Posts
525
Joined
11/21/2011
Location
Coeur d'Alene, ID, USA
Edited Date/Time
1/27/2012 12:07pm
Why is it so expensive? I dont understand. If you own the equipment, and the land, what else could be so extreme? Water? Insurance? If a track is open 3 days a week, and brings in 200 riders a day, thats 600. 600 times 20 bucks is 12000 bucks. Times that by four and that is almost fifty thousand dollars! A month!! I just dont understand. Ofcourse you wont get that many riders all the time. Please help me out with this because I have always wanted to have my own track but people keep saying its not worth it..
Insurance is ridiculous, as are ambulance fees. If you have an all volunteer staff that will help, but chances are that wont happen, especially when people know you are making bank. You need at least 20 people to run a tack on a practice day and more than double that on a race day. Do the math. Then there's fuel for equipment, not to mention maintaining said equipment, buying things like a starting gate, lumber and such for buildings, PA system, tools, banners, signage, track markers, fencing, water pumps, hose, office supplies, furniture, advertising, etc etc etc. Plus there's taxes and county fees etc. And it's not just on days you have practice or races that you spend money. You have to maintain and repair the track and building between events and unless you are committed full time, you are going to have to hire people and that is not cheap and neither is the fuel for the equipment they'll be running.
Trust me, I could go on.
Many many people ask the same question you do because it looks so easy, but the trick is to see the hidden and not so hidden costs. It's a tough go but if you want to try it make sure you OVERESTIMATE your costs by at least 40% so you have a buffer. And be prepared to have NO life other than the track. It's a commitment probably beyond anything you've ever done. You'll work your ass off and people will still bitch at you every single day. Ever try pleasing 200 people at the same time?
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
You also start with some pretty big "ifs": already owning the land and the equipment.
P
The track where I work mostly runs their own series which is unsanctioned but we always.....always have 2 ambulance crews on site.
We've had riders down even on slow days who were unresponsive and if it were not for the EMT staff they might have died right there on the side of the track.
We go to practice tracks where there isn't an ambulance on hand and quite frankly it makes me very nervous.
Owning your own land and all equipment free and clear is a big plus and the way the economy is going a must anymore unless you have someone out there with gobs of investment $$ then you suddenly have a partner in the mix. Sometimes good more times than not no good. The track scene that was not mentioned is that for every year your open you age 5 years start young!!!!
On-site ambulance is about $1,200 per day + alot more if that ambulance has to leave and bring another in return.
Proper amount of equipment to run track can get to $100K really fast.
For a proper sized track and parking you need at lest 50-100 acres of land at $5,000 to $10,000 per acre.
Costs for running track, paying employees, etc.
If you don't already own the land and some of the equipment, I would be surprised if the track ever turned a profit without some business partners for financial support.
If you already owned the land, owned some equipment, and continued to gradually build the track and grounds up as finances permitted w/o borrowing huge loans to do so, then eventually you could probably start turning profits. This is the only way to do it.
http://www.vitalmx.com/forums/Moto-Related,20/setting-up-a-race-track,4…
http://www.vitalmx.com/forums/Moto-Related,20/Cost-of-dirt,1194827
One of my buddy runs the ambulance crew at the local races. His ambulance never leaves the site. He and his crew are there as first response. For anybody that needs to be evacuated the local fire department gets called. I would assume that the cost of the ride falls on the rider being evacuated.
Also my local track is fairly cheap on practice days ($15 and they groom a couple times a day and water as needed) but they don't have an ambulance or flaggers except on race days. So if you hurt yourself, you rely on other riders to help you, and wait for the ambulance to show up if you are really hurt. I think most riders are aware and ride pretty conservatively.
Pit Row
-have an unapproved ambulance crew at any track day/race
-have less than a full contingent of good flaggers at any time
-not have your senior referee overseeing the entire day
-run "open" practice days with peewees, minis and big bigs on track at the same time
-not have the full insurance coverage at all times
-allow ATVs on the track with any sized bike.
5 flaggers P? This guy seriously does this? He must have the best lawyers and the best insurance because he's hanging his own ass out to dry if he gets sued when someone gets killed because he didn't do everything in his power to make his track safe.
When you think about it, it is still a lot less dangerous than riding off-road where you are in the middle of nowhere with no easy access. I've ridden with people who ride the trail like a 10 minute moto. WFO all the time, with no idea what's around the next bend.
That to me is insanity.
Our track is right off the highway, within 10 minutes from the local fire department. Shit does happen sometimes, and that 10 minutes can too long for some cases. But that's pretty rare. I think most people who go there are glad they have a fairly cheap facility available all year long.
My son took that ride in 08 when he broke his back, cost around $600.
Of course that was the least of my worries at the time.
Would having a drag strip onsite make it feasible to run an MX track on the side?
I dont know anything about drag-racing but it looks alot cheaper to maintain a drag strip compared to a MX track.
VitalMX drag racers...please chime in.
I think the drag strip was there before the mx track.
www.buddscreek.com
New England Dragway just opened an MX track onsite and then there is Raceway Park in Jersey.
Both of those strips were in place way before the MX track too.
Not sure if it would be easy to get anything that loud approved nowadays though.
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