Interesting Discussions Regarding the MRA Race Series

[benfoxmra95]

but you cant penalize a racer for not being able to make an 1100 mile return trip to another state.

Why not?

it's not a penalty. it's just the way things work out. I'd like to go to work all the Grand am races but their schedule directly conflicts the AMA's, it's just how it goes in life. Some people can make stuff happen and some cannot.

The MRA has been practicing basically the same business model for many many years, Cater to the locals who can barely afford racing, don't make them travel, and listen to them complain about superbike motors...

The MRA has always put so much emphasis on a championship series trophy that you get at the end of the year. Only a few are able to obtain this trophy goal regardless of circumstances and money. I see the club as only catering to those who are championship points orientated racers and not the weekend warriors. There's not enough championship points chasers to solely support the club so why not try to bring in more people who'll only do a few weekends. I'd rather have 30 extra racers doing 5 weekends than 10 die hards doing them all.

the AMA tried something drastically different, so different that some of factories left, but now are coming back. and if you have seen an AMA race lately, you've seen some of the closest best racing you've ever seen in decades. my point is, not to do things like the AMA, but sometimes making changes may seem like a bad idea at first, but can lead to better things in the future.

[Clarkie]

A few years ago, or hopefully in a few years, sure go for it but right now with numbers dwindling and cost being a big factor in it, I dont think it is fiscally responsible for the club to basically force (for lack of a better word) racers to travel 1100 miles if they want to compete for the championship.

I totally agree with the MRA being a SBK club, even I am surprised at how many big bore 600's there are when the racer who owns the bike is conviced more power will make them a better rider.

[benfoxmra95]

last point of opinion here, The MRA can continue to practice the same routines and sit around and wait the the economy to come back to it (which in my opinion won't happen for at least another 10 years if you read the newspapers daily) or it can try a new business model that fits the current economy.

I'd like to see a rule change for:

spec fuel (like sunoco 260 gtx)can be had from the HPR pumps or other fuel dealers
fuel testing is not a hard task to do at the track, the rules and tech guy has plenty of time for this, i know, i saw him laying out in a lounge chair at PPIR last weekend. :wink:

I'd like to see a schedule change for:

Races only on sunday, sat is practice only all day. (this eliminates the 3 day race weekend riding on friday) so people can work on fridays and not feel like their effed if they don't ride on friday.

[DOUBLE A]

Thumbs up: What Sexy Ben said! :lol:

[Bartman]

Fuel testing is more problematic than most people think, aside from doing a specific gravity test what more could be tested at the track and we both know there are ways around that. Also I don't want to force people to buy more expensive fuel than pump which is what most are running now. So if we did a spec fuel of any kind it would have to be cheaper than 8 bucks a gallon and yes I was in a lounge chair but I was still sick and getting over it so your lucky my ass was still there.
As to travel races it has been made clear over the years that our members just will not go with enough numbers to make it work and now it is even worse, going out of state as a club would be devastating for sure and we simply cannot take a really big hit and survive.

[T Baggins]

Ben, to suggest that we've just sat back and waited for things to turn around is not only inaccurate - but a tad bit insulting.

We've completely restructured the particulars of the club operations, saving the MRA approx $50,000 per year over previous years for two years running.

We've converted the MRA to a 501 C7 NON-PROFIT organization, which means we can actually operate profitably and carry money over from year to year. This has never been accomplished in the 30+ years the MRA has been around.

We've added SuperStreet which has been wildly successful, not only in average attendance but in converting people to "licensed racers" and in bringing in spectators.

We've added three new classes in 2011, all of which were very well attended, and indeed in the top 10 of all classes in overall attendance - not to mention brought in racers which are now filling "other" grids as well.

We absolutely cater to weekend warriors as well, with many people doing ONLY Endurance races, or ONLY racing EITHER Saturday OR Sunday. What we're trying to do is fine tune it such that the riders who can only do partial seasons have multiple options, which are local, and don't cost a metric shit ton of money to attend. This, imo, is the best thing we can do to cater to the once-in-a-whiler's.

Previously we catered primarily to the Top 20 or so ROR guys (ROR O and ROR U), a practice which nearly bankrupted the MRA. If we had continued with the Purse levels of previous years the MRA would have basically ZERO money in the bank right now, and at this time last year.

