if they are sincere in their expressed current
positive efforts. It's unfortunate they waited so long to address this
situation and it seems it took a heavy hit to their pocketbook that
forced them to pay attention. Actions will speak louder than words or
empty rhetoric, but they have already lost a number of significant
events to more friendly sites and that has got to impact their bottom
line. It's a great track and the facility certainly seems to be well
maintained but that's not enough in today's competitive market. If the
track falters economically and becomes a housing development, it's
attitude that will have caused it, not location or infrastructure.
Perhaps, even if MO doesn't get it turned around, this situation will
stand as notice to other locations of how important customer relations
are to their economic success or failure. That can ultimately only
benefit racers and sanctioning bodies in future years.
I am sure I represent most racers in thanking Jeff and company for
trying to improve this situation at MO.
Russ Moore
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