Sports in the Rough has announced it's new 2002 ProROCK rockcrawling series..

check out all the details

ProROCK (http://www.outdoorwire.com/4x4/news/prorock02/)

For as little text as he used drawing up the rules, I think they did a VERY nice job on the "Modified Stock" class.

{rant on SITR removed here :D}

TEX

No word on what the entry fee will be. I wonder if it will be as expensive as past SITR events.

That should be pretty cool. Didn't ARCA plan on doing a National Coverage?

Has anyone been to a SITR event?

List of event schedules:


ARCA (http://www.outdoorwire.com/4x4/news/arca02/arca02.htm)

UROC (http://www.outdoorwire.com/4x4/news/uroc/uroc02.htm)

CalROCS (http://www.outdoorwire.com/4x4/news/CalROCS/calrocs02.htm)

Im pretty interested in this series since it brings rockcrawling a little closer to home.
Anyone seen any good write ups on the 2001 WRCC?? Im interested in the stock modified class.
Rockdawg---Were you at the 2000 WRCC at Montrose???? Think I may have talked to you on day 2.

Originally posted by yjfish
Im pretty interested in this series since it brings rockcrawling a little closer to home.
Anyone seen any good write ups on the 2001 WRCC?? Im interested in the stock modified class.
Rockdawg---Were you at the 2000 WRCC at Montrose???? Think I may have talked to you on day 2.

We're (4x4wire.com) are working on finalizing our coverage of the 2001 WRCC.

btw, it's Rockdog, not to be confused with Rockdawg.. and no, I wasn't in Montrose.. :(

Originally posted by Tony Capino


Has anyone been to a SITR event?

Not a rock one. Went to MudStock though. Hopefully, he does a better job with a more "focused" single-event competition.

TEX

Originally posted by LowGunCJ
No word on what the entry fee will be. I wonder if it will be as expensive as past SITR events.

If I was to make an educated guess, I'd say plan on the per event fee being at least as high as in the past, with a separate 1-time fee for the series (and that 1-time fee will most likely be required of ALL competitors whether they want to join the series or not).

Still just speculating though.

TEX

Originally posted by TEX


If I was to make an educated guess, I'd say plan on the per event fee being at least as high as in the past, with a separate 1-time fee for the series (and that 1-time fee will most likely be required of ALL competitors whether they want to join the series or not).

Still just speculating though.

TEX

The fee for the WRCC was $350 a piece.

The series fee for ARCA is $300, plus an event fee of $125. So it may be somewhat comparable.

Okay, if we assume a per event fee of $350 per vehicle without including joining the association, he could collect as much as $294,000 in entry fees (assuming he blows out both classes with 70 entries each, at all 6 events). Should he collect the maximum amount, he's promising $219,600 in prize money. That's a really nice chunk of prize money - until you figure that it's $74,400 less than he'd collect in entry $$$ (again, making the $350 per event assumption). And keep in mind, he also keeps all the spectator $$$ & most of the sponsor $$$.

It's not a BAD deal. But, I just firmly believe that you don't try to get any of your expenses back directly FROM the competitors - after all, they're providing the SHOW. Just up the prize $$ to 100% of entry $$ & you've got my respect :)

'Course, there's also this matter:

"The only decals not allowed are those
advertising other events, profanity or considered as socially offensive."

Guess it's only a problem if your sponsor puts on events, in which case you'd have to cover up the decals that paid for your ride.

The end of the year purse looks pretty nice. I suspect a lot of folks are gonna want a piece of it. Overall, looks like a decent deal, just think he's trying to milk the competitors a little too hard.

TEX

Do you guys think he'll be able to fill up the "trophy class"? I am almost positive he won't fill up the "modified stock" class. He is announcing it kind of late, the first event is about 2 months away. He is also going to have to pull a lot of people away from ARCA to get 70 rigs, of course that is a lot of prize money.

Right now I see ARCA as the biggest/best rockcrawling competition with the best teams competiting. Do you think this ProRock will ever become bigger than ARCA?

I'd be up for competing in the modified class, but not for an entry fee of $400.00. The modified stock class should have a much lower entry, as it will consist of mainly local competitors. Also my rig is factory SUA, would a change to SOA with Hi-steer be allowed under the rules? Are axle swaps allowed, IE replacing the 44 in the back with a 60? Let me know, as I'd like to look for some minor sponsors.

Joe

Originally posted by jdjanda
Also my rig is factory SUA, would a change to SOA with Hi-steer be allowed under the rules? Are axle swaps allowed, IE replacing the 44 in the back with a 60?

Good question on the SOA. Hard to say from the rules.

