BIGCHUCK
04-09-2009, 11:56 AM
First, we want to thank Sonny Brown for putting on a great racing series these last 3 years. He has turned his vision for a touring series for brushless oval racing into something which has been great for racers, sponsors and the hobby in general. Every BRL race we’ve attended has been well run, competitive and fair. We also want to thank Sonny for entrusting his “baby” to us for the future. We’re humbled and flattered that he considered us worthy step dads and we’ll do our best to continue the tradition he has established. We’d also like to thank the many sponsors and especially the racers for their support of the series. We look forward to working with you all in the future.
It’s natural that with a change in leadership everyone has questions about the future. We can’t answer all those questions right now. We’ve got several months ahead of us where the industry will bring out new products and we also want to see the outcome of efforts to bring some consistency to oval carpet racing rules before settling everything for next season. We're already a part of those discussions and we can already see more common ground than differences going forward. Our target is to have new rules and a schedule set for the series before the end of August. That should give everyone lots of time to prepare for the 2009-2010 Brushless Racing League Oval Tour.
For the record, we won’t be taking any polls on what the BRL should do going forward. We’re very open to ideas and suggestions and will listen to them all. We realize we don’t have a monopoly on good ideas. But there clearly is no consensus currently within the oval community on much of anything. As a quick example, we’ve already had racers tell us to add races; while others say 5 was perfect and a few think it’s too much. So it is impossible to make everyone happy. And votes taken on the various forums only gather input from the guys voting; which may or may not be a representative sampling. We will be trying some different ways to gather input from BRL racers, sponsors and tracks before settling things for next season.
There are some things we can tell you right now. First, our thoughts and Sonny’s are more alike than different on most of the hot issues in oval. So don’t expect radical changes.
Next, we hope to have all of the tracks that hosted an event this year back next year. There hasn’t been an opportunity to talk with them all yet, but we hope we can work out dates and other details so they all come back. At this time, we don’t expect to add many races, if any; especially not in the geographic area covered by this year’s events. We’re track owners so we’re sensitive to the problem of too many big races in a region drawing off the regular racers from the tracks.
We’re also pleased to say that we’ve already spoken with many of the sponsors and they say they’ll be back. Most of the behind the scene guys who’ve supported Sonny have also agreed to support us going forward. So there will be a lot of continuity in spite of Sonny passing off the baton. We’re especially thankful for this early support. That support makes it much easier to sleep at night after deciding to take all of this on. Of course, Sonny’s still around and will be giving us advice as well.
As for classes and rules, details will have to wait a bit for the smoke to clear. We will say that 4 touring classes seem to be about right as a number. That makes for a reasonable weekend schedule giving everyone lots of track time. It also allows us to add an exhibition class or two according to the interests of the local tracks. We also agree with Sonny’s attempt to have some differentiation in body rules so that all the classes don’t look the same. So don’t expect wings in all classes. But you can expect a COT bodied class and maybe the return of truck bodies. We’ll also say that we’re convinced that Lipo batteries have shown they are at least as safe as NiMH batteries when each are handled properly. And single cell Lipo’s are a very affordable alternative to NiMH. So expect next season to be the first for the BRL Oval Tour to use Lipo batteries exclusively. But it’s too early to be more specific about the complete battery rules for next season.
That’s about all we should say right now except to say again that we appreciate the support we’ve been shown already by racers, track owners and sponsors and we’re looking forward to a great BRL season in 2009 – 2010!
CK Racing
Big Chuck and Chuck Kleinhagen
It’s natural that with a change in leadership everyone has questions about the future. We can’t answer all those questions right now. We’ve got several months ahead of us where the industry will bring out new products and we also want to see the outcome of efforts to bring some consistency to oval carpet racing rules before settling everything for next season. We're already a part of those discussions and we can already see more common ground than differences going forward. Our target is to have new rules and a schedule set for the series before the end of August. That should give everyone lots of time to prepare for the 2009-2010 Brushless Racing League Oval Tour.
For the record, we won’t be taking any polls on what the BRL should do going forward. We’re very open to ideas and suggestions and will listen to them all. We realize we don’t have a monopoly on good ideas. But there clearly is no consensus currently within the oval community on much of anything. As a quick example, we’ve already had racers tell us to add races; while others say 5 was perfect and a few think it’s too much. So it is impossible to make everyone happy. And votes taken on the various forums only gather input from the guys voting; which may or may not be a representative sampling. We will be trying some different ways to gather input from BRL racers, sponsors and tracks before settling things for next season.
There are some things we can tell you right now. First, our thoughts and Sonny’s are more alike than different on most of the hot issues in oval. So don’t expect radical changes.
Next, we hope to have all of the tracks that hosted an event this year back next year. There hasn’t been an opportunity to talk with them all yet, but we hope we can work out dates and other details so they all come back. At this time, we don’t expect to add many races, if any; especially not in the geographic area covered by this year’s events. We’re track owners so we’re sensitive to the problem of too many big races in a region drawing off the regular racers from the tracks.
We’re also pleased to say that we’ve already spoken with many of the sponsors and they say they’ll be back. Most of the behind the scene guys who’ve supported Sonny have also agreed to support us going forward. So there will be a lot of continuity in spite of Sonny passing off the baton. We’re especially thankful for this early support. That support makes it much easier to sleep at night after deciding to take all of this on. Of course, Sonny’s still around and will be giving us advice as well.
As for classes and rules, details will have to wait a bit for the smoke to clear. We will say that 4 touring classes seem to be about right as a number. That makes for a reasonable weekend schedule giving everyone lots of track time. It also allows us to add an exhibition class or two according to the interests of the local tracks. We also agree with Sonny’s attempt to have some differentiation in body rules so that all the classes don’t look the same. So don’t expect wings in all classes. But you can expect a COT bodied class and maybe the return of truck bodies. We’ll also say that we’re convinced that Lipo batteries have shown they are at least as safe as NiMH batteries when each are handled properly. And single cell Lipo’s are a very affordable alternative to NiMH. So expect next season to be the first for the BRL Oval Tour to use Lipo batteries exclusively. But it’s too early to be more specific about the complete battery rules for next season.
That’s about all we should say right now except to say again that we appreciate the support we’ve been shown already by racers, track owners and sponsors and we’re looking forward to a great BRL season in 2009 – 2010!
CK Racing
Big Chuck and Chuck Kleinhagen