I know it's long, but please read the whole thing. I spent a bit of time putting a lot of thoughts down.
--The multiple race setup has merit, but it does not give newer drivers a chance to learn the track. Keep in mind throughout this discussion that most of the people responding here have some years of experience under their belts and know the tracks we run. We want to make sure that new people feel welcome and are given the opportunity to become comfortable enough with the tracks to be "safe" when racing (good for them, good for the rest of us...).
--The triple at Spokane is probably a good idea, given the length of haul for most of the rest of Conference to get there. For us, it was a real scramble to get everything in place before practice since work schedule kept us from leaving early. After that, though, things settled down to a "normal" double-race scenario--we just stayed longer than normal.
--Drawbacks for triple weekends:
--Sounds like they are more work for the volunteers. Would be good to hear more from the organizers and those working the race.
--They require extra time off from work unless they happen over a holiday.
--Bad luck moments (like blowing a motor or some other irreplaceable part) become very significant when you take out 3 races in one fell swoop.
Because of these things, I don't think having triple at the other tracks is a good idea.
--I agree with Jerald that we need to keep adding creativity. My opinion, though, is that 6-8 championship races is too few, and that having a "no drop" policy screws up the points run. **Racing is a large portion LUCK (of course coupled with prep, talent, etc.) but that means that in any championship run, to be fair, we should concede that luck plays a part and allow drivers to drop those bad luck events. It allows that we are amateur drivers and subject to the whims of work schedules and budget, etc.
--Having run all 15 races this year, I will say that it was intense (especially on the heels of 2 years running almost all the races). Although, if I wasn't trying to raise and homeschool 2 kids, in 4-H, with the schooling aspect getting to a critical time, it wouldn't have been so hard. One just needs to learn to ignore the dust and mess in the house, do laundry when you can, and not get tired of eating the same stuff out of the cooler for 6 months...
After all, where else would a racecar driver want to be?
Complaint:
--The back-to-back race weekends are rough, but it makes it really rough when they have long hauls associated with them. If we have to have back-to-back weekends, don't make them doubles (too hard to get time to overhaul the car) and try to make them the centrally located tracks.
Comment:
--When the Ridge comes online, do NOT make it a double-points race. This is the surest way to screw up someone's championship run if they have a bad weekend. If someone has to drop the double-points race as their bad one then the competition essentially gets an extra race worth of points, and if both competitors run hard all season, it is impossible to regroup from that. (Spoken from rather bitter experience...)
It also has the potential to make people driver harder than they should to get the extra points.
It's a bad idea--do something else to draw people to the opener at the track.
Enduros:
--Having an enduro series might push away people who don't wish to drive other people's cars, and/or don't have cars set up for longer stints. Enduros are not necessarily cheaper.
--On the other hand, having an enduro in the nicer weather months might draw in a lot more entries than always having them in the rain and snow...
Creativity:
--The special races are a good draw. (The Mazda one doesn't seem to be working out as well as the others... maybe we need a different theme or different advertising.) Really the special races should draw people who might not normally race with us. The German race seemed to bring out cars we don't normally see.
--The Vintage group is a stellar idea. Totally new people for the most part. Let's keep that.
--Someone recently mentioned that they liked the idea of having a miniature race as the qualifying for the main race. We could have practice, qualifying (for the miniature) on Sat. and then use qualifying times to set a grid for the qualifying race Sun. morning, then take the finishing positions to grid for the main race.
Maybe each club does this once during the year? Give out small plaques for the qualifying race?