I want to clarify, again, that the MRA is NOT STRUGGLING financially. Some of the events were losers financially, and it appeared very clear that an 8th Round would have also been a loss. So rather than put ourselves in a position where we WERE struggling - we opted to end the season early. This is not something we've had the insight, data, or ability to plan for in the past. This is what some would call "good business management", which apparently is being misinterpreted as "struggling". Can't win for trying with this crowd, apparently... If we had started 2011 with the intent of running only a 7 Round Season - everyone would have thought this year went PERFECTLY...

We consistently have among the biggest grids, best turnout, most specators and highest level racing of any "similar" club in the nation. Why would we want to significantly change the way our club operates?

For every example that has been thrown out for consideration, I can show you a club that is doing exactly that - and failing... How many clubs are struggling financially right now? How many have failed outright in the last few years? I get calls and e-mails from other clubs throughout the season (and even this week) asking "how did you do this, and how did you do that" and "how can we have the same success as you guys did with such and such class or program". Superstreet is being copied around the nation, 250 Prod is being copied around the nation, etc, etc, etc.

The MRA has plenty of money RIGHT NOW to:

Pay out all our remaining 2011 expenses
Pay for the Banquet facility
Pay for the trophies and photos for the banquet
Pay for the deposits for the track rentals for 2012
Pay for our first quarterly installment of insurance for 2012
Pay for all the little incidental crap, supplies, maintenance, etc, etc, etc, that come up during the off season

In years past, and on several occasions, we've had to borrow money from members or Board Members just to put on the banquet or pay the deposits and insurance to get the season started. I'd say that our current situation is quite good, and something that we should all be proud of.

As for the Practice Saturday, Race Sunday suggestions. Before anyone else jumps on that bandwagon - I would request that you START with the actual COST to run an event, and then work it backwards from there. You'll see that what you'll have to do is raise prices, cut more than half the classes, punt 1/3 of the racers (or force them to buy bikes which are conforming) and still have NO financial benefit to either the racer or the club.

Specualting on how much better this would be or that would be is great, but unless you have any basis for your argument - you are simply daydreaming.

[dragos13]

Ben, to suggest that we've just sat back and waited for things to turn around is not only inaccurate - but a tad bit insulting.

We've completely restructured the particulars of the club operations, saving the MRA approx $50,000 per year over previous years for two years running.

We've converted the MRA to a 501 C7 NON-PROFIT organization, which means we can actually operate profitably and carry money over from year to year. This has never been accomplished in the 30+ years the MRA has been around.

We've added SuperStreet which has been wildly successful, not only in average attendance but in converting people to "licensed racers" and in bringing in spectators.

We've added three new classes in 2011, all of which were very well attended, and indeed in the top 10 of all classes in overall attendance - not to mention brought in racers which are now filling "other" grids as well.

We absolutely cater to weekend warriors as well, with many people doing ONLY Endurance races, or ONLY racing EITHER Saturday OR Sunday. What we're trying to do is fine tune it such that the riders who can only do partial seasons have multiple options, which are local, and don't cost a metric shit ton of money to attend. This, imo, is the best thing we can do to cater to the once-in-a-whiler's.

Previously we catered primarily to the Top 20 or so ROR guys (ROR O and ROR U), a practice which nearly bankrupted the MRA. If we had continued with the Purse levels of previous years the MRA would have basically ZERO money in the bank right now, and at this time last year.

I want to clarify, again, that the MRA is NOT STRUGGLING financially. Some of the events were losers financially, and it appeared very clear that an 8th Round would have also been a loss. So rather than put ourselves in a position where we WERE struggling - we opted to end the season early. This is not something we've had the insight, data, or ability to plan for in the past. This is what some would call "good business management", which apparently is being misinterpreted as "struggling". Can't win for trying with this crowd, apparently... If we had started 2011 with the intent of running only a 7 Round Season - everyone would have thought this year went PERFECTLY...

We consistently have among the biggest grids, best turnout, most specators and highest level racing of any "similar" club in the nation. Why would we want to significantly change the way our club operates?

For every example that has been thrown out for consideration, I can show you a club that is doing exactly that - and failing... How many clubs are struggling financially right now? How many have failed outright in the last few years? I get calls and e-mails from other clubs throughout the season (and even this week) asking "how did you do this, and how did you do that" and "how can we have the same success as you guys did with such and such class or program". Superstreet is being copied around the nation, 250 Prod is being copied around the nation, etc, etc, etc.

