Formula D no longer coming to Chicago?

[silviaguy]

I was listening to battle garage podcast and heard Ryan Sage saying "Chicago is done" because next year they will no longer do parking lot events.

I for one would like to know are they looking for another location? I have a few that they might want to look at. Formula D needs to come back to Chicago. We always get shafted to import events.

You can hear it for yourself. Oh and they talk about the proam series

An interview with Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage of Formula D: Post Season and future outlook

[kidynomite]

There are no Chicago tracks... And I figured that would happen oh well, I enjoy the tracks that we use, but FD would probably never do them due to thier locations, I am happier that way.

[silviaguy]

Well I was thinking of two tracks. One being Chicago Motor Speedway but I just found out they are no longer running

"Chicago Motor Speedway is a 1.029 mile oval located in Cicero, Illinois just outside of Chicago. The track is not in operation at this time."

Second was Chicagoland Speedway down in Joliet. But I from what I remember they are locked down to one event promoter for Import events. It might be hard to get let Slipstream to have a drifting event there with them asking for a kick back of some sorts. Plus looking at the Oval track doesn't look like that will work either.

http://www.chicagolandspeedway.com

So Chicago might just be out of luck as far as Formula D goes. But you never know we might jsut get some of the new drifting series to stop by.

[markshatchi86]

that sucks, thats always been a good venue/race, regardless if its in a parking lot or not.

i know its really expensive to rent out that lot, maybe thats the reasoning for this.

[NOPITECH]

Looks like NOPI will be going to Chicago (Toyota Park), as well as Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Phoenix, St. Louis, Miami, and Dallas.

Still working on the schedule, but hopefully it will be up next week.

[Slapshotnerd]

that sucks, thats always been a good venue/race, regardless if its in a parking lot or not.

i know its really expensive to rent out that lot, maybe thats the reasoning for this.

I think it's more along the lines of making their series more and more professional. There is a point where you have to realize that a parking lot just isn't going to cut it as a professional series.

[Mike Peters]

that lot was pretty small, it might have had something to do with that place was crammed with bleachers, adn the fences were still 6-7 deep. just cant fit people in there.

[kidynomite]

I think it's more along the lines of making their series more and more professional. There is a point where you have to realize that a parking lot just isn't going to cut it as a professional series.

Thats a shitty reason, Daiba is a great example.

The whole stands thing is the only reason I see, all cuz the show is more important than the comp...

[markshatchi86]

I think it's more along the lines of making their series more and more professional. There is a point where you have to realize that a parking lot just isn't going to cut it as a professional series.

maybe that too, but i also remember this year talking to someone on staff and being told how much it was to rent that spot compared to most other places on the tour.

[Mike Peters]

Thats a shitty reason, Daiba is a great example.

The whole stands thing is the only reason I see, all cuz the show is more important than the comp...

when your a professional series you have to take that into account. formula d isnt top tier grasroots anymore. have you seen the rigs everyone has now? you gotta make room for your event to have it.

not saying thats the reason, but i could definately see it being a problem.

[ZoltecRules]

Like I said on clubfr.net, there are still plenty of tracks near Chicago. Not like any of the other events are as close to the City as Solider Field was:

Atlanta: Actually in Braselton, GA 50 mi outside Atlanta
Sonoma: 45 mi to San Fran (Sonoma is small, just known for their wine)
Seattle: Actually in Monroe, WA 30 mi outside of seattle
Wall, NJ: 60 miles from NYC, 45 mi from Trenton
Irwindale, CA: on the NE edge of the LA metropolis

[BenR]

Could always move it to belle isle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_Isle_(Michigan)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSFKArA4kRc

[kidynomite]

The tracks around Chicago don't meet the criteria still. Autobahn is a definate no, partly cuz autobahn is expensive and also because they don't want thier *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored* damaged and dont want bleachers put all over the place.

The other tracks are not fan friendly, RA would be the best bet but there is not much for driftable corners. They won't use a kart track cuz it seems like they are avoiding 2nd gear stuff, even though its fun as hell.

Only small possibilities are use of random oval tracks but they already have the wall, and a majority of people wouldnt drive more than an hour or 2 from the city for an event.

At this point they are done with thier scheduling, so for 07 its way too late.

[sweetcarz02]

Road Atlanta isn't quite 50 miles from the city. Plus no one lives in the city, mostly the suburbs which are 10-20 miles from the track.

I am pretty sure Formula D isn't worried about the money it costs to rent the lot, lol. If you have to take into consideration several things.

1.The fans. The venue needs to easily accomidate 10,000 people+. If you keep driving the fans in Chicago into a small very packed venue.......they are going to get discourged and stop coming to your event. This isn't a good thing.

2.The drivers. Chicago was one of the smaller registered events car wise if I remember right and it was a packed house. The fact that some teams were having to park "off site" is pretty shitty. I shot Tanner's car at the event this year we could only move the car about 5 feet from the AEM rig.

3. What Jacob said. Now with so many other series coming around I think Formula D would want to take a stance as a premiere series and a perfect way to do that is to target track events only.

4. I love lamp and Mike Peters mullet.