Behold the power of The Grapevine Report! Nothing like a well-placed rumor to get people to jump into action, or the fear of losing out on a race location to your competitor. As it was discussed ten days ago here on the web’s worst kept secret, here’s the final word:
Superkarts! USA has confirmed that it will return to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino for SuperNationals XII, their end-of-the-year extravaganza that remains one of the biggest events on the North American calendar. The SuperNats is slated for November 20-23, 2008.
The timing of the announcement is a bit odd, as most people are doing anything but thinking about their kart racing on July 4th, let alone the July 4th weekend. Media traffic/interest on holiday weekends is traditionally at yearly lows, and it definitely lends credence to the notion that the SKUSA organization was mighty eager to get the word out as soon as possible. It was clearly important to squash any rumors that they might lose out on the bid to hold their race at the site of the 2002 and 2003 SuperNationals.
Ultimately, no one will care about the timing as the news itself comes as a nice boost for the karting community at a moment when good news has been tough to find. Also good to hear is that SKUSA has done away with its maligned 2007 format in which the racers were on track on Wednesday. This is undoubtedly a result of the late 2007 PRI show “summit” meeting among certain team owners, who collectively drew a line in the sand and let SKUSA know that five days of track time was idiotic, given that some classes were on track only twice a day.
The class structure has also undergone some tweaking, as last year’s bloated ten classes also drew heavy criticism. Right now, the eight confirmed classes are SuperPro, TaG, TaG Masters, G1, S1, S3, S4, and S5. There might be other classes added later, however.
All in all, it looks as though SKUSA has taken some of their customers’ advice to heart, and taken the race back to a better location, with fewer days on the track, and (hopefully) fewer classes. It’s a great coup for the organization when it definitely needs a shot in the arm, as the attendance numbers at all of its regional series, including its once premier ProKart Challenge in southern California, have experienced poor entry counts throughout 2008. You can almost be sure, SuperNats XII won’t be short on entries, as the thrill of returning to The Rio should have people talking about this event for the coming months.
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12 Responses to “SKUSA Confirms SuperNats at The Rio”
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July 4th, 2008 at 10:42 am
hahahahaha, you guys crack me up here. great tagline, nice to read something with substance. the skusa-slant at the other site is getting a bit boring, skusa cuts a big fart and theres a press release about it. the rio is a good thing though can’t wait to get there.
July 4th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
For SKUSA V1 the Rio was the best and the worst, the “next level” and the nail in the coffin……..I hope these guys have crossed their T’s and dotted their I’s……
regardless it will be awesome for those who attend……great memories from the “corner” bar…..
Wish I could be there but I’ll be on my way to a race featuring 3 classes and 260+ competitors representing 60+ countries….. hoping to help bring the FWT it’s second World Title…..RMCGF in La Conca, Italy…….
July 4th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Mr. Wright brings up a good point. Now the supernats are the same weekend as the rotax finals in italy, does that mean no rotax classes this year at the supernats? if kutchner goes for a gazillion classes like last year i’ll be staying home, if he can keep it at eight i’ll be there.
and yes, the last rio race bankrupted skusa. funny how everyone remembers what a great time it was on jim murley’s dime, but no one cares that it helped lead to the end of that age of skusa.
July 4th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Definitely a good thing for the sport. No one ever wanted to admit that sam boyd was a step backwards. Incredible that the rio is cheaper, but thats good for us.
SKUSA has done some good things with this news, but I also hope that the entry fees go down. This race was robbery last year between entry fees and the tire scam.
July 4th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Actually it’s not on the same weekend as the RMCGF, it’s the weekend before. But I’ll be going over early to prep for the event. As much as I’d like to be back at the Rio I want “my” boys to have a smooth ride over there and will make sure their arrival goes smoothly……
July 4th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Last I heard SKUSA would not include Rotax in 2008. I’ve heard pretty strong rumor that STARS want’s to have them at their finals. They could use the numbers……..
July 4th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
well maybe their will be rotax any way.
i wonder if skusa is going to do anything new though. so far they’re doing a good job of doing everything that murley used to do like regionals and now the supernats at rio, but do they have any new ideas or is the goal just to capture the glory of the past? we need some forward thinkers in this sport not people who just copy what others have done. either way i’m glad to see it but i am curious.
July 4th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Lol lol lol, love the no vanilla part. Dead on the money.
July 5th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Great news for skusa and for karting, maybe this will get some people excited.
July 6th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
I have mixed feelings. I really want to see this thing succeed but all SKUSA did after last years race was tell everyone how broke it made them and how they lost money (umm, okay if you say so). Going to THE RIO is only going to cost more, I hope SKUSA manages to make this work better without giving it to the racer in the a$$ through entry fees, pit spots and tire prices. This could be good, could be bad, I hope it ends up good.
July 19th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Mixed feelings, new ideas, entry fees need to go down, farts, glory of the past…
It is easy to bitch and moan what you do not like… how about one less beer or IPod downlaod, save your money. Then dedicate to be at Nats XII like SKUSA has every year for 11 years, putting on a mega event that exists no where else in the US for drivers of a broad range.
We always want the easy way. I have watched TK dedicate himself to making this event bigger and badder.. you want new how about CIK approval last year with Ardig and Thonon and many more to show up to beat our best. If that is not new in a big way, I am not sure what would work, perhaps kart drifting, now there is a novel idea.
Sorry to blast but either you put it on the track or stand on the fence and wish you had saved that buck to be there. SNXII will be another bad to the bone event not intended to be cheap or to work around other events, just a bad to the bone 300 plus driver event at one badass location.
TK will make sure of it… By the way I am not on the SKUSA payroll if you are thinking that. And I am sure I will get blasted for this message…
July 20th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Jim,
Hmmm, why do you think you’ll get blasted? You do sound like you’re taking it a bit personal. The original article was pretty balanced- it talked about some of the good things that SKUSAs doing (taking customer’s advice to heart, reducing classes, fewer days, etc.) but also questions other decisions. Its not even that critical, it’s just mild commentary. Why so serious?
I wrenched last years event and while the euro thing was great, you can’t pretend for a moment that it also wasn’t a pretty big butt ream for the racer.
Just so you know, your bad to the bone 300 plus racer event will probably need 10 classes to get that many entries. It used to be SKUSA needed 5 classes to get 320 drivers.
Like I said originally, this is a good announcement, hopefully it will get people excited about karting. But just because people don’t blindly support SKUSA (or Stars, or whatever) 100% in everything they do, there’s no need to get all fire and brimstone on people. You’re excited for the supernats, thats cool, don’t get wedgy over people who have legitamate concerns.