This is for some of the guys/gals who have parked racecars and don’t race anymore. What would have to change for you to come back to racing?? The purse, the gates, what?? Did you park your car because you just could no longer afford to race and got burned out trying??
Please, honest answers on this one. What needs to change in your eyes for you to be able to bring your car back to a track and race???
We still race part time but the main reason its not full time is pit prices. Most places its 30 bucks. Me my wife and my son is 90 plus 5 gallons of gas and your up to like 140 bucks. Some tracks now dont even let you bring in your own FOOD or DRINK. How much money do these tracks think we have. Not many working people have 140 extra dollars to spend on a Saturday night and that is not even beginning to talk about the cost of running the car.
pitt $$$$$$
the pit $$$$$$ most of all on top of that the trucks change there rules week to week. The entry are way to hight and the payout is way lowww. :ernaehrung004::ernaehrung004:
How much then would be a fair pit price so you could race?? Gas, I don’t know how much can be done there because even our gas is out-of-sight for our everyday cars.
So say they lowered the pit price to $15.00, would you come back then?? I understand that racing is a business for the owner and he must also pay his bills too and alot of tracks depend on the back gate for their purses but say if it was lowered to $15, do you think it would bring more cars out and make more money in the end for the owner.
I know Columbia had $5 grandstands last weekend and ended up with a very nice crowd so they are keeping their grandstands at $5 for awhile. That will pull fans but you still need to pull cars also. And I know there are cars out there to be pulled because I have been to Columbia when they had plenty of cars in the field and full stands back when the Florida Pro would run.
But honestly, what to you is a fair price to get into the pits so you could race again??? And no, I don’t agree on the no food policy although I see why track owners are doing it to make money but it also stops many from being able to go racing as they can’t afford to get in, buy their gas, maybe pay for a spot, and then buy food. By then, you probably have spent more than you budget for a week of groceries for your family.
my problem…
The economy has almost killed my business so it’s hard to spend money on a hobby when bills are due.
It’s taken two years but my car is FINALLY almost ready. Now buying tires is my next obstacle.
Also, I’m gonna try running pump gas and see how it goes…maybe I’ll blend it with $20 of race fuel.
[QUOTE=RSB;44156]The economy has almost killed my business so it’s hard to spend money on a hobby when bills are due.
It’s taken two years but my car is FINALLY almost ready. Now buying tires is my next obstacle.
Also, I’m gonna try running pump gas and see how it goes…maybe I’ll blend it with $20 of race fuel.[/QUOTE]
Good luck this season John. May see you and Tim up at Columbia sometime.
-JIM-
come on up!
Hope to see you there, Jim. I know that at the meeting a few months ago you said your car wouldn’t be legal up here but it seems like you could add a few pounds of lead and they would let you race it. I’m thinking maybe 500 lbs.!LOL!
HeyJim… looks like you finally need me. Let me ride with you and you will qualify regarding the weight requirement.
Tires!!!
RSB hit it IMO, tires!! Pure Stocks and Sportsmans on Hoosier slicks (at FASCAR tracks) that your lucky to get 4 races out of. Many of us don’t have a budget that will handle a $500.00 a month tire bill. A large tire budget is expected when you build Modified or SLM, but Pure Stocks and Sportsmans? That has and will continue to keep cars parked. Hey Jim, bring your backup car up. I think you could do pretty well with it.
Sooooooo they are runnin’ Hoosier slicks huh. Just bought Am. Racers for Citrus. The back up car has a 1/3 mile track gear. Don’t have one for a 1/2 mile. Have one I got from John for the other car though. Different splines.
-JIM-
i was just wondering after checking into owning a speedway
o yes there was one for sale , and our bussiness was keeping us from having enough time off and we could not race as much as we wanted so if we bought a race track == we could race ; be off at night no more 7 days a week 24 hours a day
and getting up at all hours of night . and we would not need any more employes and all the head aches keeping all trucks running just sell ever thing we got and buy a race track
yes we had some good ideas to fill the stands and run some top notch classes . pay good purses low pit fees cheap grandstand tickets low price food sell tires at lower price , and fuel also , and make all drivers all happy
big nice clean rest rooms parking slabs with ele and water
and after checking into it and selling lot of trucks i found out that i would have to keep my job and maybee get another one because owning a race track
is worse than owning four or five race cars . cause you can at least leave the cars in garage and stay home maybee just race one
but you got to open the race track weather the people come or not
and if it rains you still got bills to pay and you got to please ever body
Me thinks you nailed it Ron. Don’t think any track owner or promoter would disagree with anything you said…:ernaehrung004:
-Ge Umm-
It can’t be easy to own a race track and I am sure track owners have alot of headaches too. Food prices go up so do concession stand prices. Fuel goes up, so does the race fuel at the track. Tires, who knows how much that price changes. The owner is just trying to keep his business open and yet without racers or fans, he won’t have a business for long. Sucks all the way around on both sides.
So, the big question is - how can the owner help the racer so he can race and in the process help the owner to stay open??? Where do they meet to solve both their problems???
