First week of December 2024, I went back and forth in email with several ROAR officials regarding the new rules they posted on their website. ROAR promised to raise my concerns in their board meeting in the second week of December then ghosted me.
https://www.roarracing.com/downloads/ROAR_Rule_Book.pdf
As of right now, ROAR expects all manufactures to pay 4 years in ROAR fees in advance, plus send each body plus an inspection fee which will cost roughly $1K to get 1 body approved initially and then after 4 years pay an additional $200/yr to keep their body on a list of approved bodies. Markings need to be stamped into the windshield of each body.
I explained that many drivers are tied into package deals where bodies/tires/wings/accessories are put into driver contracts, so if ROAR eliminates bodies from brands that used to be legal then drivers will be forced to violate their contracts and/or be forced to sign contracts with larger brands that can afford to pay the ROAR extortion fees.
The timing of their decision is in haste because they are not giving drivers time to test/apply to larger companies who are ROAR approved putting the industry into a catch-22. ROAR has the power to effectively put smaller companies out of business over this decision if tracks follow ROAR rules to the tee
These rules are not only truggy bodies, but buggy bodies too... so someone running a buggy body from a brand that was discontinued (or doesn't pay ROAR inspection fees) will be considered an illegal body without the stamp on the windshield.
I said that charging inspection fees is double dipping and that those costs should come from the ROAR fees that drivers already pay. This will prevent the threat of companies from going out of business so that racers pay any increase in fees to cover inspection expenses. Ultimately price increases will fall back to the drivers regardless when increasing unreasonable inspection fees.
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