The MRA has plenty of money RIGHT NOW to:

Pay out all our remaining 2011 expenses
Pay for the Banquet facility
Pay for the trophies and photos for the banquet
Pay for the deposits for the track rentals for 2012
Pay for our first quarterly installment of insurance for 2012
Pay for all the little incidental crap, supplies, maintenance, etc, etc, etc, that come up during the off season

In years past, and on several occasions, we've had to borrow money from members or Board Members just to put on the banquet or pay the deposits and insurance to get the season started. I'd say that our current situation is quite good, and something that we should all be proud of.

As for the Practice Saturday, Race Sunday suggestions. Before anyone else jumps on that bandwagon - I would request that you START with the actual COST to run an event, and then work it backwards from there. You'll see that what you'll have to do is raise prices, cut more than half the classes, punt 1/3 of the racers (or force them to buy bikes which are conforming) and still have NO financial benefit to either the racer or the club.

Specualting on how much better this would be or that would be is great, but unless you have any basis for your argument - you are simply daydreaming.

=D>

[benfoxmra95]

My apologies, I have been out of the loop for awhile.

I was caught up in the moment drawn in by a statement made that said to me we're not changing because everything is fine.

Here's what I see, an treat this ad if I'm an outsider showing up because I kinda am since I haven't been involved for over two years.

Saturday schedule is really not useful to a person like me as 3 15 min sessions in the morn aren't even enough time to warm the track. And $80 for a 30 min endurance race seems excessive given there's no afternoon practice for it. I though it used to be $50 with a 15 min prac session.?

So what I'm saying is. The mra schedule does not entice me to race at all because Friday practicing is not practical and expensive. And the 3 sessions on sat morn are hardly enough for testing unless you've got a dialed in bike.

I'd liked the mra schedule when I could show up on sat morn be set up by ten and then ride the rest of the day and test. Then race all day sun.

I'd gladly pay $150 on sat to prac all day, instead of $80 to run a 30 min race and not be able to test properly. This would allow a guy to eliminate the costs of Friday alltogether.

So what you may not be losing as much revenue as you think because more people might practice on sat and not Friday (doesn't Friday money go to te track and not Mra?)

Again didn't mean to insult and insinuate you were doing nothing in the past years. I've had many conversations with past board members over the last two years and the general consensus is, everytime the subject comes up, is that you and the current board are doing a better job than we did in the past.

[jmaher]

I like the 2012 schedule and plan on being at all 7 races.

Joe

[T Baggins]

I know you've been out of the loop some Ben, so I took full advantage of telling you "everything you've missed" in one single post. lol

We are constantly changing, and that is why everything is fine. :wink:

$60 for endurance if you sign up in advance. We nuked the endurance specific practice because it was very poorly attended and way more than made up for it with the SuperStreet attendance and revenue.

Endurance guys get to practice Sat (and Sun) AM sessions regardless of if they enter any sprints. So 18 min practice, 18min practice, 15min practice, 30 min endurance race on Saturday for $60 is still a pretty good value, no? Or you can do both races for only $90 - so 110 minutes +/- of track time which is about equal to a track day for 2/3 the cost.

I generally sleep thru morning practice, as it is of little value to me as well - and Friday practice is for cheaters anyway...

Friday practice revenue goes to the track, this is true. Given the cost to rent and staff the track, insurance, etc... the MRA has lost money on every practice day we've done (even when combined with a school AND on a weekend) in the past several years - so that's out for now.

If we ran practice on Saturday for, say, $150 and then did sprints on Sunday with the current pricing model, that would cost $340 per rider (assuming only 2 sprints).

Our current "average" entry fees per rider is about $180. Doubling the cost seems counterproductive at this juncture, and what would we do with all the nonconforming bikes and classes? Most of those grids are consistently bigger than the Supersport and Superbike classes of late.

There's no way we'll come up with a plan that works for "everyone" - this much is obvious... but given the options we have, the cost to run an event, and the myriad of bikes and abilities we're attempting to accommodate - I believe gentle tweaking of the current model makes the most sense.

[benfoxmra95]

so this is the breakdown of "MY" mra weekend at PPIR:

friday prac: $100
saturday endurance and sunday races(3 including ROR):$390

race fuel ($8/gal hpr sunoco): $120 (15 gal)
tires (all used no new tires, valued roughly $200 set): $600 (3 sets)
truck fuel to the track: $75 (i live 40 mins away)
food: $70

no hotel fees: $0 (add in $250 for everyone else)

that's $1600 for the weekend.

I feel this is a fair perspective of how much it costs. maybe even on the low side.

