Organizing track events

[Simon Favre <simon@domain.elided>]

While the personalities of some race organizers may be a problem, it
might be instructive to explain some of the real-world issues involved
in putting on a race event. I came upon these problems when the ARA
tried to revive its Drivers School program. The ARA is a fairly large
group of people, although not affiliated with AROC. There were quite a
few issues, the biggest of which were:

1) The track is EXPENSIVE. I've seen the breakdown. As of a few years
   ago, Sears Point would cost you $25,000 to rent for a weekend. If
   you get 100 entries, that's $250 each. If you get 250, that's $100
   each. The Classic Sports Racing Group (CSRG) figures their break
   even point for Sears at about 150 entries. Thunder Hill costs less,
   so the break even point is around 110-120 cars. This cost includes
   things like the ambulance, use of the PA system, etc. One general
   rule is that a given club may be willing to partially subsidize a
   given event, but no club is going to allow one type of event to
   drain the club treasury. This leads to the next point:

2) You really have to have a commitment from the membership up front
   BEFORE booking the track, or it just doesn't work. This was the
   big obstacle the ARA faced. There simply weren't enough people who
   would send in a check for $200 months in advance. It's funny, once
   you get to the point of having a dedicated race car, vintage or
   otherwise, this is no big deal. I do it all the time. Recently,
   CSRG has added invitational run groups to their events, but they
   usually extract a commitment from the group to pay for a certain
   number of entries, no matter how many actually show up. The
   Vintage NASCAR group does this at CSRG events. They guarantee a
   certain number of cars, and they get their own run group. Of
   course, if you own a Richard Petty Pontiac or a Dale Earnhard
   Lumina, you're prepared to do that. What else CAN you do with it?

Bottom line? The ARA was unable to revive its Drivers School program.
The serious racers had other opportunities (AROSC Time Trials, CSRG,
even SCCA). The rest just wouldn't commit to it. What we do now is 
have a track tour (lead-follow, with limited passing), at Sears Point
while CSRG has their lunch break. This works out well enough for most
would-be racers. We're not going at full race speed, but it's not a
parade lap, either. The cost is only $30/car (I think), plus a small
gate fee. We get about 30-40 minutes of track time, which is actually
MORE than the CSRG racers get per session. (CSRG racers typically get
2 sessions a day that are 15-20 minutes each.) The ARA gets to do the
track tours twice a year. Those who want more are either going to the
AROSC events, or getting a vintage car approved by CSRG, HMSA, etc.

Rag on the organizers for being rude and insensitive, if you will, but
don't insist that they lose money to make you happy either. Try to
look at it from both sides.

Simon Favre, Milpitas, CA
'67 GTV (daily driver and track tour participant)
'62 Giulietta Spider (autocross glutton)
'58 Bourgeault Formula Junior (the real race car: CSRG, HMSA, SCCA)

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