Owning & operating a MX track in SWMO

Sounds to me like you’ve thought things out pretty well, my biggest question would be; do you honestly feel that there’s a great demand, in your area for a new motocross track ? For instance, my experience has been, you generally need at least 100-150 riders (depending on your investments and expenditures) at an event, just to break even. Obviously you don’t need as many at a practice session, to pay the bills…. * Do your research, maybe pose some inquiries to other area track owners and hear their advice (?) Anyway, best of luck. 

Like Rupert said, what's the demand like there? What is the population within a couple of hours drive?

If you want to really protect yourself, and you should, then start a non-profit organization that will operate the track.  Lease the land to the non-profit and you will greatly reduce your liability.  For the hardcore riders, they should be eager to buy an annual membership and although mx riders will bitch and moan about the cost of riding a track, charge them enough to make it worth your time.  A golf membership, or a ski pass is many hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year.  Imo it isn't too much to ask at minimum $300-500 a year for access to maintained mx tracks.

Unless you have some really big races, unfortunately you won't make money from the track.  But you could look at other ways to make money, in the same manner that ski/golf resorts do and build some cabins to rent, food and beverage, or even sell  lots to people that are really serious and have the dough.

I think you're jumping a little too far ahead, and you need to be more realistic about your goals. This is not an easy way to make a ton of money and there is a ton of risk involved. 

Scrap the mechanic idea. Nobody is going to service their bike while they're already at the track. If they are, they're a liability. Not to mention all of the inventory and parts you'd need to have on hand. 

Build one track on your own first without hiring an operator. Paying an operator is going to make your margins way too thin at first. 

A lot of truth and good advice that is still true in this discussion.

https://www.vitalmx.com/forums/Moto-Related,20/Owning-Operating-MX-Trac…

Love4moto must have done some research and not liked what he found. He has not posted here at vital in over 2 years.

You talk a good game and I am sure you have done your homework.

However - as someone with a real estate/appraisal/farming background - I would look at what you are giving up - 50-acres +/- of farm land in your area has a pretty good ROI - just in farming. It doesn't matter if its row crop, cattle or whatever.

Motocross in this area is different. If its a good track - heck yes people will come.

I remember going to CooperLand in OK and having people from MN to TX parked right next to US.

Th Economy in the US was rolling back then. Not right now.....

My point: People will drive if you make it a track worth driving for...

The issue you may find is that the competition is tuff....lots of good tracks from Wichita to Dallas

I would think twice about this - maybe work for a local track to get the hands on experience.

One guy tried - but he did not own the land.....like the above stated - look up for Love4moto advice

I want a track (in Northern Indiana) but I figured I would make a small private track and gauge how many riders show interest in that first. You don't need to get everything setup as a facility right away, do you? I figured if I got enough guys showing up I could create a club then expand on that. Luckily there are tons of riders in my area, sadly land prices after COVID are astronomical. 10 acres used to cost $200k for some farmland around here, now that same land is going for $750k. 

What happened to the moto track in Pea Ridge? It used to be a pretty successful dirt track before they wrecked it

I sent you a PM. I think it would be great to have another track around here.  

I raced mini sprints at the speedway in the mid 90s and the track used to pull a decent crowd. Something happened around 2000 and they turned it into a very hard pack moto track that drew more ATVs than bikes. I rode it a couple of times, but moved out of the area.

There was a lot more money in nw AR than sw MO that's for sure! And less rocks 😅

In my area of NC/SC, tracks draw more for practice than they do for racing. Old guys have the money to spend , but dont want to race anymore. 

Is Gas MX still around right over the border in OK? 

No.

Even if you own the land, it won't be profitable.  There is no rider base.  The two-wheeled enthusiasts in the area ride Mountain Bikes. 

Because tracks owners won’t get together and organize 1 series and not run on top of each other.  

Talk to the guys at 4 State Motoplex and see how they’re doing.   Not having other tracks nearby can either hurt or help.  

Not always true.

I was in a district where new tracks got treated like step children.

A new track could expect to get Easter and mother's Day as 2 of their Sunday race dates...lol

Every new idea was meant by "well,that is the way we have been doing it since the 1970s and see no reason to change it."

I got sick of it and went outlaw. Could do my own advancements, try new classes, and ran a good organized program that didn't have people sitting around with no racing going on for a couple hours an event.

Of course it goes the other way sometimes. New promoters show up and think they are on equal standing even though they might never have even worked a race.

There is a fine line there somewhere that seems to happen rarely.

If you are starting out, do practice days. Get your ducks in a row and hone your track prep and event organizing skills 

Local racing is harder than ever to start up and requires more staff, work, and expenses.

You can lose a little money if turnout is not what you hope for at a practice day. You can lose a LOT at a poorly attended race.

Call and ask Lincoln Trail Mx in Casey Illinois they are 1 if not the oldest and most successful track in nation. 

And call Gerhardt Ward Illinois Dist 17 chief he's done it for years

That sounds just like the RC racing scene in my area...

I rode GAS in Watts practice day today. Only counted 21 bikes. 

Ran a track in SEKS in the early 2000s not nearly enough in the area to support it and you are severely down playing tracks in the area also.  Saying Jandebeurs is a top track is not accurate either.  You have a lot more around you than those 2.  You literally have probably 10 within 2 hours of you.  You better start with a dump truck full of money and plan on setting it on fire.  You also won't pull 150 for an event unless it is a very large series or LL qualifier or something.  Just a regular race won't bring nearly that many.  Whatever you think it will cost you need to triple it and however much you yourself get to ride cut that down to about 1/4.  Running a race track is a good way to go broke and take all the fun out of it.

