The 2 biggest reasons I have seen with races going away was snow conditions and promoter issues. Promoters put a lot of time and money into events and expect to recoup a lot of it based off spectators and other things. Snow conditions can have a huge impact on that based off of whether a race is cancelled or the conditions scare a lot of people off.
Location would probably be in the top 3 reasons too. Demographically the majority of RMSHA members are not more than 2-3 hrs away from most the races. That has been a good reason why we have grown, but a bad reason based off of how many other people want to race that just can't travel 4+ hrs every other week. Look at the northern MT, WA, and CO racers right now. 6-8 hrs or way more of travel each way 6-8 times in 3 months is a monumental feat to overcome. IMHO RMSHA is at a standstill as far as creating more membership. We have the racers we have because it's conveniently close for most and they have been doing it for long enough that to face start up costs is a thing of the past. I have had a pretty good PM discussion with Syko and I have thoughts........
RMSHA is currently saturated as far as a racer market goes. It's evident by the few numbers of new racers joining the circuit in the last few years. There might be quite a few new names on the roster, but 50% of them are only attending 1-2 races for the year. I don't see racing getting any 'cheaper' especially the way it is set up now. I do however, see possible ways to sprout growth with a ton of effort in addition to what RMSHA has going now. Anyone remember MSSHA??? Years ago it was the only other hillclimb circuit that had as much potential as RMSHA. There are plenty of race sites to go around. Problem is a circuit can only have up to 10 sanctioned races a year. Add in Jackson Hole, the ever present unknown of snow conditions from year to year, and location of all these venues, and you will have to settle for a happy medium.
I would like to see another formation of a circuit catering to completely different venues that what we currently have. The most unique thing would be for it to still fall under the same organization and processes as RMSHA would have. Something like Eastern Rocky Mountain Snowmobile Hillclimb Assoc. (currently RMSHA), and Western Rocky Mountain Snowmobile Hillclimb Assoc. (cater to OR, WA, MT, CA race venues) or something of the sort. Start representing the size and status of the biggest snowmobile hillclimb circuit in the U.S. to potential corporate sponsors like other race circuits do. ISOC, NASCAR, TORC Series, etc.... all have huge billion dollar industry corporate sponsorships. What is a way to use that as a tool to pursue better venues, create spectator and racer growth, promote the major sled manufacturers everywhere instead of just at Jackson Hole. Jackson Hole would still be held as the World Championships since it is actually run by the Snow Devils, but the 2 RMSHA divisions could hold an internal season points championship event at the end of the year similar to the current points championship race. This is an insanely huge task to accomplish, but we already have the status of a hillclimb circuit that dominates racing in the Western U.S.
I don't see the current circuit changing demographics even by procuring a couple new race sites. All that will do is weed a few of the numbers out to gain a few numbers back. Factory support is thriving is some cases. It's also dwindling down to barely having a pulse in other cases. National recognition is needed. Completely new demographics of people need to be in reach of races just like most of us are in the 'banana belt' of RMSHA. I see it more as an opportunity to branch out and create a whole new 'family' of hillclimb racers if we truly want it to grow.