On the axle - Way I read it, you can replace an axle with a larger one of the same design. In other words, you can replace a solid 44 with a solid 60. But, if you're IFS, you can't go solid.

TEX

Originally posted by LowGunCJ
Do you guys think he'll be able to fill up the "trophy class"? I am almost positive he won't fill up the "modified stock" class. He is announcing it kind of late, the first event is about 2 months away. He is also going to have to pull a lot of people away from ARCA to get 70 rigs, of course that is a lot of prize money.

Right now I see ARCA as the biggest/best rockcrawling competition with the best teams competiting. Do you think this ProRock will ever become bigger than ARCA?

Hard to say if he can fill up both classes at any events, much less the first one. The prize $ is nice, but it IS contingent on the # of entries. He doesn't specify what he'll pay for less than a full class. I would suspect it would be proportional (say 50% prize $ for 35 entries), but who really knows? That needs to be spelled out.

As for pulling rigs FROM ARCA, I don't see a problem if dates don't clash. I pull NMRO guys into my GUMBO events. But, if I were to race the same day as NMRO, I'd lose some (and they'd lose some too heheheh).

TEX

The dates don't clash, but I'm wondering about people forking out more entry fees for another series. I guess that won't be much of a problem for the big names (Currie, Evans, etc.), but the littler guys (Paule, Shupe, etc.) might not be up to it. He is going to need to get both the big and little guys to fill it up.

Guess it depends on how much chance they think they have of taking a piece of the prize purse. The "independents" who consistently place at or near the top will probably jump at the chance to join another series. And he might steal some ARCA guys since he has some Eastern events. I'd have to say that if I lived in say Ohio & could only afford to join one series, it'd be this one.

They key is going to be sponsorship. And getting sponsorship should actually be easier for someone who's going to hit BOTH series - more exposure for the sponsor that way.

Now, the downside is that with more events, you'll start to see some events not being covered in the magazines. And rock-crawlers usually don't see nearly as many on-hand spectators as you would in other forms of Motorsports (even at the small-time mud races that I put on, upwards of 5,000 spectators may show up). Holding events outside of stadiums just isn't spectator conducive even if some western rock-crawling events do pull in good crowds. So, if there are 140 competitors at an event, and not all events are covered, that lessens the odds of sponsor exposure. Could get interesting :)

TEX

I have no Respect for Bob Hazel and SITR (and don't get me started on JJ). He goes around the country putting on events, bringing sponsors and such, but getting clubs to give them free volunteer labor and cordination. What does he give back to the clubs, nothing.

He's for profit, for sure, which I don't begrudge, but when a club I used to belong to asked for some help with some expenses in helping him put on an event, he said No....so :flipoff: to Bob Hazel and SITR, he won't be seeing any of my money for any event.

I think it's only a matter of time before we see some of these series consolidate, others lose some of their original participants, and probably a few of them flounder and dissapear. I think it's very cool that we are seeing this develop from the beginning, but its inevitable in ANY form of motorsports that the independents either get absorbed into the sponsored teams, or they get pushed out of the upper tiers of competition. THe cost of designing, building, maintaining and competing these rigs is only going to get higher, and technology and innovation will continue to push the envelope. Right now it's just Walker Evans and a handful of others, but if and when other big ticket guys join the series, you'll see a bigger push for profits, more rules and regulations, and a constant struggle by independents to continue to compete.

I wouldn't be surprised if they try at some point to design an artificial rock course in a venue more conducive for spectators. Just like those "mini-rubicons" you see at some of the bigger 4x4 Jamborees, it's gotta be very tempting to the organizers. They probably dream of tens of thousands of screaming fans cheering the Assasin taking on the mini-Hammers...Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, don't miss the ROCKCRAWLERS at the Phoenix Motor Speedway!!! :p

OK, I run a cherokee with longer RE arms on it that measure more than 2.5" from the original location. This would exclude me from modified stock class with my 35s. Also, assesing points for using a tow strap by the spotter to keep rig from tipping seems a little harsh. I can see using winch or high lift but the spotters at events that I have witnessed (in person and on video) seem to always be leaning on the tow strap. So 2 points for every time the spotter leans on the strap?????? Seems a little nit picky for me.

SeanP

I went to Hazels RCC in JV and Montrose and IMHO he did a great job and was always nice despite a sea of sniveling people.

While I dont know about clubs and SITR, the club that hosted Montrose got the purse from about half of the dirty dozen winnings as a tip form the sponsored competitors (e.g. Currie), they got at least a grand.

I wont be in JV competing this time, but I'll be there watching for SURE!