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A CRY FOR HELP (RC tracks Closing)

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A CRY FOR HELP (RC tracks Closing)

Old 01-29-2019, 10:11 AM
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Originally Posted by chuck_thehammer
rc indoor tracks have air conditioning ??? never seen that.

indoor is Winter... way to hot indoors for summer. and the Ohio humidity is unbearable.
outdoor is summer. when dry..

where I race now ... its owned by a RV camp ground... for winter racing...outdoor... dirt.
they have been racing here for many years... me, 2 winters. well this is my second winter.
dirt is not easy, when you are used to Carpet. pan car
Yes, our local track has AC.
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Old 01-29-2019, 10:48 AM
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Originally Posted by Wildcat1971
I see schools rent out their gyms all the time to outside organizations. My daughter does cheerleading. They rent a gym weekly and cheer is more dangerous than RC . Outdoor tracks in a field, often involve someone into RC building a track on their own land. Then the club members help build and maintain the track. All I am saying is, when your costs out weight your profits, you close. How do you fix that? Lower your costs....You will never stop people from shopping online. The only thing you can control is your own cost structure.
I’m sure there are some that will. I know of one group that does. Like most thing it varies from town to town or state to state. My old high school used to rent it field house out for sports clubs, but after massive and expensive renovations no longer does.

As for the outdoor tracks. It a matter of finding someone that has the land, and willingness. The weather has to be considered. Then things get complicated if you open to public or keep it as private. Once open to public all kinds of regulations kick in.

I’ve been looking for couple years. All far outside my price range. Already found housewith pole barn big enuff to hold a big track. Or two mid sized. Just e
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Old 01-29-2019, 10:50 AM
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Originally Posted by Wildcat1971
Yes, our local track has AC.
Windy City RC in Arlington Heights brags about besting the summer heat with indoor racing all summer
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Old 01-29-2019, 10:55 AM
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Yes, these is no one solution fits all.....Where there is a will there is a way. My point it, the track costs need to be brought down to a point where the business is profitable, even if people shop online. You cant stop online shopping. Online shops cant provide a track, so figure out a way to be profitable with JUST the track. If you sell parts cool..... but a business model where the track pays for itself is better long term.
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Old 01-29-2019, 11:21 AM
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This is the local track that I race at just to give some perspective of a successful method of how they have adapted over time:
Thornhill Racing Circuit

Basically, the same owner used to own an indoor track (
) that was in the city many years ago, it offered HVAC and he operated an on site hobby shop. It was a repurposed warehouse that was not ADA compliant due to severely limited space. The track averaged between 20-30 entries for regular club racing and was struggling to break even, only reason it worked for as long as it did was because the owner has as recycling business and this was extra space not used for his primary business so overhead expenses were minimal. After a couple years into operation, a guy in a wheelchair showed up to race, he raised hell over the track not being ADA compliant, he also refused assistance for us to help carry him up a few steps onto the driver stand which was also a narrow plank to make the most space possible for the track itself. Right about this time the city fire dept conveniently did a "routine fire inspection" and changed the classification from "warehouse" to "meeting conference rooms" and demanded $40K in upgrades to bring the entire building to fire code, including ADA ramps everywhere which would significantly shrink the track even further. The track shut down almost immediately.

After several years of careful planning and seeing several other tracks come and go, the same owner bought a ranch style home that is located outside city limits located on 5+ acres of land. This time he built a very nice driver stand that is ADA compliant, but now there are no permanent/enclosed structures to have to fuss with any fire codes.

It started out first with only a 1/8 track, then they added a 1/10 clay track which would migrate to a 1/10 turf track... as interest in 1/8 club racing has dropped, they shifted their race schedule to run 1/10 turf more frequently. More recently, they decided to expand the program to include oval racing and the level of interest is staggering, I can't wait to see what the turnout is going to be this weekend for their very first oval race.

I think tracks need to adapt to a program that is more popular, even if it's something that the owner isn't necessarily interested in doing, very rarely do I see the owner run on the turf track, his passion is 1/8 nitro, and same with oval, I doubt he has much interest there either, but I see oval as a "gateway" with presumably less challenging skill necessary to get started and draw in new blood. Then you can expand the program from there.
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Old 01-29-2019, 01:24 PM
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Originally Posted by billdelong
This is the local track that I race at just to give some perspective of a successful method of how they have adapted over time:
Thornhill Racing Circuit

Basically, the same owner used to own an indoor track (The Clay Pit) that was in the city many years ago, it offered HVAC and he operated an on site hobby shop. It was a repurposed warehouse that was not ADA compliant due to severely limited space. The track averaged between 20-30 entries for regular club racing and was struggling to break even, only reason it worked for as long as it did was because the owner has as recycling business and this was extra space not used for his primary business so overhead expenses were minimal. After a couple years into operation, a guy in a wheelchair showed up to race, he raised hell over the track not being ADA compliant, he also refused assistance for us to help carry him up a few steps onto the driver stand which was also a narrow plank to make the most space possible for the track itself. Right about this time the city fire dept conveniently did a "routine fire inspection" and changed the classification from "warehouse" to "meeting conference rooms" and demanded $40K in upgrades to bring the entire building to fire code, including ADA ramps everywhere which would significantly shrink the track even further. The track shut down almost immediately.

