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I read this on Facebook and wondered how the experts on this forum feel about it.
READY, GO!
So following up on last weeks post that seemed to be splash for the racing community, I was asked to detail down a nightly cost to drop the liftgate on these haulers.
Here is a hypothetical to a race night. These are not to my exact team specifications, just a model to show the reality. 40 lap feature, 2 hot laps, 2 time trial, 8 heat. 2 Employees ave 6k total a month. Assume you race 8 times a month (twice a weekend). Assume driver gets 35%. Race pays 10k to win. The cars, motor and hauler are assets. Their purchase is not accounted for in the nightly cost. We add a $300 a night for maintenance to the parts for replacement and service.
Average Diesel Fuel per trip one way: $375.00
Laps on Motor: $13.75 a lap: Average 52 laps for 40 lap feature night = $715.00 a night on the motor
Racing Fuel a night: $100.00
4 Pit Passes = $160.00
Equipment Rotation & Service: $300.00
Tires @ $215 a piece: 6 a night: $1,290.00
Payroll: Random Assigned Value: $350.00 a night at track
Driver Percentage: 35%
$10,000 to win race.
$10000, $6000, $3500, $2800, $2500, $2300, $2200, $2100, $2050, $2000 - $1000 to start
You finish 3rd. $3500 prize money. Assume you hurt nothing.
Lets apply it:
$3,500 x .35 = $1,225 to the driver
52 Laps on engine = $715.00 motor maintenance
6 Tires @ $215 = $1,290
Race Fuel = $100
Equipment Rotation & Service = $300
Diesel Fuel = $400
4 Pit Passes = $160
Employee Payroll = $350
Total Cost to run 3rd to owner: $4,540
Owner lost - $1,040 to run 3rd in a National Touring Event.
When I said that 38 cars came to Atomic, there were two winners, one break even car and 35 losers, you see what I mean with this illustration? So the people who keep saying that the Super Hauler is the problem, or the people who buy new motors and have multiple cars are the problem; I am not even accounting for the purchase of the equipment or any of the necessity expenditures for any of it. If you have a line item sponsor that can help reduce the line items above, that moves the margin in your favor as the owner.
Now the 100 lap races that pay $2000 or $2500 to start and add in qualifying laps, your at minimum 115 laps for the show. That's $1581.25 in laps on the engine for that one race. If you burn up 8 tires instead of 6, then your at $1720 in tires. Race fuel doubles to $200 to run double the laps of a standard show. If its a 2 day show, its now $320 in pit passes. You need fuel to get the hauler home too. Have not paid anyone yet and hope you don't tear anything up.
So I am posing the question again; is this a hobby or a professional sport? What makes sense and what needs adjusted? Is there anything to even adjust? Tracks needs to be profitable to make their business make sense or are they hobbyist as well and they should share in the expectation that losing money should be an expected part of the equation if you are functioning within this industry? Aaahhh: there is a question that creates a conversation we need to be having along with the rest of it. We need tracks. They need to be successful. 100% agree.
Here is my whole take on this: Every part of the industry plays the part in a production of a race show. From the manufacturers, to the broadcasters, to the facilities to the promotion, they are all deemed businesses and have a justifiable reason to make money for their roll in the production. BUT, the actual actors (the race teams) who are the performers of the show, have no position in the argument, are demonized for daring raise the question about the money distribution part of it and are expected to be grateful that anyone allows us the opportunity to lose money to be the actors in the production. So here is the catch 22: how about only 2 cars show up to run the race? Only 2 of them are going to leave making enough to pay to race the next night. Fair? How about on lap 5 of the feature, 19 of the cars go pit side and let the 5 cars in the front duke it out for the top 3 because the guys who finishes 4th - 24th are taking a bath, just depends on how bad the bath is on that given night? Fair? All I ever see is if a car pulls pitside to save their equipment, they get ambushed by everyone for not staying out to run the whole race to be a part of the show. Still seem fair?
I have never heard a single car owner ever say that they expected to profit every night they race. On the flip side, the car owners are starting to question really hard why we are so frowned upon with being the performers in the production where every other part of the production is allowed to have an expectation of making a profit and the team owners cant share in that part of the equation. Just so we are being fair, if there are no performers for the production, there is no production. Next time anyone thinks about bashing a team or car owner for expressing their position in the whole equation, remember if the team owners say screw it and all go away, the whole show is over. Then you can really bash them for their being no show at all! The car owners are not asking for anyone to guarantee us a profit for fielding our teams. We are asking for everyone in the equation to sit down and have a 100% transparent discussion about what makes sense so the performers will want to continue to spend money to keep putting on a show.
