How much are your entry fees?

[Ralf]

Just trying to get an idea of how much you guys/gals are paying for entry fees at your tracks.
The reason I ask is because I just received the invite to the Memphis race (which is a MiDiv track) and in order for me to race my IT car, I would need to shell out $475. That is about $150 more then I paid at 3 other MiDiv tracks.
Have costs gone up for Rational weekends?

[Gary L]

Holy crap!

Add to that the $325 for fuel just to get there and back...

I think the Volvo will be staying in the vicinity of Dexter KS that weekend. :(

[Z3_GoCar]

It's in our Supplimentals:


EVENT ENTRY:

• ENTRY FEES:

Buttonwillow Cal Speedway WSIR
Regional ............................................ $230 $290 $250
Double Regional................................ $330 $370 $330
National ............................................. $280 $340 $300
National/Regional.............................. $390 $480 $420
National/Double Regional ................. $440 $520 $460
Double National................................. $370 $440 $400
Driver School..................................... $440 $440 $440
Time Trials……………………………..$200 $200 $200
• COMPLIANCE FEES: SRF, FE and SM will be charged an additional $10.00 per entry per race

[JeffYoung]

Getting close to $200/race.

[gran racing]

Lime Rock is around $360 for a Fri Qual, Sat race. Bleh!

[Ralf]

Holy crap!

Add to that the $325 for fuel just to get there and back...

I think the Volvo will be staying in the vicinity of Dexter KS that weekend. :(

I wasn't planning on going anyways since I'm coming down to Hallett, but wanted to kind of get an idea if that is the norm for Memphis or are we in for a shock at all our races.
Not a good way to say "Welcome back to Memphis."

[Matt93SE]

This weekend's double rational in Houston is $460/485 for both days. ouch.

[Ralf]

Is that up from any events in the past at that track?

[Matt93SE]

It's a bit higher than last season- they were $425 or $450 then. go 100 miles north to a TX Region race and a double Nat is $350 tho..

[Ralf]

I hope that is still true for the events I plan on going to. Last year I paid between $285-340 for the events I went to.
I just find it kind of a shock that fees for Memphis are that high. NASA's Mar 3-4 entry fee is only $269 if you register early and $299 after Feb 25th. So how is it that an SCCA race weekend will cost $200 more at the same track? I don't get it.

[lateapex911]

different insurance coverage? more worker/flaggers? free beer after? (You'd think a keg would be nothing in the grand scheme of things, but Lime Rock, for instance, won't let you bring anything, requires the catering co to do any of that sorta stuff, and has minimums that add significant expense for things like parties, etc)

[Mark Morhaus]

That is more than I would pay to run two regionals with my IT car.

I plan on going with my SRF because I can get points for two nationals.... but the cost is getting out of hand. Its like the folks with SCCA club racing just don't get it. They need to come up with ways to encourge participation, higher costs just aren't going to do it.

[Butch Kummer]

I hope that is still true for the events I plan on going to. Last year I paid between $285-340 for the events I went to.
I just find it kind of a shock that fees for Memphis are that high. NASA's Mar 3-4 entry fee is only $269 if you register early and $299 after Feb 25th. So how is it that an SCCA race weekend will cost $200 more at the same track? I don't get it.

It all comes down to how many paying customers we can put on the track over the weekend. At least here in the southeast NASA limits the road racers to two run groups and makes a ton on money off the HPDE & TT folks while SCCA is required to have (at least) five run groups for all the classes we run. And a National (or Rational) weekend will have a higher entry fee because the GCR mandates at least 45 minutes of practice/qualifying time (70 minutes for a double) besides having longer races. Look at the cost per minute of track time at a N/Rational weekend compared to a Regional weekend and they should come up pretty close to the same.

[dave parker]

Another thing to take into consideration on entry fees is what the track charges the hosting region for the track rental.
Track rentals, like everything else are starting to go up as the track operators know that they have a finite commodity and only a certain time window (geographically) to have events.

Our local track raised its rates significantly this year.

Sadly, with the amount of competition for the available track time from various groups grows, so will the amount that the track operators can charge.

What this means to the average racer is that the days of the $200.00 Regional and the $300.00 National entry are over.

