Purse Structure

FLORIDA STOCK CAR RACING KARNAC's FLORIDA STOCK CAR RACING
1

Below listed is just an example. Is it realistic?? Who knows?? But if someone had the marketing savvy… Or a good people person / promoter this structure COULD be attainable. (There are people with money in the stands that would love to sponsor a driver or give heat race money out… I did it at CCMP) There are multiple potential sponsors in the stands but yet no one ever says on the PA the sponsors of the cars. Bottom line why would I spend my money at Desoto after seeing the way that track owner talks about and to people.
It would all depends on how MOTIVATED, DEDICATED, and PASSIONATE the track owner is. Funny to me owners say your not racing to support your life or to make money but yet if I ran my business the way some INDIVIDUALS run their tracks here in Florida the BBB would be calling… Here’s template for you John since you haven’t posted yours… Enjoy it, trash it, rip it to part… it’s only a suggestion…

50L SLM________ 40L Modified____ 30L Truck____ 25L Street Stock
(1)$3,000.00_______$2,000.00________$1,200.00________$900.00
(2)$2,750.00_______$1,900.00________$1,100.00________$850.00
(3)$2,500.00_______$1,800.00________$1,000.00________$800.00
(4)$2,000.00_______$1,700.00________$800.00__________$700.00
(5)$1,800.00_______$1,600.00________$700.00__________$600.00
(6)$1,600.00_______$1,400.00________$600.00__________$500.00
(7)$1,500.00_______$1,300.00________$550.00__________$400.00
(8)$1,400.00_______$1,300.00________$500.00__________$350.00
(9)$1,200.00_______$1,200.00________$500.00__________$300.00
(10)$1,100.00______$1,000.00________$450.00__________$275.00
(11)$1,000.00______$800.00_________ $450.00_________ $250.00
(12)$900.00________$600.00_________$400.00__________$200.00
(13)$700.00________$500.00_________$400.00__________$175.00
(14)$500.00________$400.00_________$300.00__________$150.00
(15)$400.00________$300.00_________$300.00__________$150.00
(16)$350.00________$250.00_________$150.00__________$125.00
(17)$350.00________$250.00_________$150.00__________$125.00
(18)$300.00________$200.00_________$125.00__________$100.00
(19)$300.00________$200.00_________$125.00__________$100.00
(20)$300.00________$175.00_________$100.00__________$100.00

RULE#1: I would say I pay good throughout the filed so don’t bring junk to my racetrack. Clean race cars!!! to put a SHOW on for the fans!!
No minimum gas purchase
No tire Fees
No Slab Fees (Unless you want that spot for the year $200.00)
Top 5 go to Tech
DQ on special show not eligible for following regular and next special show
DQ recieves no purse or Tow money

Pit Pass $20.00
$40.00 Tow Money (If you don’t qualify, Thanks for trying and supporting us)

4 CLASSES Entry level is Street Stock

Grandstands
Adult $12.00
Child 8-15 $7.00
Military and Retirees $8.00
Children 7 and under free

Have an Enduro/Stunt Show/4cyl. junker class the night of the enduro… whatever to line your pockets of gold…

2

eagletai

not sure if the owners will take your advice but one thing i am sure of…
we ALL thank you for being in Iraq making sure we can enjoy what we do in America…
i hope you stay safe and i hope you will visit us again at CCMP!!! was such an honor to meet you in person. i know how dangerous your position is and i keep you in my prayers at all times.
hope you will be home soon.
its funny how sometimes we make opinions about people we chat with daily on the message boards and in some ways we become friends… typo friends… but then we get to meet one of you in person and everything changes… we are bonded… we are real people and we are all linked by the same thing. racing… :wink: but other than that we dont know alot about each other. we dont know how many of us are suffering from illnesses, from financial difficulties, from a death in our families, from loved ones with disabilities… so with that said, i hope we can all be kinder to each other. more tolerant and more forgiving.
you bring out the emotional part of me… :wink:
you take care and please send me your mailing address via email… see you soon i hope… be safe and be happy… will you be home for the holidays?
carolwicks aka OZZIE

