The economy has had a major effect on the racing world over the past 2 years.  I believe that continuing to invest in your products and delivering on your customer’s demands is key to survival.  Just yesterday Indoor Karting News released that it will be closing it’s doors.  Excuses such as economic factors and business model issues were the major reasons for ending the sites existence.  I strongly believe that this could have been avoided if the company simply listened to their customers.

IKN had some great ideas on how to grow the indoor karting community through forums, driver rankings and advertising for tracks, however, I feel the site had some major flaws.  The driver rankings did not include drivers from tracks who were not partners with the website.  How can you have a true national ranking when you don’t have 80% of the drivers listed due to their track not advertising on the site?  Also, there were major flaws in how the scoring was kept.  Drivers from tracks with a great number of major races had points that were weighed heavier than the tracks with less events.  Also, the rankings did not differentiate endurance competitions from individual races.  The site also did not involve a kids ranking.

To finish on a high note, overall, I felt the site was a great step for the industry.  It is disappointing to see it fail but I think there was some great learning for other sites and future competition strategy.  Lehigh Valley Grand Prix is now partnering up with Sodi World Series which is an international ranking series that has some great promise in growing this fast growing sport.

Lehigh Valley Grand Prix is gearing up for it’s biggest race of the year.  The 12hrs of LVGP is a test of speed, endurance and mental toughness.  Teams from all over North America will be arriving in the Lehigh Valley to prove who is the best.  Last year’s event yielded teams from Michigan, Canada, Charlotte, Phoenix and the surrounding regions.  The competition was fierce and one critical tactical error can cost a team the race.

What is perhaps the most amazing part of the race is the fact that some teams will only have 2 drivers!  6 hrs behind the wheel is a long time to be driving on an indoor track.  These drivers tend to have a tremendous amount of time behind the wheel participating in all realms of racing from outdoor karting, sprint cars, indy cars and some even from NASCAR.

These drivers will all be fighting for some big prizes.  The first place team will receive $2,400, 2nd- $1,600 and 3rd place will win free entry to next year’s race.  Teams are starting to confirm for this big event.  The entry is $1,200 and to reserve your team you must put down a deposit of 50%.

Even if you are not racing, it will be a great event to come and watch some of the best drivers from around North America fight it out for 12hrs!!!