I checked the web site for Monroe Regional Airport (as Matt mentioned that he would drive anyone arriving by air to the venue), and unfortunately, it's basically useless for most of us, as it only seems to serve Dallas, Houston, and Atlanta. However, the Jackson, Mississippi airport, Medgar Wiley Evers, has flights to and from Denver International (according to Wikipedia), so if Joe wants to go this route, that'll save him two days of driving. He (and Clark, if he comes along for the ride) may be able to plan to meet up with Koltz in Jackson and travel to Monroe together (which is about 2 hours by car on Interstate 20).
Evers International doesn't seem to serve any other cities that have any confirmed ASC attendees living in or near them, unfortunately, so it looks like most of us are going to be putting rubber to asphalt.

No dice for Dave Smith, as neither the Monroe nor the Jackson airports serve Nashville, nor Chattanooga or Knoxville.  

As for Duff and the European attendees, Dallas is probably the best bet, as DFW is the closest airport to Monroe that really serves any place far beyond the Southeast. It's still about a 5-hour drive from DFW to Monroe on I-20, though, but a flight from Dallas to Monroe is also possible, as mentioned above, although I'm not sure if such a short flight would be economical/practical (I've never flown commercially so I'm not sure what the costs/wait times would be like, nor do I keep track of each flight route's schedules-- Denver-Dallas and Dallas-Monroe, after all, may not be available on the same day).

I have yet to do any research on rail service between Monroe and other U.S. cities, but my guess is that there are few (if any) options there as well, because in America we just don't use trains for inter-city travel like the rest of the world does... at least not here in the South. I don't even think Gulfport has a functional Amtrak station anymore. You certainly never see ads for passenger rail services on American television (may be different in the Northeast, though).

Sorry Sami, I seemed to have glossed over your question regarding Ben's attendance at the tournament but yes, Ben Jones will be participating

Harvey, whether this tournament is a huge success or not, there's no guarantee that there will be another one like it here in the states next year, or the next, etc.  Obviously it's 100% happening this year and it's being held in a state that's next door neighbors with yours.  There won't be a more opportune time for you to attend a tournament of this magnitude (geographically speaking) aside from this one.  I feel like I might've given you a hard time here on the forums a time or two but it was all in good humor with no ill will attached.  I think I also speak on behalf of the entire SMK community when I say that I truly want you to attend this tournament from the bottom of my heart.  You are truly a good ole southern boy with a little something extra and you're a national treasure as far as this community is concerned.  I think it's cool that you aspire to attend CDM one day and I pray that you do but their are waaaaaaaaaay more hurdles involved with making that adventure happen whereas with ASMKC (or ASC ) we're all willing to come together and remove all hurdles from your path.  If I have to personally come help you knock out some yard work one weekend then I would be more than happy to!  We all love ya buddy and are more than willing to go the extra mile (1.6 km) in order to get Nicholas Harvey to attend the first ntsc SMK tournament of this magnitude right here in God's country  

One more comment and I’ll back off Harvey    If you do get your personal affairs in order and can make it just know that you won’t have to spend a dime on anything while you’re here.  You can stay with Kyle and I at our house along with all the karters coming over from Europe plus a few other karters from the US. We’ll feed you, there’ll be plenty of beer, and we’ll provide you a comfy place to sleep.  I’ll even cover your entry fee to the tournament  

Really Looking forward to meeting everyone. Looks like I will finally get to meet Clark and KVD and really hope Sami will make it. This looks to be the best chance to meet you guys. Don't forget I am 44 years old. LOL

Hell yeah Dave! We can share a beer or 3 for sure.

Also Harvey, as Karel said, we just wanna re-enact Dumb and Dumber (cant wait til Joe gets to hear my most annoying noise in the word impression). Im not sitting here oblivious to the size of the US, just because everything in Europe is a lot closer and smaller. We do have a concept of distance lol. It's just always been a dream of mine to drive down one of those mental long straight roads you guys have which have nothing on them for miles and miles. That type of thing is just alien in the UK.

Also, I can see youre laying the groundwork to have an 'out' as it were from the ASC. Noone here is gonna force you to come, but im sure youll regret it if you dont at least try. None of us are horrible people in person, were all welcoming people who share a common interest. None of us are particularly normal anyway, we all regularly fly half way across the world to play a SNES game. It's normal to have a bit of trepidation when meeting a bunch of new people, noone will deny you that. But I think all that will disappear the moment you meet everyone, and youll have a great time.

Zarkov wrote on 01/13/19 at 00:04:02:

Same for me dude, I wish I could join. I still plan to do this with my gf in a Western US journey someday though, that kind of roadtrip might really kick some ass.

Sumner21 wrote on 01/12/19 at 16:54:01:


Michael, I feel that it would be much cheaper for you to fly into Denver and ride with Joe and Zarkov to Monroe (probably a 19+ hour drive) or fly into Nashville and ride with David which will be around an 8 hour drive I think.  It would be beyond epic if you could make it!

So random fact I just found loooking at distances to SMK competitions. Perth (where I live) is dead on opposite to the Bermuda triangle.
Since France and Louisiana are a bit close can we have the 2020 comps in Bermuda

Stickied this (and removed the Official Multiplayer Videos from being stickied), and added the registration info and schedule for the event to the first post on page 1. I think this should help with people who are organizing their trips accordingly.  

Hey, I got an idea.

What if every competitor in this event arrived in a costume to completely conceal their identity, and tried to disguise their voice the best they can (even trying to hide their regional accents to the best of their ability).

You wouldn't know who you were playing against, nor would you know (at first) who was actually able to come to the event and who wasn't. (I do think we need a few surprises...)
Basically everyone would have to play their very best in each race because they wouldn't know if they got an "easy" or a "hard" opponent....

Once a competitor loses three races and is eliminated, they must reveal their true identity in front of everyone.

Imagine, say, Elephant vs. Dragon in one Match Race, Pig vs. Tiger in another, maybe even Shark vs. Alligator. And then you beat the Alligator and discover that it's yours truly...  

Spectators (and competitors who are already eliminated) are welcome to watch the races they aren't taking part in, and are welcome to guess the identities of the players, especially when one of them has just lost and is about to take off his/her disguise. (e.g. "I think Duff is the T-Rex!")

We could, of course, call this...

THE MASKED KARTER!!!

...This may be the American SMK Championship, but if Sami and Karel are coming, my money is on the two of them being the last ones remaining to be unmasked. Sorry American Karters...

^ I guess you just don't get it.  

You see, there's this TV programme that's really popular in the US right now...

I'd be the pig chugging beer.

So someone who isn't going to the event wants to dictate how the event should take place. Makes sense...