carolwicks@comcast.net

3

Hey Eagle, I’ll bite on your proposal. Lets keep a open forum discussion on this topic. First lets plan a ficticious night. Lets start with Late Models. So far you’ve put up a $24K purse. What other divisions will you be running that night? Lets plan a “pretend night” and crunch the numbers. Then we’ll see the break even, or profit point. Will there be an entry fee for the Late Models? You listed pit prices and GA prices so we can use those. I just re-read your post are these all of your divisions and will they all be racing on the same night? If all these divisions are on the same night then we’re looking at about a $58k dollar purse.

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Like I said, it is realistic I don’t know?? Is it feasible I don’t know???
But since no track will POST their PURSE for weekly divisions, I threw that out there.
By all means if ANY track will Post the purse on either their website or on here, great for teams and fans alike!

Why the big secret on weekly purses?
Why not propose the weekly payout for each division?
What next you won’t post the admission prices until you open the gates because you don’t know how many fans are going to show up so based on fan count you will adjust the admission price!!!
Bottom line it goes to the credibility of an owner/promoter of a facility…
By being transparent and having a proposed purse structure the teams can decide where they are going to run and not worry about showing up and not getting the posted purse!!

5

I for one hope other tracks bite on this, it’s the same as the politicians running the country,no one has any common sense .I am still trying to post my purse and I did sent it to Jack smith, maybe he can.

WE need to ask the right questions to track owner’s today , not what has been in the past period, I am wrighting a book now on it so you can read my book, how to buy a race track and be told how to run it.Everybody know’s how but they will not buy one.

See ya at the races John

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If so, you’ll need a mere 4,833.33 paid adult admissions just to cover the purse. Not many (IF any) tracks in Fla have the seating capacity for 5,000 people.

Sadly, I’ve seen too many nights at various tracks that you could literally hand-count every fan in attendance. The only track that had the facilities to get that kind of attendance, would have been Lakeland USA.

Eagletai wrote: “There are multiple potential sponsors in the stands but yet no one ever says on the PA the sponsors of the cars”

It depends on the track & their announcers. I’ve seen some very good, and some very bad at sponsor mentions. This is another reason (out of a hundred reasons) why an up-to-date Racing Program should be available to all the fans. I think it’s vital to list the drivers, hometown, and sponsors in the Program. All it takes is a few people to walk into “Wally’s Radiator Shop” because they saw his name in the Program, for sponsors to realize that his money DID, in fact, have some kind of return. If you never get any validation that your advertising dollars did any good, why would you continue to do it?

On the flip side though… there should be a certain amount of responsibility on the teams part to make sure that the sponsors name is in clear sight, easy to read, and on an attractive car. Wally’s Radiator Shop isn’t getting near the value on a primered up Monte Carlo, with duct tape numbers and spray painted sponsor space, as he would on a brightly colored, well thought out paint scheme. Racers have to take that responsibility on themselves. If your car looks like crap, all the announcer mentions in the world won’t help your sponsor!

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I’ve told everyone all year what our payouts at Ocala are. It’s no secret. I didn’t respond to your post for a debate. My intention was to actually plan a night based on your calculations and lets see what kind of numbers are actually needed to make it happen.
Lets figure it anyway. Lets say 4 divisions brings 50 cars in each division. A little bit of a stretch but maybe the huge purses work. 200 cars at lets be generous and say 4 people per car in the pits.
Lets start with costs.
Purse $58000.00 Income: Pits $16000.00
Employees $2500.00 GA we need 4730
Insurance $1000.00 fans @ avg $10.00 $47300.00
Maintenance $700.00 Total: $63,300.00
Electricity $800.00 This covers expenses.
Trophies $300.00
Expenses $63300.00

Ocala payouts.
Late Model Division: $1000.00 to win $110.00 to start
Modifieds: 18 or more $600.00 to win $70.00 to start
Hobby Stocks: $300.00 to win and $30.00 to start
V-8 Thunderstock: $175.00 to win and $25.00 to start
Mini Stocks: $225.00 to win and $25.00 to start
Gladiators: Trophies

We have no required fuel purchase, no parking fees unless you want a spot for the year. No required tire purchase. $25.00 pit passes. Entry fees only on races over $1000.00 to win.