After several years of careful planning and seeing several other tracks come and go, the same owner bought a ranch style home that is located outside city limits located on 5+ acres of land. This time he built a very nice driver stand that is ADA compliant, but now there are no permanent/enclosed structures to have to fuss with any fire codes.

It started out first with only a 1/8 track, then they added a 1/10 clay track which would migrate to a 1/10 turf track... as interest in 1/8 club racing has dropped, they shifted their race schedule to run 1/10 turf more frequently. More recently, they decided to expand the program to include oval racing and the level of interest is staggering, I can't wait to see what the turnout is going to be this weekend for their very first oval race.

I think tracks need to adapt to a program that is more popular, even if it's something that the owner isn't necessarily interested in doing, very rarely do I see the owner run on the turf track, his passion is 1/8 nitro, and same with oval, I doubt he has much interest there either, but I see oval as a "gateway" with presumably less challenging skill necessary to get started and draw in new blood. Then you can expand the program from there.
I have seen people get around this by never making a it a business. I.E. a private track with "donations". I have seen this done many times for tracks on private property.
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Old 01-29-2019, 04:10 PM
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Silver Dollar RC Track and Amain who runs it seem to do pretty good. You can even order a part you broke drive over to amain and pick it up. !/8 off road, dirt oval , and 1.10 turf offorad. I wish they would put in a asphalt onroad track.
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Old 01-29-2019, 05:47 PM
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I do like the idea Brent Thielke is pushing to give an extra $5 for practice or racing. It's a great start. Think about a Friday night club race. If you get 50 drivers, that's an extra $250 for the track for that 1 day. Just because local racers want to support their local track. Do that each time and it really adds up.

I will do this going forward to help out.

#RC5BuckChallenge
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Old 01-29-2019, 07:26 PM
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Originally Posted by timannnn6
I do like the idea Brent Thielke is pushing to give an extra $5 for practice or racing. It's a great start. Think about a Friday night club race. If you get 50 drivers, that's an extra $250 for the track for that 1 day. Just because local racers want to support their local track. Do that each time and it really adds up.

I will do this going forward to help out.

#RC5BuckChallenge
totally agree on this. Give $1 or $10. Whatever you can to help.

Strength comes in numbers. And there’s no “I” in team. So let’s all support the track we all enjoy racing or practicing on. Cause at the end of the day, we’re all in the same team, whether you’re running TeamAssociated Yokomo Mugen Tekno or even a Traxxas. Imagine if there was only 1 brand of RC cars. Who would you be racing against?
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Old 01-29-2019, 08:15 PM
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Originally Posted by Bassbuster
Silver Dollar RC Track and Amain who runs it seem to do pretty good. You can even order a part you broke drive over to amain and pick it up. !/8 off road, dirt oval , and 1.10 turf offorad. I wish they would put in a asphalt onroad track.
wow, amain can support a track.. I wonder how they manage that..... If i race at Silver Dollar and order online from amain....am i supporting my local track?
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Old 01-29-2019, 08:58 PM
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I have seen tracks come and go over the years... they are not a profitable business. Most are run by someone with a love for the hobby. I feel very fortunate to live in the Dallas area and have Indy RC World 30 minutes away. We have a good group of racers for off-road racing on Tuesday & Saturdays, and Friday night oval. The owner installed heat and ac in the pit area a couple of years ago.. thank you Tighe. Yes our race fees went up $5 bucks... well worth it.

And how do you make a hobby shop profitable.... can you imagine trying to keep-up with the needs and wants of racers? Is there a new 4.0 kit coming this year? Do you have the turn-buckles for this new kit? Brand X just released the 5.0. You don't have any parts for the 2.0 kit I bought a year ago?? Super-Chrome is making after-market shock towers for my buggy, how come you do not stock these??

Click and order online and you have the parts you need in a couple days. Simple... unfortunately that online store does nothing for your local track.... enough about that...

Indy's hobbyshop has really improved in the last couple of years, the shelves and racks are full of parts for Mugens, Agama, Tekno, Losi & Associated... and by keeping a good supply of parts available... the locals are more apt to buy local and support the shop.

But..., what does the new customer look at when they come in the store?? See that box sitting on the shelf with the shiny red race car on the cover.... see the 50 MPH noted on the box.... see the box next to it with the 60 MPH noted on the box... Yes Traxxas has a big corner of the market, and the hobby-shop caters to it with a large section of wall space covered with Traxxas parts.... it is a big part of the RC business and a hobby shop cannot ignore it.

Another win for Indy, they have a knowledgeable staff that works there... they can help the new person with parts for their Traxxas and they can help the racer whose speed control is acting up... Really a great bunch of guys behind the counter.

