Kam/Raceplan history of the 2006 DMCS beginnings

Kam sent me this email:

• In 2004 I moved back to San Diego after being gone nearly a decade.
• During my time away, I race a Wednesday Night Worlds race in Denver around the famous Mile High Stadium an marveled at how thousands of racers and spectators would go to this Wednesday afternoon event. I fell in love with the event and the concept.
• From Colorado I moved to Northern California and put on a couple of races: a hill time trial called Bonny's Revenge, a semi-flat time trial and the UC Santa Barbara road race. I looking at a venue in San Jose for the duplication of the Wednesday Worlds but moved to San Diego before I could launch it.
• Riding home to Del Mar from a Wednesday ride, I took Jimmy Durante instead of going along the coast to visit my gym (Del Mar Workout, which sits behind the Fairgrounds) for some sit ups before going home. It dawned on me that the Fairgrounds could be a venue for the Wednesday Worlds concept and so I skipped the sit ups and went home to call the Fairgrounds.
• After some dialing and smiling, I got a meeting with Paul Blaney who is the VP of Events at the Fairgrounds.
• I spend some time educating Paul on the concept of bike racing, criteriums and how this idea would be a community event with a bike race in the middle of it, which happens to be the elevator pitch I still use today.
• I could tell Paul got it, but he needed some time to absorb and that follow up was going to be needed.
• Paul and I spent hours driving around the grounds looking at different options and possibilities -- one option took the riders through a tunnel to the infield (called Disneyland) that included a couple-a-hundred-yards dirt section. Another had the riders riding through one or two halls, which would have been neat but not very safe. We looked at every inch of the Fairgrounds and finally settled on the idea that the main parking lot is the largest and best venue for the race.
• Paul showed me the standard rate card for the parking log...a whopping $3,500 per day rental. Needless to say sticker shock set in, but I ran the numbers anyway, projecting sponsorship dollars, booth fees, registrations and the lot. There was no way for this race to have a chance of getting off the ground if it couldn't afford to pay the rent.
• It took me literally 9 months of negotiations and convincing to get Paul and the Fairgrounds to buy into the community event concept and they agreed to knock the rental fee down to $500 per event so long as it was on the parking lot and held on Wednesdays. This took me well into 2005 and well past Swami's first participation in the RAAM, which I also spearheaded and managed.
• With the deal in hand, I now had to find a way to find volunteers and to secure financing -- there was no way I could continue to do my day job, work on the event and pay for it so partnering was the right way to go.
• Knowing the Swami's piggy-backed on another race and given that I had come home and rejoined Swami's, the Swami's board was approached.
• With the 2005 racing season well underway, we shot for 2006 and coordinated with the SCNCA calendar, which was not difficult since we were the only mid-week race in town.
• I managed to land Hoehn Motors and other sponsors in a matter of weeks -- Hoehn was a cold call and the two-year title sponsorship secured in three weeks!!! The rest of the sponsors came on board once they realized the momentum had been established.
• We held 4 successful Wednesday races in 2006 that exceeded our expectations.
• In 2007, due to a mix-up in the Fairgrounds' calendar, we ended up holding two Wednesday races and one Saturday race, which was on a new course (due to the mix-up) and the race evolved in that direction.
• In 2008, once again due to an unfortunate calendar mix-up and the new daylight savings time, we held one Wednesday and one Saturday race. I'd argue that 2008 was our most successful year, even though we held less races in the event.

This is the official history of the Del Mar Criterium Series.