Under the Showtime 100 lapper thread someone mentioned why 15 gallons of fuel had to be purchased. That made me wondered what profit does a track make per gallon. I seem to hear on the news that gas stations only make pennies per gallons. Anyone know?
here’s a small explanation:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/13/news/economy/gas_gallon/index.htm
this year i paid 11$ gal for 112 at nss but at sebring and daytona i paid 8.75 $ for 112.
In my day we tried to mark up racing gas $1.00 per gal. We sold about 500 gal per month. Payed to have someone pump and do the tickets. that was $25.00 per night.
Boy did we get rich on that gas. Rember when there was a parts man with gas or the tire man (jay) would bring the fule and we were of the hook.
When bob mitton (hole shot) stoped taking care of the gas and parts it was each man for himself.
The tracks adds gas tires and parts together and it wont pay the tax alone.
Don62
Let’s say 1 class has 20 cars and they must buy 15 gallons of gas each. That’s 300 gallons. Even if the markup is $1, that’s $300 for the one class that night. Multiply that by the number of cars and it’s a nice bit of additional change in someones pocket.
Let’s consider a dirt track that is getting about 100 cars per night. Let’s figure average sales of 10 gallons per car. Some will buy less, others more. Probably some of the classes don’t run racing fuel so maybe you can subtract 40 cars. That’s still a $600 sales night.
As a racer you don’t have many places you can buy. If you live near a dealer you can probably get a better deal. But if you have to make a special trip and travel any distance, it might be cheaper to buy at the track.
Ahhh, I remember the days when you had a choice of regular or hi-test. The top classes of cars would stop at a Sunoco station and buy their highest octane. Then specialized racing gas became the thing to use. But, you could buy it from speed shops or right at the track from one of several parts suppliers. Then tracks and series started getting gas deals and required all cars run that gas. Parts dealers couldn’t haul the fuel any longer because of new regulations. So the only option you had was to buy from the track. Parts dealers lost the gas sales and tire sales and most stopped coming to the track. I can’t remember the last time I saw a fully stocked parts van or truck at a track.
Back in the day…
On the way to I-70 Speedway we would stop at an airport in Grain Valley and fill up the car and a 5 gallon can with airplane fuel. Try that today and see how fast the Homeland Security guys get there
Andre’ I read the article you linked to. Yes, the station owners make very little on gas. I think my family use to make 1 to 2 cents a gallon in the 70’s. The problem I have with the article is their apparent defense of the big oil companies. They claim they don’t make much money on gasoline. Right now the largest export for the United States, is gasoline. The oil companies bring in the crude, (both domestic and imported), refine it here, then load it back on ships and export it overseas. They can make more money hauling it all the way to Japan or some other country than they can here. With Exxon making 40 Billion dollars in the year the article referred to, either these other countries are paying way too much for gas or the oil companies are manipulating the world market and creating shortages so the price rises. I suspect the oil companies are manipulating the prices and all of us are paying too much. They raise the price of gasoline in this country and claim it’s because they can’t refine it fast enough with the limited amount of refineries in this country. Hmmm, they can refine enough to ship overseas. When it comes to the price of racing gasoline, it’s hard for me to imagine it costs them 3 to 4 times as much to produce a gallon of that than it does regular gas. BTW, yeah I know it costs more in Canada. 
Your health care system is better though. LOL
BTW, yeah I know it costs more in Canada. Your health care system is better though.
[B][I]
Yep! Regular 87 gas right now here in Trois Rivi?res, Qc, is 1.26 //liter, which translate to 4.73 a US Gal.
As far as health insurance, yep! It’s free when you go to the hospital, but not when you look at your payckeck and it reads: gross salary: $1000, net salary: $475.
AND when you go to the hospital ER for whatever and you wait 24 hours B4 you can see a doctor…
I just wish they would permit multi national to build private hospitals here and sell insurance set up, like US have. But not an obligation, just provide the opportunity. Choice is yours. [/I][/B]
I stop at the Sunoco station by my house and get the 110 for $8.49. And have had no problems.
There is a gas station down the street from my house, about 10 min from showtime that sells Sunoco 110 for 7.78/gal, that’s at least 3 dollars cheaper per gallon than you can get it at the track
I sell it at my repair shop in Winter Haven by the gallon, or drum for 8.50 a gallon. The brand I have is Phillups 66, the old B32. Everyone thats runs it loves it. 863-289-1339, Thanks Ted.
I don’t know how much profit the tracks make on race fuel, but the racers shouldn’t be forced to purchase any products from the track that they can get somewhere else for much less money. All that a 15 gallon mandatory purchase will do is convince racers to refuse to go along with it. When all of the racers refuse to be forced into purchasing track products, the tracks will have to re-think their position. As an earlier post mentioned, there can’t be enough profit on the fuel for the tracks to risk losing the competitors over.
I know there’s been a huge issue over the years with forcing racers to purchase track brand tires. I’ve seen suggestions on various forums about letting the lower classes simply purchase take offs from the Lates or Super Lates. That sure seems to make sense for everyone involved.
[QUOTE=Matt Albee;118122]I don’t know how much profit the tracks make on race fuel, but the racers shouldn’t be forced to purchase any products from the track that they can get somewhere else for much less money. All that a 15 gallon mandatory purchase will do is convince racers to refuse to go along with it. When all of the racers refuse to be forced into purchasing track products, the tracks will have to re-think their position. As an earlier post mentioned, there can’t be enough profit on the fuel for the tracks to risk losing the competitors over.
I know there’s been a huge issue over the years with forcing racers to purchase track brand tires. I’ve seen suggestions on various forums about letting the lower classes simply purchase take offs from the Lates or Super Lates. That sure seems to make sense for everyone involved.[/QUOTE]
I agree! But it would be understandable if it was a 10 Gallon mandatory fuel purchase because most cars won’t even need 15 Gal. That is $50 that could be used for getting a car into the pits, instead that person can’t race because they can’t afford getting into the pits, and the fuel purchase.
profit on fuel…
The point we learn,boys n girls is to fuel up BEFORE you get to the track:aetsch013:
In this case it’s mandatory to purchase 15 Gallons or else you can’t race…
I looked a little on line and the average price for 110 is $10 a gallon. The only way I saw to get much cheaper was to buy a 55 gallon barrel.
I was told Wednesday from a trustworthy source he makes $2.75 profit per gallon.