Would lowering the pit entrance help bring back racers at all really since I am not sure how much control there really is over the cost of racing fuel and tires. How do both parties help each other??
ever body has to work together racers and owners
first racers — one thing that hurts is in past you hauled your car to track on an open trailer people seen them they were a rolling bill board 'today they are in an enclosed truck and trailer
no body knows what they are or were they are going . next got to put on a show racing should be entertaining and exciting not boring and dull
figure out a way to put people in the stands talk about your hobby and tell people heh wave you ever been to car race want to go with me
quit worring so much about man he charged me two dollars for hot dog maybee if he had more people in stands he could charge 1.50 instead
of crying . be positive if you are a race driver see that car in front of you jump up on outside of him and put on a show make them people in stands jump up and holler
make it were they can;t wait till next week to come back in stead of sitting home and watching tv and falling asleep on couch
then maybee some of guys that have there cars in garage on jack stands can come back and race cause stands are full and pay is little more
remember got to have race cars and got to have race tracks -owners and drivers – once a race track gives up they never open back up
watcha gonna do when you can’t race - ever body can’t fish :huepfen024::huepfen024::huepfen024:
not an owner
I know you asked for comments from car owners, which I’m not but… the reason I’m not a car owner, and never will be, and will only attend a very few races so I can see a certain one get beat, is because of the inconsistant enforcement of the rules. I was on the verge of buying a late model 3 yrs ago and decided I’d rather throw my money in a boat, a hole in the water instead of in a race track. The truck class is ridiculous, its like there are 3-4 sets of rules, dependa on how much money you;'re willing to throw around, I’ve thrown my last!!!
It’s the economy Jane. It’s the lack of extra money for a hobby. It’s tracks that make you run on tires that don’t last! It’s tracks that have their favorites that alway get their way. It’s rules that are always changing, and this goes for series not just tracks.
You know Ron, I have found quite a few new racetracks that I wasn’t sure exactly where they were by following open trailer racecars. One was Clewiston and Thundercross and Auburndale. Luckily I just happened to see a racecar on an open trailer and followed it and it got me to where I needed to go.
I was surprised when I first went to Volusia at how many open trailers there were there. Even some Late Models are on open trailers. Guess the enclosed trailers come in handy when it rains or if it is real hot and they have a/c but I still love the old open trailers.
tires and trailers…
I can remember a few years ago heading back home to Florida after a business trip to Atlanta. South of Macon I noticed a guy pulling a race car on and open trailer…then another and later one more, so I pulled in behind the last one and decided to see where they were headed. I ended up in Cordele and stayed the weekend watching a two day show!
On the other subject, I remember Bert Ashelman years ago bringing a 8" treaded tire to our yearly streetstock meeting. We had been on slicks and you should have heard everyone laughing and saying “NO WAY”! He stated that the tires would last twice as long and we wouldn’t be losing but a tenth or two per lap. Nobody was “buying” it!
When my “new” old car hits the track in a week or two it will have a “for sale” sign on it. Why? TIRES! I either want to race in a class with longer lasting tires or move down to a class that uses DOT tires. Like Pure stocks SHOULD be using! I may end up with a dirt thunder stock racing at Ocala or Lake City instead of CMP. Hate to do it, but I feel I don’t really have a choice.
Wow, I never realized what a large issue tires are for you guys and it really is. When my family had their runabout many years ago, they ran on street tires and you just went to a junkyard and bought some. Every now and then you would buy a new one but that was about it. Then we were building a Super Stock and back then you had to buy takeoffs from the modifieds and Homer Gordon stockpiled those tires and you could get them from him. Since they were used, it didn’t break the bank.
How many tracks use the same brand tires that you could go to another track??
do you remember when you use to see a race car
sitting out front of a gas station and when people bought gas they looked at car and asked what is that ’ were do you race it . or maybee it was at muffeler shop ’ or paint and body or a garage
do you ever remember seeing 10 0r 12 cars in a big mall with thousands of people coming by looking at them - i do i remember in tampa at mall on florida ave and busch blvd . for three days dave dunkins car mine and tony coleys car don abneys out law fire bird . richard coffins car right in front of kays jewelery store and all drivers letting children sit in cars
and you should have seen the crowd that came to track and all the questions they asked how did you do this and how did that guy in blue 71 get his car so blue and what makes the body stay on
how did you do this and that . why don’t doors open .
if you get a newbee to come to the races. trust me and he is entertained he will come back
i’m not taking up for the track owners because i think he has figured out to last dollar pretty close how much it takes to opperate and if he is over charging and lining his pockets with gold . with no more people than he has in stands … he needs to buy two race tracks
the economy is bad . but so is 8.50 gallon for fuel for 20 gallons 200.00 to get in pits 480.00 for set of tires 25.00 food 40.00 gas for hauler
total 915.00 so if you get lucky enough to draw good pill and win you still lose
now the car you left sitting on jack stands did not cost you nothing
but next week if i only buy two tires and don’t have flat or bust one i can do it for 240,00 less but then i have to tow farther so take 125.00 of that for tow fuel so i’ll only have to spend 800.00
are we having fun yet :::sport009::ernaehrung004::smilie_bett::