OMRRA Needs More Racers for September
- More racers & volunteers need to commit to the September round
- Our registration goal deadline is 10 AM on September 19th
- We will not race if the air quality does not improve in Portland
- WMRRA has canceled the October round at The Ridge
- 2020 will only have a championship if we race in September
Hello OMRRA Racers,
As you likely remember back in July, we had to clear a financial hurdle weeks in advance to the race weekend, before committing to the run the event.
For the September round, registration was opened without communication of a financial hurdle with the expectation that a combined OMRRA/WMRRA race would draw more than enough racers. This was of course before the recent events, with the fires and smoke in our area.
Needless to say, the fires in the Pacific Northwest have compounded an already difficult set of circumstances (particularly with the COVID-19 restrictions at PIR) for running the combined OMRRA / WMRRA race round scheduled for September 25th-27th.
Adding to that list, we have only 33% of the entries necessary to make the September round break-even financially for the club. This isn’t an abnormal number when we are 10 days away from a race weekend, but it is unacceptable for us to risk a round that doesn’t have strong attendance from both OMRRA and WMRRA.
The OMRRA Board of Directors is committed to running only profitable races for the club, as we are not monetarily in a position to run a race weekend at a financial loss.
We are also committed to running only races that will be safe for our competitors and volunteers. Therefore, several things will need to happen for us to have another racing event this year.
OMRRA Must Meet the Following Criteria to Run a September Round:
1) We must have and additional $25,000 in race registrations (approximately 70 more racers) by 10:00 AM on Saturday, September 19th.
2) We must have commitment from a minimum set of volunteers by this same time, in order to safely run the races.
3) Finally, the air quality index in Portland must fall to a safer level.
Here’s What You Can Do If You Want This Event to Take Place:
1) If you are a racer, then you need to sign-up now to race. Note that your race fees are fully-committed and non-refundable if the event takes place, but are refundable or credited-in-full if the event does not take place.
2) If you are a volunteer, email [email protected] with your availability and commitment.
3) If you want to support the round financially, you can donate via PayPal to [email protected] (there is a link on the main page of omrra.com as well).
WMRRA Has Canceled the October Round at The Ridge:
WMRRA has announced that it will no longer be hosting the scheduled joint round in October at the Ridge Motorsports Park.
This means that if we are indeed able to race in September at Portland International Raceway, then the weekend will be the 2020 season finale for both clubs.
2020 Championship Status:
Due to the cancelation of the October round, the ability of OMRRA to declare 2020 a championship season depends on whether or not we run our September round.
If the September races take place, then season awards will be given, as all the trophy classes will have had five races this season.
However, if the September races do not take place, then the 2020 season will not meet the necessary criteria in the OMRRA rulebook to be declared a championship, and thus the championships will have to be voided.
We obviously don’t want this to be the case, so please sign-up for the September round.
This month has been a rollercoaster of constantly changing hurdles and dynamic events that have made planning the September round incredibly challenging, and we appreciate all of the OMRRA members understanding as we adapt to the circumstances in front of us.
We really want to be on the race track with you this September, for one more weekend this year, so please register now and encourage your racing friends to do the same.