It’s Easy. Just Pre-Enter!

By John Copeland

More and more tracks and promoters are offering significant discounts on entry fees for karters who pre-enter. It helps them plan for staffing, trophies, and concession stand food. And it gives them a certain amount of comfort in answering the question “Will anybody show up?”

As the cost of everything involved with going racing goes up and up, it’s a rare opportunity when a track or promoter offers a chance to pay LESS to get on the track. Pre-entering has become the norm in Sprint Racing, Enduro Karting, and other varieties of karting.

So why have Vintage Karters been so reluctant to embrace pre-entering as a way to save a few dollars? I’ve asked that question more than a few times and gotten different answers; “I’ve always entered at the track and it’s always worked out ok” or, “What if it rains and we don’t get to race?, or, (and I love this one) “I never decide until the last minute if I’m going to go or not.”

I’m not saying that these aren’t honest answers, but there comes a point where all of us in Vintage Karting need to be thinking about how we can make it more attractive for these tracks to host our events.

We’re certainly not a big money-maker for them; some of the traveling series bring more folks to a practice day than we bring all weekend. And our classes, and rules, and special events like the 3-Lap Monte are mostly foreign to them and they struggle to accommodate us. But they are karters just like us and, like us, they love seeing the old karts and engines on the track. 

When I talk to tracks and promoters about what we can do to make their lives easier, without exception they tell me “I wish more people would pre-enter. It makes it easier for us to plan.” 

And every track, and every promoter, will be happy to issue full refunds in the event of a rain-out. That is not an issue. 

So how about it? How about we show these folks (without whom we don’t have any such thing as Vintage Karting) some love and send in our pre-entries?