AHR43

Interesting read that has crossover to what we've all experienced in RC. So we be not the only ones. Seen this come up as a topic on here before. Not sure whether to post it here or in Chat. So, Mod, move it if you have too.

Losing Race Tracks

jiml

iTrader: (3)

Yep. This has been going on for a long time. Race tracks never really made a lot of money, so the moment the property is worth something, the track is gone. Worse yet are the tracks that have been abandoned. North Wilksborough is probably the most famous, slowly fading into the weeds right next to an Interstate. Only the valiant efforts led by Dale Earnhardt Jr. saved that track. Meanwhile, did you watch the Bristol race? Did you see all the empty seats?

RC10Nick

iTrader: (9)

Article title: When We Lose a Race Track, Everyone Loses

Article Contents: Man cries about his personal hobby not being more popular

There's really nothing substantive about this article, and it's written with a heavy bias.

billdelong

iTrader: (33)

Kinda reminds me of a track I once raced in Florida which hosts go-kart racing simultaneously alongside RC Racing, which helped kill the time between races, it's a great concept!

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057424390433

I think successful programs need to branch out and offer a wider range of interest to help draw in new blood.

jiml

iTrader: (3)

Excellent idea, but it's the execution that's the problem. What other interests do you offer?

The carpet off road track near me had a crawling track in the back. Very intricate. But I never saw anyone use it. They replaced with a drift track. Now they have a very healthy drift program going. And the mini-z track is very popular.

What works? What doesn't work? And when do you realize it was a bad idea?

billdelong

iTrader: (33)

I think you hit the nail on the head... the local track in my area once had a YUGE following for 1/10 offroad where the club racing turnout often was larger than the 1/8 program. Then they moved all the 1/10 dirt onto the 1/8 track to offer larger 1/8 features and converted the 1/10 track into a turf track which was not well received. Many of the 1/10 drivers migrated over to 1/8 and eventually they converted the 1/10 turf track into a pit area due to lack of interest in the 1/10 program. Many folks asked to convert the 1/10 track back to dirt but that never happened.


They experimented with offering smaller 1/10 layouts inside the 1/8 track but it became a mix match of guys wanting to run their 1/10 cars on the full 1/8 layout.


It's a double edged sword... you need a 1/10 program which offers spec classes and low entry cost into the hobby, but it's hard to sustain those classes if the masses are expert level drivers.


They offered oval for a while and that was fairly popular until they suspended oval for a month to cater to a large 1/8 event, then all the oval racers migrated to other oval tracks and never came back.


RC is VERY fickle, especially when egos get in the way

nitrous36

Good read. Race tracks, fullsized or RC, loosing ground to greedy realtors, developers, HOAs, and NIMBYS? One word, boomers.

billdelong

iTrader: (33)

The story about the closing of OCRC is a cautionary tale... I might not have all the specifics exactly right but this is the story I heard:

The track was located in the back of a strip mall which also shared rental space with an adjoining church. Apparently there was a feud between the church and the track for some time over limited parking and the 3 day events from the track would spill over to Sundays which pissed off the church. Supposedly the church wanted to "expand" and got the landlord to non-renew the lease for the track so the church could assume the lease. After the track closed and removed all the contents from the facility, the church claims they miscalculated their budget and can't lease the extra space after all... oops... sorry, not sorry. The church eliminated their parking problem

***
Lesson learned is for the track to own the property right?

So there was another track in Dallas called Mike's Hobby Shop where the land was owned by the track and the plan was for the track to remain in place indefinitely... until eminent domain allowed the city to widen the highway which wiped out something like 90% of the parking making it impossible to host racing at the venue and they were forced to sell.

nitrous36

Thats usually how it goes.

Billy Kelly

iTrader: (9)

That’s the story I remember reading here in the thread for that track. I’ve got one track over near South Bend, Indiana. Had a great arrangement with a mall. Built and really cool track in the back storage space art of the mall. Not in a store front. Great deal on rent, then mall sold. New owners wanted the track out immediately. But after weeks of negotiations they allow them to stay till end of this April. Then have to be out as fast as possible so the mall can be remodeled.

I know of another near St. Louis that has to relocate immediately after mid June. Another in Wisconsin that been waiting for the building to be sold for the last year. Locally, the owner of ThunderDome did buy the building. We probably wouldn’t be still open if he hadn’t. He bought it more to have a place to go. To not just sit home after selling his business. But I don’t think most track owners are in the position to spend $700,000+ on a building

rccartips

iTrader: (3)

Most of the tracks I've seen close is because people simply do not show up and use it.

Build it and they will not come

RC10Nick

iTrader: (9)

The problem is the economics of operating a track as a business is a terrible prospect. You don't make that much money doing it and you can really only make money on one day of the week if you're lucky. And on top of that you probably only make money during half the year. But leases and mortgages are still due year round. And with the same effort and resources, you could make a heck of a lot more money running just about any other kind of business. RC just isn't very profitable and when different businesses are competing for the same limited real estate space RC just can't compete. It's regular old free market forces doing what they always do.

gigaplex

iTrader: (2)

That's why every club where I live is a non-profit run by volunteers.

jiml

iTrader: (3)

No, PEOPLE are very fickle. And we need to understand that

Case in point. I keep mentioning Traction Action, the track near me. Now I don't race there (yet) but I know plenty of people who do so I go to hang out a lot. Even served as Tech Inspector for a couple trophy races.

Over the last couple years I've seen something that simply boggles my mind. There are some racers that will come in, take a look at the current track design, and leave saying "let me know when the track changes, then I'll come back." WHAT!!! And I'm not talking about casual racers. I'm talking about guys who are dedicated to racing. What are they thinking? What makes them think the track will even be there when they decide to come back?

I consider myself dedicated and loyal. Comments like that make me double face palm

jiml

iTrader: (3)

Er, why are realtors greedy because they want to make money? It's a fact of life that property values change, and taking advantage of that is not greedy. Now it sucks if we lose a track to that, but that's not their fault.

NASCAR didn't sell California Speedway because of greed. They sold it because they weren't selling tickets to the races like they used to. NASCAR dropped places like North Wilksborough and Rockingham because people stopped going there. And next on that list is Bristol.