If i were to eliminate friday, I would cut out about $450-$550 of expenses (pretend like Im staying at a hotel)

all the people that run endurance on sunday would still pay the practice fees to ride all day sat and I'd think you'd get more people showing up to ride on sat and that much extra money from them.

now all you have to do nix the endurance races, and move the other races to sunday... easy, right?.....

for some reason getting a race weekend to average around $1000 seems like a easier bill to handle than almost double that.



Look.... all im saying is this: I am a very resourceful person, and even doing things on the cheap, I still spent $1600+ dollars to race( granted I signed up late, somewhat purposefully because i knew the club needed money, but i still bitched about how much it cost...). maybe some of these other people out there who aren't so resourceful are spending more than that and it's driving them away? a $2000 race weekend is just not realistic, and there's probably alot of people out there spending close to that, they may not be admitting to it, because they don't look at their credit card statements and just go with it, or maybe they are and saying whoa.... im not showing up because of this.

[Munch]

Another crazy thought, based on working the numbers backwards:

Say you charged $200 for Saturday. This could include 6 hours of practice and a 1.5 hour endurance race.

Then Sunday, for $200, you run all the races you possibly want for $200. Based on schedule of course.

Would it not be possible to get 100 racers each weekend? Thats 40k.

Tweak the numbers if needed, charge $175 on Sat, and $225 on Sunday. Drop the numbers to 90 or increase to 120. Just seems if theres a way to draw the Friday revenue into the MRA account, there's a way to make it work?


From my el cheapo budget (running Friday practice and Sunday 2 sprints):

All assumming 20 min race.

Friday practice: $150 - 4 hours track time
Saturday practice: 55 min practice
Sunday races: $210 - 32 min practice, 2 Races 40 min race time

So $360 for 2 sprint races - 6 hours 5 min of track time over 3 days

Netting the club only $210.

Under the "other" plan:

Sat practice - 3 hours (3 hours fast or 3 hours slow)
Sat endurance 1.5 hour - say 2 man team - 45 min

Sunday: 2 practice sessions - 35 min total
Sunday races: 3 total - 60 min total, or run 4 and get 80 min, or 5 and get the 100...

So $400 for 3 sprints and an endurance race - Which is 5 hours and 20 min of track time over 2 days. Or if you solo the endurance, you're right back to 6 hours 5 min.

Netting the club $400.

[KFinn]

Hey Ben - You know you could save on the amount of tires you use, run cheap pump gas, cut the entry fees in almost half and save a bunch of money on insurance with geico; if you didn't have such a sick bike and rather raced a ninja 250. 00--00

LMAO Just sayin! (had to fuel the fire for fun) No disrespect in reality.

[benfoxmra95]

Hey Ben - You know you could save on the amount of tires you use, run cheap pump gas, cut the entry fees in almost half and save a bunch of money on insurance with geico; if you didn't have such a sick bike and rather raced a ninja 250. 00--00

LMAO Just sayin! (had to fuel the fire for fun) No disrespect in reality.

none taken, i really don't know what im talking about when it comes to what the club needs... im really out of touch with certain things.

here's some comparison: an ama team spends $50k a weekend for 1 ama round and that's a small team. Yosh, Jordan, and Yamaha could be double that.

[Clarkie]

Larry pays you $45k a weekend? They should really spend more on getting the bike to do around the track faster

[DOUBLE A]

Larry pays you $45k a weekend? They should really spend more on getting the bike to do around the track faster

No kidding! :lol: Ben gets 5K everytime they cut to commercials and his face is shown! J/K

[T Baggins]

This will be my final post on this topic. Really it's just pissing me off and I'm wasting a bunch of my day trying to convince you that what we are doing IS working...

What you are asking for is not a small tweak, or minor change. This is a massive restructuring which would take considerable time and effort - with absolutely NO assurance that it wouldn't be a total and complete failure. This is not an undertaking that I would support at present.

We have data, facts, proof and money in the bank to show for our efforts. The 2012 Schedule is Set - and unless there are changes to classes or class structure at the Rules Meeting - 2012 race weekend will look EXACTLY like it did in 2011.

Munch,

If the average entry per rider RIGHT NOW is less than $180 - answer me this:

1) Who would accept a 100% rate increase? If the average rider can afford less than $200, how are they gonna pay $400?

