With many racing clubs, participants don’t need to sign-up early and pay in advance. It is often possible for entrants to sign-up for an event and, on the day of the event, decide not to attend and receive their entry fee back. This equates to risk for the club. If it is a rainy day, the attendance is typically lower as compared to a nice, sunny day. The club uses historical data to estimate how many entries are anticipated, then calculates the necessary entry fee. What happens if the region is wrong? Hopefully they’re not. Clubs do try to put some money aside from profitable events for a rainy day, no pun intended. It is also necessary for the club to budget for the competition licensing schools, where most clubs typically lose money. Think about the 60 students at a school and how much would be necessary to charge students to break-even. At the same time, without conducting licensing schools, no new drivers would be able to join the club.
As I previously mentioned, this pricing is only to provide you with an idea of what it costs clubs to host an event; each club, region, and track will have different costs. Often times smaller clubs have lower costs, but they also may have less desirable weekends or not as much staffing for the event.
It’s More than Just Racing!
I have been to a few fairly significant events in terms of club racing. What I find interesting are the things I remember most fondly about the events. It is the camaraderie between racers, family and friends. Going into these events, I thought my memories would revolve around the driving aspect, but I was wrong. Believe me, I am totally into driving cars at the edge and becoming the best driver I can be, but you can’t underestimate the other aspects of racing. Each race my wife Melissa and I attend, the more great people we meet. Through racing, I have developed several close friendships. The time you spend off the track is just as important and rewarding as the time spent on the track. Let’s just say that racing is much more than I ever anticipated there would be.