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I think that is a bit much for a weekly show payout. It would be nice but no where near realistic. That would be a good payout for a 50 or 75 lap “big race” each week and then pay typical payouts for 3 or 4 other classes for the night. If you promised each class say three or four “Big races” per year and make them double or triple points nights and paid out decent for 20 lap features weekly and had a sponsored points fund for each class, you would probably get good support throughout the year.

I would like to see maybe run heats and consi races for the “big race” of the week and features only for the other 3 or 4 classes. That way you don’t have qualifying. The night should run pretty quickly and the “big race” cars would have time to adjust between consi and feature. If you were to pay that kind of payout, I don’t think drivers would mind racing for their starting spots.

I still think a sliding scale payout correlated with car count is a good way to go for weekly racing. Let the owner offer a better payout for more cars and put the onus on the drivers.

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Fred… the problem with the sliding-scale theory, is that it penalizes the guys that DID support the track on nights that the other drivers didn’t show up.

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Realistic pay-out

For the sake of all Florida asphalt racers and fans I hope that the owners and promotors look at what Ocala is doing and the purse they pay. Let the big money guys go run Nascar, you don’t need a huge pay-out for weekly shows and in turn you lower the gate price, both front and pit. Like I wrote before, get on some of the race sites out of florida and you will see why racing is in such bad shape here in Florida. If anything Ocala could even be a little lower on the pay-outs and get back to the $10.00 front gate and $20.00 pit side. More cars in the pits will mean more fans in the stands, which will be more left at the end of the night for the owner-promotor. Makes sence to me how about you???

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Pretty surprising numbers for how much it costs to put on a race . Fans and drivers alike tend to forget about the hidden costs of running a race track . And i imagine there are more expensive tracks to run than Ocala , making their problem even bigger . Fans won’t pay more than $7 to $10 dollars at the gate . Drivers won’t pay but $15 to $20 at the back gate . Fans and drivers both bring their own food and drinks whenever possible . No matter how you move the numbers around , it sure looks like it would be hard to come up with the dollars for higher purses .
Without higher purses , racers can’t afford to bring a car to the track . Well actually , they could . The difference between a $20 back gate vs. a $30 back gate isn’t whats keeping racers away from the tracks . Its more a question of tires , fuel , up-keep on the cars and simply giving up because they can’t be competitive . The days of racing for the fun and enjoyment of it are over . And of course there is the never ending howling over someone getting away with bending the rules , while the person doing the howling is always an innocent victim .
There are some fixes though . The first is for every racer , every fan , to find all the stock cars that are parked for whatever reason . Make it your duty to get that car and driver back to the track . Opinions vary , but supposedly there are 10 to 20 cars per class per track that are parked for whatever reason . If there are this many cars sitting idle , then if they come back out , the increase in back gate money would be enourmous . Along with drinks and food sales . And eventually tires , fuel , parts . Same goes for the fans . If you’ve ever taken anyone to the track and they didn’t go back again , or just stopped going , make it your mission in life to get them back to the track . Again opinions vary , but people always say they know many who quit coming because of high ticket prices , or not a very good show . Make sure each one of those people comes to the track . An extra 200 people in the stands means higher purses , more food sold , more t-shirts sold . Higher purses means more cars back out on a regular basis , which means more fans in the stands , etc. Racers , bring out the cars . Fans , bring family and friends . Track owners , lower the front and rear gate .

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My Father owned a Pawn Shop for 27 years. One thing he always said was " A fast nickel always beats a slow dime"… Think about it.