Last note... What's in a name?
I am guessing the name 'INDY RC WORLD' is a well known race track as they have a parts trailer they take to races on the west coast and over to the east coast, the run RC Pro, and they have been around for 30 years... but....
What about average Joe customer driving by on the street?? He looks over at an old bowling alley building and see's the name Indy RC World on the front and drives on by as he is heading to the HobbyTown on the other side of town to buy a present for his son's birthday... Indy did get creative during the Christmas holiday and parked a stepside van out by the street with a large 'TRAXXAS' banner on it...

I love racing my toy cars..... and really appreciate having a great track to race at.
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Old 01-29-2019, 10:15 PM
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Originally Posted by lowspark
I have seen tracks come and go over the years... they are not a profitable business. Most are run by someone with a love for the hobby. I feel very fortunate to live in the Dallas area and have Indy RC World 30 minutes away. We have a good group of racers for off-road racing on Tuesday & Saturdays, and Friday night oval. The owner installed heat and ac in the pit area a couple of years ago.. thank you Tighe. Yes our race fees went up $5 bucks... well worth it.

And how do you make a hobby shop profitable.... can you imagine trying to keep-up with the needs and wants of racers? Is there a new 4.0 kit coming this year? Do you have the turn-buckles for this new kit? Brand X just released the 5.0. You don't have any parts for the 2.0 kit I bought a year ago?? Super-Chrome is making after-market shock towers for my buggy, how come you do not stock these??

Click and order online and you have the parts you need in a couple days. Simple... unfortunately that online store does nothing for your local track.... enough about that...

Indy's hobbyshop has really improved in the last couple of years, the shelves and racks are full of parts for Mugens, Agama, Tekno, Losi & Associated... and by keeping a good supply of parts available... the locals are more apt to buy local and support the shop.

But..., what does the new customer look at when they come in the store?? See that box sitting on the shelf with the shiny red race car on the cover.... see the 50 MPH noted on the box.... see the box next to it with the 60 MPH noted on the box... Yes Traxxas has a big corner of the market, and the hobby-shop caters to it with a large section of wall space covered with Traxxas parts.... it is a big part of the RC business and a hobby shop cannot ignore it.

Another win for Indy, they have a knowledgeable staff that works there... they can help the new person with parts for their Traxxas and they can help the racer whose speed control is acting up... Really a great bunch of guys behind the counter.

Last note... What's in a name?
I am guessing the name 'INDY RC WORLD' is a well known race track as they have a parts trailer they take to races on the west coast and over to the east coast, the run RC Pro, and they have been around for 30 years... but....
What about average Joe customer driving by on the street?? He looks over at an old bowling alley building and see's the name Indy RC World on the front and drives on by as he is heading to the HobbyTown on the other side of town to buy a present for his son's birthday... Indy did get creative during the Christmas holiday and parked a stepside van out by the street with a large 'TRAXXAS' banner on it...

I love racing my toy cars..... and really appreciate having a great track to race at.
I ran the RCpro a few years ago at that indoor bowling ally. My only issue was the year of life I lost to the nitro fumes lol. Indoor nitro is cancer on the lungs lol
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Old 01-30-2019, 03:45 AM
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I always donate to our track.... pay extra... also purchase food when available.
I also help with labor for track maintenance.. just yesterday.... 1 1/2 hours.. in 45 degree weather, 25 mph winds. ( Alone )... manager said its to Cold to work outside.. I had on a light jacket.on.

once a month.. is the Fund race. the other track 40 miles away.. travel over and its the once a month 4x4 racing.. and 2 wheel drives...
all weekly races are 2 wheel drive only.

2 tracks working together to keep each other operating... yes, both tracks are inside RV parks..

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Old 01-30-2019, 05:59 AM
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Originally Posted by Wildcat1971
I ran the RCpro a few years ago at that indoor bowling ally. My only issue was the year of life I lost to the nitro fumes lol. Indoor nitro is cancer on the lungs lol
4 new exhaust fans have pretty much remedied that issue.... yes it used to get pretty bad in there.
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Old 01-30-2019, 06:27 AM
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Originally Posted by Wildcat1971
I ran the RCpro a few years ago at that indoor bowling ally. My only issue was the year of life I lost to the nitro fumes lol. Indoor nitro is cancer on the lungs lol

Originally Posted by lowspark
4 new exhaust fans have pretty much remedied that issue.... yes it used to get pretty bad in there.
This has been one of many issues for me as why I recently sold all my 1/8 gear... qualifiers aren't so bad, but if there's no cross wind at Thornhill's covered/exposed sides structure, it doesn't take long before I start to get a headache into a 20-30 min main from inhaling all the toxic exhaust fumes. Combine that with a few other peeves I have with 1/8 racing in general, and it just made sense for me to focus more on the 1/10 electric only programs

Last edited by billdelong; 01-30-2019 at 07:58 PM.
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