Owning a successful track is a very tricky business model, there are a lot of variables are difficult to predict and control.  I have known plenty of track owners, most of them smart businessmen, yet most tracks fail.  I know of one here near DFW that opened earlier this year, yet they have been closed more then half the weekends that they were planning to be open for because of weather issues and staffing issues.  

In my opinion, keep it simple at first, a track that everyone can ride and a kids track, you can always add an advanced track later.  A simple track would be easier to maintain, so you spend less time prepping it, use natural features if you can.  Keep track fees cheap, that will help you build a customer base, especially if this is a work in progress.  I would not worry about building a work shop, or trying to sell food, moto people usually take care of themselves in those regards.   

I deal with a lot of tracks on Maschio Tillers and prep implements .  My advice to new tracks is to not open until you have prep somewhat dialed.  Riders will overlook a shitty layout or jumps but will run a place into ground over prep.  

Also as a track owner you must have thick skin.  

want to make a million runnin a track, start with 5 million.

we made money when we had 700 sign ups on race day. anythng less than that we broke even or lost. this is a group of individuals who have been doing it for 30+ years. if yer starting from scratch...build small track and make that 1 track really good. and stop dreaming of all these other wacky ideas and multiple tracks etc... get 1 track working and once you see how crazy hard it is to  not lose money yer scale of entrpanuerism may get realistic

Here my take with my experience.  Some of my comments might not be applicable to your area and circumstances but take what you can from below comments.

First and foremost  make sure if you have close neighbors they are ok with track and noise frequency of events. I would approach local zoning  with written plan noting frequency of events and get written response stating a motocross track with competitive race events was allowed.

Sounds like you looked at insurance availability and costs. The scary part is this is specialized coverage and insurance companies drop coverages if they realize losses. Without insurance  you don't have a business. Can you get insurance through a santioning  body. i.e. AMA? 

You need  enough races and riders to make it profitable. Is there enough riders to support the track consistently? Dependent on costs to develop track and run races it generally takes 100-200 entries per event  just to break even and dependent on staff needs (flaggers/track prep/ watering/sign-up/ entry @ gate  ) you need 50-100  riders for practice days to make it worthwhile.  Can you or do you need to have sanctioned race or practice events?  Generally sanctioned events or being involved in race series draws more riders. Do other local tracks hold sanctioned events, what are there schedules? Have seen other tracks put up resistance to sanctioning bodies allowing other local sanctioned events. You don't want to have conflicting practice or race days with other local tracks resulting in poor rider turnout. 

Can you get staff needs consistently fulfilled during weekend events? Need flaggers/track prep/ watering/sign-up.  Are they paid or "club" members that work in exchange for fee free riding?  From my experience initially ppl want to be involved but that fades. 

For track watering there is pro and cons to water truck vs a piped system. The cons of truck system it needs accessible roads  to be built around track and can be troublesome with trees, fencing and spectators and probably needs a elevated tank with keep-fill system with overflow for fast filling unless you have high capacity pump for fast filling. Generally truck systems are more difficult to  control for water coverage and use more water and you have more maintenance with water truck  Advantage is  if set up correctly one guy can cover a lot of ground with a truck . Piped stems require high capacity pump and well or high capacity pump with large pond river or lake to draw from. with any of these systems you need to check on local permitting  Once set up piped systems have better control  of water placement and less maintenance but generally require more ppl to operate. 

I have been involved in building, maintaining and helping run both private and public tracks. My son owned Cooperland in early 2000's up to the 2008 recession. I have owned a general construction company for over 40 years.  Not trying to scare you away from your dream but running a profitable MX track is a full time and then some job.  In my experiences with tracks and business it take more time and money than anyone thinks to run a track and make a profitable business. They require a fair amount of up-front development costs and 2-3 dedicated ppl that want to eat, sleep and breath motocross.

#1) Always write a formal business plan out - trust me, this is worth the effort

#2) As much as I LOVE moto, I doubt the base is there to make the business profitable - doesn't mean you shouldn't pursue your dream, just saying that you shouldn't base your business solely on MX gate fees.  Look into selling merchandise, snack bar/food, and any other sources of potential revenue / marketing sources to create passive income outside gate fees.

#3) I suspect that there is a pretty decent base of UTV riders in that area.  You have the land available.  What about adding a UTV course?  You could get these riders year round (even in the snow) whereas MX riders won't be there in good enough numbers during crappy midwest winter weather.

#4) I would definitely hold off on having a full blown Nationals track for now.  If you have a quality, safe, and fun intermediate/Vet track you will have 3-4X the riders that would ride a full on nationals track.  The Vet/intermediate tracks are what makes money.  The reality is, there are far more riders (i.e. customers) with that skill level compared to expert riders.  And expert riders will still ride vet / intermediate tracks if they are designed well and are fun.

Good luck!  I hope it works for you.  This country needs more tracks, not less.

Pay Joe (JustMX) a consulting a fee to come out there, survey the situation and pick his brain for a week to 10 days.  He knows some stufff…

I guarantee he will save you money in the long run either way, whether you go ahead and build it, or bail out on the idea.