06 track rental news
 

Okay, just heard back from denny at us 41 regarding our rental for this year.

It comes down to this, bad news for us smaller groups. The fee is a whopping 3 grand this year due to the ihra changes and such.

That is the sat price, they can do a weekday for 1800, or a sunday for 7 grand.

This is not what we were told last year when we left, we were actually told we would be given a break for being such a good group two years running.

I am going to look at some of the other tracks north of here, see what i can do.



:bs:

I mean, do the math, we would have to have 50 totally committed people to get this going. I know there are 50 people out there, if we book it, will they come?

That's some terrible news.
Instead of renting, how about just having a planned gathering on a test and tune night? That would be very cost effective considering I got 13 passes in two hours on a Wed. night last year for less than 30 bucks. It's never really that busy during the week. Then no one has to put their neck on the line for rental fees. We all just pay general admission and that's that. This way, there can be more than one of these meetings per year without someone being "stuck with the bill". I'm not too selfish to share the track with the general public.
Just my 2 cents.
:2cents:
Jesse

60 people * $30 = 1800

Would be easy enought to do, wait, that would mean people would have to commit to something and actually show up. :-)

Sorry, had to get that in.

Really sucks considering like Tim said, we would actually get a break for renting it out 3 yrs in a row. Would have been nice to have some money left for the next deposit and try and do something nice for Craig and Sonya for cooking.

I still like doing it where its our track for the day. Its a blessing for people who are trying to get combos worked out.

I'm sincerely dissappointed in the changes regarding 41 Dragstrip.

Somehow I knew all little people were in bad shape with Norm out of the picture, I guess it held true. He called the races at almost every event since the place opened.(was there when the all day/all nite stuff was going on to with someone else calling it)

Getting together on the test and tunes would work, but we need to take a couple dates and see what ones fit the most people here. Also its a serious PIA to get people there when it starts at 5 or 6 and most people dont live near there and work until 5 or 6 doesnt help. Thats why the weekend rental was so good.

Anyhows, depending on outcomes of certain things I would like to thank Tim, Dan and others who droppef extra $$$ time and effort in making the last 2 rentals happen

later
Jeremy

Why don't we all just go in with the MFBA guys? The $35 annual fee gets you one track rental, a member shirt, a member sticker, etc. They need some 3rd gen representation there as it is.

has anyone looked into byron at all?

Byron is 4800 for a sat, only 3 if we go to iowa:confused:

I was told that new insurance rates are to blame for the price hike.

I know tim is going to call great lakes dragway.

wow that sucks. hope we can come up with another opertunity

Well, it looks like 3 grand is the cheapest we are going to get, insurance rates ruin everything .

so 30 guys at $100 each lol.

or the $1800 weekday booking. I guess a $30 test n tune night is really the way to go instead. Those rates are crazy. I know Rte. 66 is over 10k to book up a sunday last time I checked.

Yeah Rt 66 has always been horrid rental wise from day one.

the deposit was $3000 back in the day lol, dont wanna know what it is now.

Yeah this really sucks.

I hope they open Rt 30 dragstirp back up now.

Have multiple houses in 20 min radius in case of breakage to dump a car at. Worst case scenario is like a $50 tow bill.

later
Jeremy

yah i can tell you first hand that US41 was starting to go to hell when papa norm died....i worked there the summer b4 he died and also the summer after and when he died his son took over the business side but tamara(his daughter who had worked there for the last 5-6 years) would still be the one that would look over the operations during track time...she would deal with most if not all of the situations with the racers and keep us line people in line.....soon after tamara quit EVERYTHING changed!! Denny from Street Car Chaos becamse the new guy that would control us line people and control how different operations were run...like track prep.....with denny in control he took away the "family owned and run" feeling and basicaly made everyone feel like they could easily be replaced....even those who have been there since us41 opened!!!

so basically now they just work all the people like slaves..... and hardly anyone works there from the old crew....i could go on about how stupid some of things were but i'll spare everyone...lol

go look next time though and i bet you will see denny in either the rescue truck or a golf cart and you will see him demanding the line people to do all sorts of stuff inbetween cars......

with the son and denny running it now they are only in it for the money.....and norms son is a good businessman so im sure he was able to find some excuse why to demand so much for track rentals this year....

Well hopefully with the increase in prices will come an increase in the quality of the entire facility. It is looking a bit cleaner than it used to, but everything just needs some general maintenance. There are several improvements that could be made relatively cheaply to enhance spectator as well as driver comforts.
My wife and I speculated what we would do differently if it were our facility.
Maybe they should have a suggestion box so folks can rate the quality of their facility-or maybe do a phone survey to see what their regular customers think would be an improvement. That might be the best place to start for them.
Sorry if this is off topic. I think the reason the rental prices are so high (other than insurance) is the fact that someone with money to rent the track could book all his (her) friends with fast cars to show up (Chicago wise guys, etc.), advertise said event on the radio or TV, charge 40 bucks a head--thousands would come- -and the person who rented the track for 5 grand can come out with thousands more at the end of the day. The track just wants their fair share.

dang, I'm sorry that you guys are getting screwed like that. I live about 20 minutes from Muncie Dragway(US 67 Raceway). Through the summer, they have 1 Friday Import vs Domestic Fun Night. It starts at 6pm, and goes until 1am. I have gone a few times and ran the 13.6 at about 12:30 one night. It is never really packed, and is always a great time. I usually get around 20+ runs a night there on the fun night. I missed 2 last summer due to tearing my truck up on the way to the track...lol. I know it is a drive for some of you guys, but it is like 10-15 for 7 hours of racing.....lol, that is a heck of a deal.
Andrew

i'd be better off paying $100 for the track rental around here than the gas in my 3/4 ton suburban and the camaro on a trailer behind it to go down there. :doh: but i do appreciate the suggestion.

