Monmouth, IL (Sunday, April 8,2018) - Mother nature has plagued the 2018 racing season here in the Midwest. As for me I have only been to 1 race out of the 11 that I have planned. So let's hope mother nature will get things straightened out real soon and we can go racing!
Speaking of racing, this week will be a very busy one (if you know who co-operates). The week will start off on Wednesday, April 11th at the Pepsi Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa, with the opening night of the Frostbuster's. Which also happens to be the season opener at these tracks. Next up for the Frostbuster's is a stop at the Benton County Speedway in Vinton, Iowa on Thursday, April 12th. Followed by a stop at the Marshalltown Speedway in Marshalltown, Iowa on Friday, April 13th. The Frostbuster's will come to a close on Saturday, April 14th, with a trip to the Boone Speedway in Boone, Iowa.
There is plenty of other racing events scheduled in the Midwest for this weekend. I have listed some of them below:
Friday, April 13th - Pepsi Lee County Speedway, Donnellson, Iowa - Late Model Points Opener
Friday, April 13th - Davenport Speedway, Davenport, Iowa - Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models
Friday, April 13th - Farmer City Raceway, Farmer City, Illinois - World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Models "Illini 100" Night 1
Friday, April 13th - Jacksonville Speedway, Jacksonville, Illinois - World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Cars
Friday, April 13th - Lucas Oil Speedway, Wheatland, Missouri - Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models
Saturday, April 14th - 34 Raceway, West Burlington, Iowa - Season Points Opener
Saturday, April 14th - Maquoketa Speedway, Maquoketa, Iowa - Season Opener
Saturday, April 14th - Farmer City Raceway, Farmer City, Illinois - World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Models "Illini 100" Night 2
Saturday, April 14th - Lucas Oil Speedway, Wheatland, Missouri - Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models
Saturday, April 14th - Peoria Speedway, Peoria, Illinois - Gary Cook Jr. Memorial
Saturday, April 14th - Randolph County Raceway, Moberly, Missouri - ASCS Warrior Sprint Cars
Sunday, April 15th - Quincy Raceways, Quincy, Illinois - Season Opener (2nd Attempt)
Sunday, April 15th - Quad City Speedway, East Moline, Illinois - Season Opener (2nd Attempt)
As you can see there is plenty of tracks and variety of events to attend. So I encourage you to take in as many as you can. But remember, before you head out to these tracks make sure you check with them to make sure they are still racing. You never know what mother nature has in store for the next 5 days.
Now to get down to the reason why I decided to write something today. Back on Thursday, April 5th the Beatrice Speedway in Beatrice, Nebraska posted the following on their Facebook page:
NEWS: Due to the increase in cost of equipment and insurance, and to keep operating weekly at our current purse, we have no choice but to increase the cost of pit passes to $30 starting May 4th. We appreciate your understanding and are looking forward to another great racing season at Beatrice Speedway.
As of this writing there has been 132 comments on this post. And as you can imagine most of them are negative comments. So I decided to put together some numbers to show somewhat of what it takes to put on a weekly show at a track. Just to point out these numbers could vary by track and by the week, and are just an estimate. So here goes:
EXPENSES:
$3,000 - Employee's Salary on a night (Some tracks could be higher or lower depending on the number of employee's)
$400 - Fire & Ambulance on a night (Once again this could be higher or lower depending on what the agreement between the parties is to cover an event at the track)
$750 - Insurance a night (This can be higher or lower. As I believe the more races you have the lower the premium is)
$350 - Advertising (If a track decides to advertise on the radio, TV or in a newspaper. And if they do, it depends on how much they want to spend on an event)
$140 - Fuel for tractors, grader, water truck to prep the track
$560 - Utilities (Lights, gas, electricity, phone, internet, etc...)
$500 - Miscellaneous
$2939.50 - Concession Expense (Cost of the food, drinks, condiments, packaging, etc...Again this can be higher or lower depending on amount ordered from week to week)
$7870 - Competitor Payout (This could be higher or lower depending on car counts)
(The following breakdown was used from a track in my area that has a decent weekly payout. I then took there car counts each week and added them up. Then divided by the number of events they held to come up with the average car counts. Here is how the weekly payout breaks down based on this.)
$2545 - Modifieds (Average - 13 cars)
$2170 - Stock Cars (Average - 13 cars)
$2305 - SportMods (Average -15 cars)
$850 - Sport Compacts (Average - 15 cars)
$367.25 - Sanctioning fees (Based on what IMCA charges a track)
$202.25 - Modifieds ($75 plus 5% of the total purse paid out that night in this class)
$75 - Stock Cars
$65 - SportMods
$25 - Sport Compacts
$16,876.75 = TOTAL EXPENSES
INCOME:
$5,600 - Pit Passes (56 average car count x 4 per car (national average) = 224 in pits x $25 (Again this can be higher depending on car counts and how many people go into the pits)
$896 - Pit Concession Sales (I took 224 people in the pits and multiplied by $4 (average they might spend, as we know most take their own drinks and food in with them)
$1,000 - Sponsor
$7,496 = TOTAL INCOME
$16,876.75 (TOTAL EXPENSES) - $7,496 (TOTAL INCOME) = $9,380.75 short fall.
Which means if you take the $9,380.75 short fall, you will need 474.97 paid in the grandstands to just break even on the night. How did I come up with 474.97 paid in the grandstands? I took the $9,380.75 and divided it by $19.75 ($10 to get into the grandstands + the $9.75 average they will spend at the concession stand).
As I pointed out these numbers are not factual numbers. So some tracks could be higher or lower depending on several factors. I do believe some tracks have bad nights, and I believe they had good nights to hopefully average it out at the end of the season. I also don't believe these fairboards or promoters are raking in the money. They spend many hours a week out at the facilities to get it ready from week to week, which they don't collect a per hour wage for.
Is there a real winner in raising the pit passes or even the grandstand admission? NO, because if a driver and crew decides to travel to another track to race. They will more than likely take their fans with them. Which in return means less revenue for the track. Not many tracks can take loosing money week in and week out, let alone every season. So in the end you see tracks closing. That is why I think some tracks need to look at working together in order for this sport to survive.
But can we just put the blame on the tracks? I say NO. The cost to put together a race car every year keeps going up. Along with the cost to get it to and from the track, and the cost to make it go around the track. Is there a way to fix this problem? I believe the answer is NO. The days are gone when you can take a car that is several years old and run consistently up front, or even win a bunch of races. Today you either have to buy new every year, or take the old one to get updated every year. Plus you use to be able to go to your local parts store to buy the parts to bolt on to these cars. But not anymore, everything is fabricated. Which costs more money. As a result you see people getting out of this sport because of the cost, and no one is coming into the sport to make up the numbers of those leaving.
So I can't stress enough that we all need to do our part and get out and support your local track. Also we need to do everything possible to get the younger generation involved in this sport. Or unfortunately only the strong will survive. Hope to see you at the track real soon! Let's go RACING!!!
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