satoch

Several of the best tracks I race on do not have hobby shops. Peoria's River Valley Raceway, Elburn's Dirt Dawgs, Madison's Rockpile, Fort Jefferson's Nitrofarm to name a few. For many tracks a hobby shop actually loses money and ties up capitol. Additionally, a good club has far greater loyalty to the survival of a club track than that of a "for profit" business.

chicagokenji

WHOA. back up here.

How would you know about H&H and IRP to make an informed decision and then make the comments you just made about how they ran their business and then attribute that to them closing down?

You never raced regularly at either of these places.

When did you ever race at either one? You're an off road guy, none of the two above ever had a regular off road racing program. They were both on road tracks.

I think you owe Bill and Sonya and Shane an apology or go back and edit your post.

satoch

If the industry has the largest growth in nitro off road and your track or shop doesn't accomodate that area of growth you have, at the very least, a flawed business model and/or are poorly running the business. I went to H&H and they never had anything I needed. IRP had an outdoor off road track if I remember correctly and we never went because it was poorly maintained, was never watered, and had drop offs instead of jumps.

Alot of very nice, well intentioned people get into the hobby shop business because of the love of their hobby. Unfortunately most don't have the business skills necessary to succeed and they fail. It's unfortunate but common.

RCGaryK

iTrader: (3)

So how do you lump RSJ into that? Their bread and butter is their outdoor Nitro Off Road.

chicagokenji

He's making grand sweeping statements based on his personal feelings not based in facts.

satoch

That track just plain sucked. And I'll make no apologies for that statement.

Opinions? The "fact" that these tracks are out of business makes my point.

chicagokenji

How can you be certain that H&H and IRP are now closed because of "flawed business model and/or are poorly running the business" if you don't personally know either of the owners and each of their situations surrounding the shuttering of each of their tracks?

RCGaryK

iTrader: (3)

IRP closed, and correct me if I am wrong, because there were serious (read life threating) health issues that cropped up with one of the owner's spouses.

Can you elaborate on "just plain sucked"? Are you talking layout, people, organization? And just out of curiosity, just trying to figure out if I know who you are, do you happen to drive a Scion xB?

chicagokenji

I think Bruce was referring to RSJ's outdoor offroad track when he was talking about sucking. He never "raced" at IRP's outdoor dirt track.

satoch

Correct. Outdoor RSJ was way too small, a dust bowl, constant computer problems, and a super small drivers stand.

I never raced IRP outdoor because my team mates who had refused to go back there. After seeing the pix on-line I easily understood why.

And BTW, for any business to be successful there needs to be a "plan of succession" in case of life threatening illness to the principal. Once again proving there was poor business planning.

Don't drive a Scion

RCGaryK

iTrader: (3)

When was the last time you were there? And I will conceed that the driver's stand won't fit 15 comfortablly, but you can get 10 guys up there without any problem.

satoch

RSJ was simply too small and just not fun. At the time I ran a Revo and the lanes were too narrow and the straights only 85' long. It was boring so we stopped going.

And BTW, the last owner took over the place after getting an insurance settlement. He ran the place very loosely allowing/expecting too many of the clients to be volunteer employees. That's a recipe for disaster. Most lottery winners go broke quickly also.

chicagokenji

Hey Gary....it's not worth the effort to go back and forth with Bruce. He's in this thread beating up tracks and owners of defunct tracks.

I'm not sure what the motive is, but it'll be like pounding your head on a wall. It will feel great once you stop.

I spoke up and made my point because he was personally bashing friends of mine and I wanted to make sure they were defended in a public forum, because most likely Bill, Sonia, and Shane won't read any of this.

RCGaryK

iTrader: (3)

there's a number of long straights on their most recent configurations. But hey, you've made your choice. BUT, in terms of this thread, if you are around Lincoln, I also wouldn't hesitate to take your gear to have Darrell at RSJ look at. Darrell is a very good engine tuner

satoch

RSJ was in Grayslake, IL on Route 120 and closed down about 2 years ago. You're talking about a different RSJ.

I'm not bashing anyone personally Kengi. Just pointing out why so many shops go out of business. Let's put it this way, if I won $320 million and wanted to buy a football team because I love football I gaurantee you the team would fail. Why? Because even though I love the game, I know little if nothing about running the business side. I hope that helps clarify what I'm trying to say.