Well the jacked up prices are a bummer to hear. If the rental is on a weekday that puts me out of it this year because it work restrictions. I would be willing to pay more and make the 2.5 hour drive again to come this year if you got another saturday rental at US41. If we could get alittle earlier date this year so the weather wouldnt be so nasty like it was last year I think more people might come and be willing to pay alittle more. If the track prep was alittle better (ei: water in the burnout box, and some VHT or something) could help alot. But it was still a blast last year and I am 100% ready to pay more this year if a saturday is secured again. Just my thoughts. Thanks again Tim (9D1BURD) for spearheading this again.

Jeremy

Well, i am not against paying 100 to race all day with friends. I have a pretty good feeling most others wont agree with me.

I know people will say "why pay 100 when i can pay 35 and race just the same on a test and tune day?"

I for one dont mind spending extra to try and make our group get out there, be known, and have a good time helping each other out.

Heck, 100 is cheaper than i have paid every year we have gone, so i feel like i am getting some sort of discount:D

I know I said $100 was a bit pricey for me when we talked about it earlier Tim, but I have to say....it was VERY nice to have some people there to help me out this year at the rental. I paid my $50 for 1 1/2 runs before I blew up the 305. So I guess if I get 3 runs in this year, I'm breaking out about the same as last year :D

I'd gladly pay the extra money over a test and tune night (though I'll be sure to go to plenty of those this year) just to have the comfort of knowing you're around people that can help. As many of you know, I ended up getting my car trailered home 2 1/2 hours out of the way, and all he wanted was $ to cover gas, though I gave a bit more for his time. *cough* Craig *cough*

I'm in, and you can more than likely count me as two people since I'll probably bring both cars out somehow.

Id be more than willing to pay $100 also. And if all goes well I could be considered as 2 people also because the g/f will be driving the iroc up if all goes as planned.

Jeremy

I know its kindof a touchy subject, but also if you considered charging a small fee for people just spectating maybe $15ish that would help offset the price hike. Just a thought.

Jeremy

i thought they charged per car last year not per driver so if you brought 2 cars you'd be paying for 2 fees. :confused:

Thats what I ment by 2 people. I was saying 2 people as in 2 paying racers. I should have been more clear.

Jeremy

Thanks Matt.

Now at least we are positive we know why it went to hell :-)

I had bad feelings about it when Norm passed away, now its true.

Well, we have enough people poking around, so hopefulle either:

1) We find a second tolerable group to co-rent the track with us(also makes us responsible for them)

2) Everyone ponys up with $$$ and quits talking about it :-)

later
Jeremy

A Wednesday or Friday night test and tune at 41 is the way to go, I mentioned this two years ago before the first rental. Wednesdays used to be $20, and for how dead it normally is, you could circle track it if you wanted to. I know renting the track is cool and all, but the main thing is the general gathering and not having to worry about losing money because of deadbeats.

I would definitely pay 100 to run all day with a good group of guys. Heck 100 is not much for all day fun, you could spend that on dinner with the g/f(not worth it).

i'll be posting up when i plan on going to test and tunes, have a completely new combo that i need to work the bugs out on. If anyone would be willing to go as well you're all more than invited.

Let me know when you are going because I am also going to be trying to work the bugs out of a new combo for the summit super series for this year.

probably be around beginning to mid-april....depending on the weather. i won't make passes when it's still cold out no since in wasting my time by not hooking up

US41 was sold and is under new management since last year and Jeremy your in luck they are goign to open US 30 again i don't recall if its this year ot next year but that are redoing the track and the tower at US 30


i'm all for rentting out rt 66 since its only 3miles from my house :-D

see with that being said i think we should looking into jumpping from track to track so not everyone has to drive 2 hours each time. the main reason i wouldn't want to go to US41 is because if i brake the car i'm looking at mega bucks to get my car towed home. and untill i get my own truck and trailer i wouldn't feel liike heading out there now i understade that price is a big thing for everyone so i think we should just have like a once a mo. meeting at a test and tune at one of the local tracks and then jump around... this way i feel we can get more point to come to the track days meet more people and what not. since i'm the closest to rt 66 if you wish i can drive over to the rt 66 office and get all the info on times days and price. i know some people that are on the higher end that work for the track so i may beable to get a better price.

but if you guys rent out US41 let me know on the time and day and my buddy with his vega would come out since he has a truck and trailer

xpndbl3 I am still wrenching on my car and have a lot of work to do so my car will probabky not be ready till mid April anyway. I still have to drop the rear end and change gears. I have too many things to do and time is running out.

mike route 66 wants somewhere around 8-10 grand to rent out that facility. LOL....break open that piggy bank. I got quotes around 1500 or so from different tracks in the other post but I guess no one is willing to hit up byron or cordova raceway. So i'll be going to 41 and byron a lot this year.

irokbracketrace.....just let me know when the weather gets better and i'll get a trailer and head out with you. Hopefully I can break some expensive stuff again. :D