For people like myself who simply can’t afford to (or for others who simply don’t want to) spend tons of money on racing, you become forced into finding ways to reduce the costs. Did you buy your gas at the track? During a time when 93 octane gas could be purchased for $3.80 at a gas station, it won’t be unusual to see the track charge $7.50 or more per gallon for the same grade. Buy your gas at a local gas station and bring it with you. The one-time cost of a 5-gallon fuel jug (or maybe two) is well worth the investment. Do you send the racecar to a garage when it needs to be repaired? If you do, this adds up extremely fast. Learn how to work on the car yourself, and you will save a significant amount of money. Did you pay for a hotel? Why not camp at the track? I’ll admit that I am a wimp and need a large tent, air mattress, and a fan. Just because you are camping does not mean that you can’t do it with comfort. Take a close look at what you spend, and be creative with methods to cut your racing expenditures. More information about the costs associated with racing will be discussed throughout this website.
What Did it Cost the Club?
With entry fees ranging between $250 and $350, clubs must be making a significant amount of money from hosting events, right? At one of the recent SCCA two-day events, the entry fee was $280, which included a practice and qualifying session on Friday, then a race on Saturday. The event seemed to be on par with any other typical weekend for that track with 250 entrants. I whipped out my calculator and did some number crunching. For that one weekend alone, they took in $70,000 from entry fees. So why do they charge so much for the entry fee? I thought SCCA was supposed to be a non-profit club?
I spoke with a few clubs that host racing events regarding their costs. What I learned absolutely shocked me! The following information represents a portion of the costs for an SCCA region to host a two-day event in 2008, at the same track I referenced in the scenario above. While this track is a bit on the expensive side, it will give you an appreciation for where your entry fee goes.
If you are like me, you are quickly adding up the above costs. The total for these listed expenses not including various equipment is $60,410. Again, these are just some of the expenses. There are many other smaller ticket items that add up quickly. (The costs will also vary depending upon the track and club.)
After reviewing these costs, you will notice that a figure for employees’ salaries is not included, which for most businesses is very costly. Why is this? With SCCA and most other racing clubs, all flaggers, stewards, registration workers, and timing and scoring workers are all volunteers. To staff an event at SCCA’s standards, it often takes nearly 100 volunteers for each race weekend. Yeah, that number seems high until you start adding all of the areas that volunteers are needed. For example, the club uses 3 or 4 workers per corner / flag station, 10 to 15 stewards, grid workers, fire and rescue workers, emergency medical staff, technical inspectors, pace car drivers, registration workers, and the list continues. Smaller clubs may not require this many volunteers, but still the number of people needed to host a successful event is not trivial. This is yet another reason why volunteers are so important to club racing’s success. Can you imagine how much it would cost if all of these workers were paid?
* At the end of the day, SCCA normally hosts a worker appreciation party. Workers, drivers and their crew are all invited to attend for food, beer, and soda. It is a great time to meet the volunteers and swap racing stories with fellow drivers. Especially because people are volunteering their time, this is a small token of appreciation for the workers. Oh, the $4,000 budget for food and $950 for two kegs of beer are not misprints. When I was told the price for the two kegs of beer, I needed to ask several times “do you mean $95?” Here lies the problem. It is not possible for the club to bring their own food and drinks unless the party is done off the track premises. Since the parties are held on the track premises, food and drink must be purchased from the track, and are sold at consumer restaurant prices. Again, the club needs to keep their volunteers happy, therefore this party really is necessary. Without volunteers, the event either wouldn’t happen or the entrance fee would be substantially higher.
So, How Much Did That Day Just Cost You?
For you, the $250 - $350 entry fee just represents one of the associated costs. It gets a bit depressing when you really start figuring out what the event just cost. This time you were lucky because it does not appear that anything broke that would necessitate buying more replacement parts. You start adding the costs up in your head…There were tires, gas for the racecar and tow vehicle, brake pads were worn down a bit. Eeek! You begin to wonder how can racing costs be reduced?
• Track rental fee for a Friday / Saturday event: $46,000
• Insurance ($31 per entrant): $7,750
• Trophies: $1,000
• Water for volunteers (60 cases): $360
• Sanctioning fee: $350
• Food for worker appreciation party*: $4,000
Beer for worker appreciation party (2 kegs)*: $950
• Costs for initial purchase and ongoing maintenance of equipment including fire extinguishers, radio communication systems, timing and scoring equipment, computers, tools, scales, flag sets, etc.