Enjoy, it will be a giant shit sandwich for all of us! I prefer mine with mustard.

cheers
dave parker

[downingracing]

And read the supps. Track damage from a crash is a bill that someone must pay. Around here, the SCCA regions putting on the weekend have insurance to cover that damage (or they pick up the tab for the smaller bills). The NASA region passes that damage bill onto the driver(s) that 'caused' the damage. (Cause gets funny when a bill is included...)

I gladly pay a little more to run where I do because of what I get for my entry fee. YMMV

[raffaelli]

Lime Rock is around $360 for a Fri Qual, Sat race. Bleh!

And sometimes all that on one day for the same price.

[TStiles]

I just wrote my $ 460 check @ registration for this weekend's SW Division race ... That's a long way from the $ 125 entry fee for my 1st race in 1987 ( and I thought that was terrible )

[G-Man]

2012 prices for Colorado Region SCCA events, specifically at High Plains Raceway:
Single Regional (1 Day) - $250
Double Regional (Weekend) - $390

Single National (1 Day) - $275
Double National (Weekend) - $420
Rational Double Dip - ADD $50
- - - - - - -
2012 Prices for NASA RM (at Pikes Peak International Raceway, so other tracks may vary due to rental costs.)
HPDE, Time Trial, or Racing:
Sat $189 Sun $159 Both $295

[Mseiler]

March 31/April 1 Double SARRC, Double Carolina Cup is as follows
single SARRC $250
Double SARRC 395

Single CCPS $235
Double CCPS 435

Single SARRC/CCPS $435
Double SARRC/CCPS 750

Practice Friday is $230

Sign up now
http://www.motorsportreg.com/index.cfm/event/event.advert/uidEvent/88701C5E-DF82-29A5-790A07DF881C6DCF

[lateapex911]

I just wrote my $ 460 check @ registration for this weekend's SW Division race ... That's a long way from the $ 125 entry fee for my 1st race in 1987 ( and I thought that was terrible )


Run an inflation calculation and you find that that entry SHOULD cost $250, so something else is at play here.

PART of that is that real estate (and remember for the most part we are dealing with mortgage values PRE crash when we are talking about racetracks) values are outpacing inflation, in most areas of the country, so costs to tracks are higher.
(again, thats very track to track dependent)

A great influence, in my mind, is the changing drivng environment. In 1987, dudes with fast cars got their rocks off on the backroads. Then tracks and local clubs started running 'time trials" and HPDE events. Marque clubs jumped on and pioneered this early. Porsche guys, BMW guys flocked, and may (most) of them find this outlet to be enough, no real racing is needed. And for those marque guys who want to race, many do it within their marque club.
Bottom line is a greater demand for tracktime.

More demand= higher costs.
Example, about 5 or so years ago, Lime Rock basically doubled their rates.
New England Region (or any SCCA region) pays about $70,000 in costs to run an event at LRP.
(Thats a Fri Sat event, start at 9 end at 5 day, with a max group size of 38)
So, the region has a very tough balancing act. IDEALLY they could do 8 groups of 38 each, and have a 300 entrant event. But, they must run groups that have 5 Formula cars in them. It's really impossible to fill each group. So, they are lucky to get 225 or so. That means $311 per entry to break even. (ROUGH numbers)
Now, if it rains, they lose money. One bad event can bankrupt a Region with a healthy $15K in the bank.

[TStiles]

I think our problem in SW Division is that our car counts are way down, We're in the 120 car count range this weekend for a double rational. I'm guessing it was near 200 per event back in 87

I wish I had the answer , but I don't

[ITEGT]

Rationals.... :shrug:

as far as costs go I have officially renamed them IrRationals.

If I wanted to race a National class and pay for the added costs then I would. Instead now I have to pay as much as a National racer but Im just a regional racer running in a mish mash field made up of like cars. :017:

[Flyinglizard]

We just had a 3 session regional @ Sebring. 210$. But ,one session on sat., two short races on Sun. One trophy ,for first only, on the second race.
The price seems fair to me, now if we could have gotten all of our sessions/races in one day, that would make it a lot more inviting.
7 race groups.. 3-4 each day could be pulled off easy,IMHO.
15 min P&Q, 30min on track race( 23minrace) per group , 4X, still leaves some time in the bank. (About 100min on track)
Reduce the overnights and time from family, to reduce the racer cost.
Track day are about 200-250 per day, one day at a time.
MM