Are you crazy enough?

Has it occurred to you how lucky we are to have men and women who are CRAZY enough to run a racetrack? The hours are long, the resistance is constant, the return on investment (if any), appears to be small. The success of the business is based on factors like sudden Florida rainstorms, internet trolls, hostile competitors, unfriendly lease terms, the stranglehold of insurance, unfavorable weather forecasts, and the list goes on and on.

In my two year experiment in racing club management, I never ceased to be amazed at the capacity and enthusiasm that competitors showed in damaging their own organization, and to cloud their own racing future. It cost me a ton of attention from my livelihood, diminished my enjoyment of the sport that has been my life-long passion, and played a role in ending a long marriage. Looking back, I should not have done it. Yet, so many choose to stay on then job.

Race track managers are crazy!

I know that I am thankful for these crazy people, because I can unload my car and have a great time. Someone else is keeping the gates open, and I can live it up as a result.

They are not equally effective, but I am thankful that Rex Guy, Robert Hart, Gary LaPlante, Robert Yoho, Ann Young, Jamie Haase, Bubba Clem, Denny Meyer and so many others put the time and effort in.

What would I do without them? iRacing is not real, RC cars are toys, and drifting looks silly. I don’t like drowning in mud, I get seasick, so a boat is out of the question. Nope, I am going to race as long as I am able, and as long as there is a steady supply of crazy people to provide a track.

A well said and timely post, Rex. Ditto.

Also certainly agree.

I did a “thx” thread once upon a time. Minimal discussion followed.

But it is still correct, for sure.

OS, it is sort of thanks, and it is also a “Quitchurbitchin”, to some in our sport that never really contribute anything. I like a reasoned discussion, but I think some of these people never even buy a ticket to watch.

I’m thankful any tracks still exist at all especially in the over-saturated entertainment industry there. I would never be able to own a track as much as I would love to. I can only lob ideas in the air and hope maybe one track can knock it out of the park. I think all the people you list have potential. A race track is not 1 person, it’s all of us. We need to help them help us and vise versa. If we all communicate and work as a community, we will all be better off. Too many people look at this as a two sided deal these days. I personally believe that we are all in this together and the success or failure of one track can not really be focused on a single person. Many will disagree with that, but whatever.

Nice post Rex :ernaehrung004:

Rex, I wish I would have said that. VJ Usina Opened St. Augustine Speedway in 1993. I have known him almost my entire life, one of the nicest people you would ever want to meet. I told him this place is going to change you. He was so disgusted at the end of it, and he sure wasn’t the same guy.

Oh, and a definite PS in the Thx Dept…

From AncrDave’s fine NSS race report: “Matthew Green
won an extra $100 hard-charger award put up by fellow Modified driver Joe
Jacalone who has an auto repair/car sales business in St. Augustine.”

Thx, Joe, that is a real-world help.

It may or may not support the title of this thread (!), but thank you! (and Matthew thanks you, I am sure)

:ernaehrung004:

That was a nice track…Is it true that a local zoning change ended it?

I could have written this! I am so much more appreciative after the experience as well and I try never to write negative shit on the internet about our beloved sport. Nearly every time I’m at the track now I try to make it a point to thank the people that make it happen.

PS Sorry to hear about the marriage but it’ll get better. I ended up with my daughters and that was really everything as it turns out, I can’t imagine life without em, everything else is a distant second. :slight_smile: I know you are close to your boys and they know you love em, you’ll get through it just keep lovin them.

I actually spoke in support of the track a couple times in front of the county commission when they requested exceptions for certain things ( my middle brother was a county commissioner at the time), but in the end it wasn’t zoning, VJ just got tired of all the BS, and said to heck with it, and closed it. He had offers for people to come in and lease it, but after that fiasco with that one character whose name eludes me at the moment, he didn’t want to deal with it anymore. They have pulled up the asphalt, but last time I flew over it in a friend’s airplane, most everything else is still there.

So it was you and your poor speaking skills that killed it, got it.