2) Which classes do you propose we eliminate so that we can fit all the racing in on Sunday? If we ran 3 wave races, the track would be a disaster and classes would have to be combined which would cause riders to "miss" one of their current races. We already have a small problem with that now... (STU / MVO - Ladies / MVU)

3) How many racers will we lose as a result of the two above?

I believe you guys are assuming that "everyone" runs on Friday practice or at least wants to (really it's more like 20-30 guys - you can confirm with Glenn if you want), and that "everyone" has $400 to spend on entry fees/practice each weekend.

The numbers show that this is not the case. You are attempting to build a program that suits YOUR specific needs and budget. OUR job it to build a program that best suits THE MAJORITY of the members. We have 200 people to please. This might work great for the 30 or so who always practice on Friday - but the other 170 will see it only as a significant fee increase.

You could have the same net effect by doing the following, using the existing schedule:

Practice Saturday 3 Sessions - FREE

Race 2 sprints on Saturday - $190 (use them for "practice" if you wish)

Race both Endurance Races on Saturday - $90 (more practice or as races - your choice)

Practice Sunday 2 Sessions - FREE

Race 5 Sprints on Sunday - $110

Total Cost = $390

Club Nets $390

So if you WANT to pay that much, and WANT to ride that much - there is nothing preventing you from doing exactly that - right now.

To show how your perfect program would be my worst-case program... If we ran the schedule you suggest, I'd probably quit altogether (as a joe-member racer) because:

1) I don't want to practice for 6 hours, I'd much rather race.

2) I don't have any interest at all in endurance racing, as I have no endurance, and don't care to find any.

3) To put together a raceday schedule that fits everything on Sunday, you'd have to eliminate some of the classes I run in. It wouldn't be worth it to me to come out for one or two races on Sunday only.

If someone wants to put together a focus group using real numbers, real data, real entries and specifically poll every member (and get financial commitments from them so the MRA doesn't fall on it's face) - then by all means please do so.

The current system IS working, we ARE succeeding, and there is absolutely NO reason to completely abandon our business model.

Perhaps there are 100 guys out there who would embrace your schedule and fee structure. That's 100 fewer than our current system services. The purpose of the MRA is to provide an opportunity for motorcycle enthusiasts to compete in a safe, fun, fair environment. I believe we are doing that, apparently much better than many other clubs in the US, and have been doing so for over 30 years.

WHEN the MRA Fails - as it appears you guys must think is inevitable because the current schedule doesn't perfectly address your practice and racing needs - you have my blessing to put together whatever program and schedule you deem fit when you create the new racing organization (assuming you are willing to take on the responsibility of running the new entity).

Or, if you feel so strongly and can't wait till then - then by all means, I encourage you to create, fund, insure, and run the "BMRA" (better motorcycle roadracing association). Or at least serve as an MRA Board member so you have even a tiny base knowledge about that which you are so anxious to fix. We have fine tuned the MRA for 3 decades, and that's exactly WHY we continue to succeed.

For now, under my leadership, the MRA will continue to make small and manageable changes to ensure our perpetual success.

[benfoxmra95]

Tony, im not arguing with you, Im not sure if your last post had me balled up in it or not. I conceded that i didn't know what i was talking about on the last page, and merely pointed out some stuff that i noticed as if I was newly walking into racing again, and how it affected my current opinion.

One thing that does grab my attention is, that when you say the average entry fee per rider is $180.

how is this number derived?

for my (simpleton mind) example im using 100 riders

50 riders pay $320 for entries (3 races $240 plus endurance $80)
50 riders pay $150 for entries (1 race only)

$16000 (50 riders paying $320)
$7500 (50 riders paying $150)
-----------
$23500 total, which averages to $235 per rider

what is dragging that number down to $180?

now what im not accounting for is early entrys which I think is $50 cheaper? even still when I subtract $50 from the above numbers it works out to $205 average. Does the superstreet class entry fees bring the average down?


Now looking at the numbers I posted above, it would say to me that it would be more lucrative to try and get racers to race as many races as possible (multiple entries) than it is to cater to the one race entry types? i.e. have more classes that one bike fits into instead of having a bike that only fits in 1 class....

I don't know what the breakdown is right now im just playing with blue sky. but you know what im saying here?

[KFinn]

For a bit of contrast from a budget racer or 'el cheapo'....

