What happened to the ATL Region?

I've been on the west coast for the last 5 years, but back now.  Looking at the SE Div schedule for 2020 shows only 1 regional weekend + ARRC at Road Atlanta.  I seem to recall that back in the day, there were several races (before the March Majors race joined the calendar).  It seems that if you want to run a regional "season", you have to travel everywhere like the old Nationals days.  What did I miss?

Message site Member, Mr. ATL, Jim Creighton.

Same thing happened to the Great Lakes Div schedule over the last few years. FIVE regionals the entire year, and three of them are at Mid-Ohio. No more Nelsons Ledges, no Pitt Race, no O'Reilly (IRP), no MIS, no Nat'l Corvette. Once upon a time you could race practically every other weekend. Events go away due to lack of entrants.

In the early 2000's I raced as much in Are 4 as I did in my Area 5. Raced a Spec7. We wouldn't talk about how and why Area 4 got greedy and became the Great Lakes Division. Nuff said on that fiasco. 

It used to be that the ATL region used to get RA for free provided they provided corner workers for Petit Le Mans.  So, why would that be reduced makes no sense.  And there were plenty of entrants for all but the March race when i last raced there 2013 - I think it went head to head with a race at Sebring or Daytona, which took away some entrants.

It used to be that there was an ATL region championship, but I can't imagine one now with this number of races.

The Atlanta Region to used to trade off track rental for workers for RA events. That all went away a number of years ago. And when NASCAR bought Road Atlanta, they seemed to care less about having Atlanta Region events. After all, we provide our own workers, the only organization that does that. R A gives AR a "reduced" rate for AR providing the workers for the  P L race but that event costs the Region a bunch.

We lost the spring Regional date to a group that would/could pay more and are left with the March Majors, the July Double SARRC and the ARRC. Both the Super Tour in March and the July date do OK. The ARRC needs some help and I've been talking with some folks on how to bring some renewed life to it.

The SEDiv race calendar is pretty full with races happening from the first weekend in January at Homestead and concluding on Thanksgiving weekend with the Turkey Trot. Our race program is the healthiest in all SCCA by far. With Homestead, Palm Beach, Sebring, Daytona, Roebling Road, Road Atlanta, Barber, Carolina MSP, Charlotte and VIR, We are blessed with great race tracks. And we have road courses at Rockingham, Atlanta Motorsports Park and Atlanta Motor Speedway we do not use.The Division has about 1400 licensed drivers split pretty evenly between Florida and the rest of the Division. And as I said, you can race year round except for December. We had 7 Major events and about 25 regional events in 2019. That's a healthy schedule.

The Atlanta Region to used to trade off track rental for workers for RA events. That all went away a number of years ago. And when NASCAR bought Road Atlanta, they seemed to care less about having Atlanta Region events. After all, we provide our own workers, the only organization that does that. R A gives AR a "reduced" rate for AR providing the workers for the  P L race but that event costs the Region a bunch.

 

We lost the spring Regional date to a group that would/could pay more and are left with the March Majors, the July Double SARRC and the ARRC. Both the Super Tour in March and the July date do OK. The ARRC needs some help and I've been talking with some folks on how to bring some renewed life to it.

 

The SEDiv race calendar is pretty full with races happening from the first weekend in January at Homestead and concluding on Thanksgiving weekend with the Turkey Trot. Our race program is the healthiest in all SCCA by far. With Homestead, Palm Beach, Sebring, Daytona, Roebling Road, Road Atlanta, Barber, Carolina MSP, Charlotte and VIR, We are blessed with great race tracks. And we have road courses at Rockingham, Atlanta Motorsports Park and Atlanta Motor Speedway we do not use.The Division has about 1400 licensed drivers split pretty evenly between Florida and the rest of the Division. And as I said, you can race year round except for December. We had 7 Major events and about 25 regional events in 2019. That's a healthy schedule.

Thanks Jim.  I appreciate this background.  My regret is that the Road Atlanta-centric season has faded away.  So, more travel and time away from work is necessary.  So, yes, lots of racing available, if you're willing to travel.  Not sure why we don't use Atlanta Motor Speedway.  I think that would be a good substitute for the lost dates at RA.  (I recall that AMP has not passed club racing safety inspections in the past).