I love that! I wouldn’t be surprised…:ernaehrung004:

I was there the first year when it was dirt, place was packed with cars and people…the wall was scary as hell. Walls should be 90 degrees to the track surface, not the planet. Went back after they paved it for a TBARA race, before Boneman killed that, after they paved it. Great racetrack. At least it’s still there, there’s still hope until it’s leveled!

The inside walls were the worst. They cost me a car in 1994. My wife was leading the powder puff face in my late model, and hit the blunt end of the inside wall going into turn 1. Thankfully she wasn’t seriously hurt.

Joe,

In the “looking out for Joe’s dinner tonight” dept, to clarify, she did have “help” finding that wall, correct?

Has it occurred to you how lucky we are to have men and women who are CRAZY enough to run a racetrack? The hours are long, the resistance is constant, the return on investment (if any), appears to be small. The success of the business is based on factors like sudden Florida rainstorms, internet trolls, hostile competitors, unfriendly lease terms, the stranglehold of insurance, unfavorable weather forecasts, and the list goes on and on.

[B][I]Yep! But never loose sight of the fact that it was THEIR decision to step in that beautifull world that is stock car racing management. Nobody put a gun to their head.

Any job where your head is above the rest will always bring the fact that you are the target, from managing a convenient store to the Presidency of a country. Fact of life. You do great, it’s your job, you do bad, you’re an idiot. It’s like that everywhere.

And the biggest targets run the biggest shows. So B4 anybody step in, they should take that into consideration. Do I have the balls to take all those blames every Sunday morning? Can I handle that pressure? It take a toll on anybody, and their family to be bashed like all the time. I know personnaly, been there, done that, came back live to tell the story.

One day you’re the best, tomorrow, you’re nothing but a know nothing idiot of the worst kind, and then back up again and down again. Mix it up with couple of rain out and you have the perfect receipe for nervous break down.

And yes, a small gesture of appreciation can make their day more often than not.[/I][/B]

[QUOTE=andre;161579]Has it occurred to you how lucky we are to have men and women who are CRAZY enough to run a racetrack? The hours are long, the resistance is constant, the return on investment (if any), appears to be small. The success of the business is based on factors like sudden Florida rainstorms, internet trolls, hostile competitors, unfriendly lease terms, the stranglehold of insurance, unfavorable weather forecasts, and the list goes on and on.

[B][I]Yep! But never loose sight of the fact that it was THEIR decision to step in that beautifull world that is stock car racing management. Nobody put a gun to their head.

Any job where your head is above the rest will always bring the fact that you are the target, from managing a convenient store to the Presidency of a country. Fact of life. You do great, it’s your job, you do bad, you’re an idiot. It’s like that everywhere.

And the biggest targets run the biggest shows. So B4 anybody step in, they should take that into consideration. Do I have the balls to take all those blames every Sunday morning? Can I handle that pressure? It take a toll on anybody, and their family to be bashed like all the time. I know personnaly, been there, done that, came back live to tell the story.

One day you’re the best, tomorrow, you’re nothing but a know nothing idiot of the worst kind, and then back up again and down again. Mix it up with couple of rain out and you have the perfect receipe for nervous break down.

And yes, a small gesture of appreciation can make their day more often than not.[/I][/B][/QUOTE]

Race track owners and farmers…the weather means everything.
Track owners/lessees aren’t any different than any other business man. You put in the effort, you invest, you make good decisions, you persist, hopefully you get a little luck, and you’ll have a successful business. The ones that aren’t successful do the opposite.
Earle Baltes is the example most people use for doing it right, but there are certainly others. Clay Earles for instance. Tom Curley for another. It’s a little tougher to think of some in Florida. Larry Browning would be one, Michael Arnold, and most of the people who’ve run Five Flags. Bonnie and her husband had a very successful run for years at St.Pete.
And it can still be done. Yoho has a start, we’ll see where he’s at in five years.

Boy this has me going here. Even the bone man gets it now. The only thing is that he is a great guy and owns up.
think how many promoters have left this sport in Florida and wont even go to a race.
Some one asked what it would cost to have a track. The answer was all you got and ur life.
I would haven’t missed it for anything and thanks to all the good guys and the rest can KMA.
Alwase wanted to do that…
see ya

Don 62