I pre-entered in 4 classes = 240
Ran a mix of diesel and alternative free fuel for the truck ~ 15 to 20 in fuel round trip for a weekend.
I ran pump fuel for the bike ~ 37 - 45
I didn't always run Friday practice but most of the time I tried ~ 90-100
I only run take offs and ran 5 rounds on one front tire so about 65 -130 in rears each weekend depending on how much I could milk them for.
Food = 120
Lodging = Free since I towed a camper to the track
Waste dump 5 - 10
Power spot 70

around 647 to 735 per weekend in contrast to a 1600.

Last year was even cheaper as I used a set of tires for just under half the season. I slept on an air mattress in the bed of my truck out in the open, I chipped in on fuel to share a generator for tire warmers, I race 3 races and never did the friday practice. I typically got away for under 400 per weekend all said and done.

[T Baggins]

We take the total amount of entries, in dollars, and divide it by the number of racers entered.

HPR round 6 there was a total of $22,810 in entries
There were 125 paid entries

That's $182.48

We don't count SuperStreet entries in the race entry income category.

I don't have the exact breakdown of how many spent how much, in what classes.. (but I can get that given some time...) but I can tell you that many do just endurance, that drags down the average horribly. Many others do just two or three races ($190 - $220).

Very very few riders spend $320 in entry fees. You'd have to do 4 sprints and both endurance, or 8 sprints to spend that kind of money. Only Shannon Moham runs that many classes...

For almost "any" bike you could possibly want to race, there are at least 4 opportunities per weekend to race said bike. Many bikes are eligible for 7 races or more... Pick a bike, and a skill level - then look at all the classes you can run in - you'll see.

There is no lack of opportunity to spend money, or classes to race in.

There is a lack of money to spend.

What I'm bent about is that we ARE running a program that is both successful and profitable; and for most people (though apparently not all people) enjoyable. What in the world would cause anyone to suggest that we completely discard what we're doing and try something that is not well thought out, or at all based in fact or reality is beyond me.

Maybe Apple should pitch the IPhone altogether and offer just a tablet, because some people prefer the larger screen of a tablet?

Maybe Ducati should pitch the V-Twin and go solely with an 8 cylinder W, because some people don't like the sound of twins?

This is what has me all riled up...

[benfoxmra95]

relax, were just talking, no one has the authority to make changes here.

[Munch]

Tony, I don't think anyone is attacking what the club is doing my any means. Just tossing out ideas and thinking out loud, in the event something makes sense and sticks. If they are not good ideas, then no harm. You response to everything posted is well appreciated, and makes sense. Carry on!

[DOUBLE A]

Calm down everybody please before I am forced to draw negative attention to myself for a few laughs!

[Fastt Racing]

I have wanted to post a couple of replies, but Tony kept making all of my points, better than I could've made them for sure. He has all of the data that's back's up my understanding based on my 24 years of racing in a metric shit ton of organizations. RACING IS F-ING EXPENSIVE! People can race a crap ton in the MRA for very little if they are cheap bashterds, or slow, or both cheap & slow (ask Kevin) hehehe. Sorry Kevin, I had to. I ran 5 sprint races, and usually only went out for 2/3 of the Sat & Sun practice sessions in the morning. Practice is boring, racing is fun! Every round cost me exactly:
$260 Race entry online, commiting to MRA racing a week before is cheaper
$10 Safety fund donation
$32 Quality 91 pump fuel for the bike
$48 Averaged fuel cost for the van to all 3 circuits
$91 In rear tires per round
$12 In front tires per round
$42 In Bike Oil & Filter avg per round
$38 In other bike maintenance & repair per round
$244 In end of season engine maintenance and bike replacement cost avg per round
$70 In gear maintenence & replacement cost avg
$39 In food, starvation diet makes you lighter
$0 In lodging

$886 Total racing costs per round to operate a racing season.
$6202 Total season expenses - $595 in contingency = $5607 TOTAL.
Projected total season expenses next year should go up to about $7600. This will be because of slightly more racing and slightly less contingency.
The last asphalt stock car racing season I ran, my sponsors & I spent $44,000 for a 16 night season. (2 practice, 1 heat race, 1 Feature, on Sat night). We spent about 50% of the money the other top 5 guys did.
I spend $8000 a year on snowmobiling to compare.
Yes, this may be why I am currently single!

[T Baggins]

Calm down everybody please before I am forced to draw negative attention to myself for a few laughs!

I don't know what's more embarrassing, the uni-brow, the feathered hair-do, or the missing tooth! I think I was early 20's in the pic, at Rich Starks wedding?? or some MRA guy's wedding...

Believe it or not, I was actually considered "good looking" by MRA Standards back then. That's how long I've been around...