READY, GO!
So following up on last weeks post that seemed to be splash for the racing community, I was asked to detail down a nightly cost to drop the liftgate on these haulers.
Here is a hypothetical to a race night. These are not to my exact team specifications, just a model to show the reality. 40 lap feature, 2 hot laps, 2 time trial, 8 heat. 2 Employees ave 6k total a month. Assume you race 8 times a month (twice a weekend). Assume driver gets 35%. Race pays 10k to win. The cars, motor and hauler are assets. Their purchase is not accounted for in the nightly cost. We add a $300 a night for maintenance to the parts for replacement and service.
Average Diesel Fuel per trip one way: $375.00
Laps on Motor: $13.75 a lap: Average 52 laps for 40 lap feature night = $715.00 a night on the motor
Racing Fuel a night: $100.00
4 Pit Passes = $160.00
Equipment Rotation & Service: $300.00
Tires @ $215 a piece: 6 a night: $1,290.00
Payroll: Random Assigned Value: $350.00 a night at track
Driver Percentage: 35%
$10,000 to win race.
$10000, $6000, $3500, $2800, $2500, $2300, $2200, $2100, $2050, $2000 - $1000 to start
You finish 3rd. $3500 prize money. Assume you hurt nothing.
Lets apply it:
$3,500 x .35 = $1,225 to the driver
52 Laps on engine = $715.00 motor maintenance
6 Tires @ $215 = $1,290
Race Fuel = $100
Equipment Rotation & Service = $300
Diesel Fuel = $400
4 Pit Passes = $160
Employee Payroll = $350
Total Cost to run 3rd to owner: $4,540
Owner lost - $1,040 to run 3rd in a National Touring Event.
When I said that 38 cars came to Atomic, there were two winners, one break even car and 35 losers, you see what I mean with this illustration? So the people who keep saying that the Super Hauler is the problem, or the people who buy new motors and have multiple cars are the problem; I am not even accounting for the purchase of the equipment or any of the necessity expenditures for any of it. If you have a line item sponsor that can help reduce the line items above, that moves the margin in your favor as the owner.
Now the 100 lap races that pay $2000 or $2500 to start and add in qualifying laps, your at minimum 115 laps for the show. That's $1581.25 in laps on the engine for that one race. If you burn up 8 tires instead of 6, then your at $1720 in tires. Race fuel doubles to $200 to run double the laps of a standard show. If its a 2 day show, its now $320 in pit passes. You need fuel to get the hauler home too. Have not paid anyone yet and hope you don't tear anything up.
So I am posing the question again; is this a hobby or a professional sport? What makes sense and what needs adjusted? Is there anything to even adjust? Tracks needs to be profitable to make their business make sense or are they hobbyist as well and they should share in the expectation that losing money should be an expected part of the equation if you are functioning within this industry? Aaahhh: there is a question that creates a conversation we need to be having along with the rest of it. We need tracks. They need to be successful. 100% agree.
Here is my whole take on this: Every part of the industry plays the part in a production of a race show. From the manufacturers, to the broadcasters, to the facilities to the promotion, they are all deemed businesses and have a justifiable reason to make money for their roll in the production. BUT, the actual actors (the race teams) who are the performers of the show, have no position in the argument, are demonized for daring raise the question about the money distribution part of it and are expected to be grateful that anyone allows us the opportunity to lose money to be the actors in the production. So here is the catch 22: how about only 2 cars show up to run the race? Only 2 of them are going to leave making enough to pay to race the next night. Fair? How about on lap 5 of the feature, 19 of the cars go pit side and let the 5 cars in the front duke it out for the top 3 because the guys who finishes 4th - 24th are taking a bath, just depends on how bad the bath is on that given night? Fair? All I ever see is if a car pulls pitside to save their equipment, they get ambushed by everyone for not staying out to run the whole race to be a part of the show. Still seem fair?
I have never heard a single car owner ever say that they expected to profit every night they race. On the flip side, the car owners are starting to question really hard why we are so frowned upon with being the performers in the production where every other part of the production is allowed to have an expectation of making a profit and the team owners cant share in that part of the equation. Just so we are being fair, if there are no performers for the production, there is no production. Next time anyone thinks about bashing a team or car owner for expressing their position in the whole equation, remember if the team owners say screw it and all go away, the whole show is over. Then you can really bash them for their being no show at all! The car owners are not asking for anyone to guarantee us a profit for fielding our teams. We are asking for everyone in the equation to sit down and have a 100% transparent discussion about what makes sense so the performers will want to continue to spend money to keep putting on a show.
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