Originally posted by Knestis:
...which does not, of course, include amortizing the cost of the car, trailer, storage and other non-direct "weekend" expenditures.

I think that we have an obligation to people who are just starting out to help them understand the hurling of money that accompanies a start-from-scratch effort. If an established club racer were to do an inventory and determine the replacement cost (new) of the awning, the tools, the jackstands, cooler, and all of the other "stuff", it would be fairly shocking to the entry-level competitor.

It is all too easy for someone who wants to get started to divide $2300 by five races, get an attractive number and run out and buy a $500 bone yard car to start the project.

We (club racing as an institution) disappoint a LOT of people. How much turnover has there been in your region in the last five seasons? I would venture that most of it is due to underestimations of the cost of participation...

Kirk

Kirk - his message / questions again were;


i'm looking at getting into it racing. what's the cost of running an 85 civic, fully sorted, like? what are the costs in general like for a season? any info would be nice.


No flame intended but:

I answered the question he asked. He specifically stated "fully sorted". IMHO you don't get to the point of having a fully sorted racecar without first having bought the trailer, hauler, etc. etc. etc...

Your response in this thread seems to indict people, such as myself, as the "cause" of racing / racer turnover or a decline in our ranks due to misinformation. This, IMHO, is not the case. Participation nationwide in **ANY** motorsport venue is down. I also crew / crewchief other cars including World Challenge GT cars and can tell you first hand that participation is not down due to people mis-calculating the expense of racing. Participation is down, primarily, due to economic hardships caused by lack of participation by **sponsors**. In Club Racing, this deficit in participation can be directly linked to jobs that people no longer have. I read in the papers, daily, of the THOUSANDS of people being let go or layed off due to the failure or reorganization of businesses.

Anyone who is reasonably intelligent (I would think that would include anyone capable of double-clicking a mouse) can surmize for him/herself that racing is not cheap - regardless of the class. In this particular case, the question was specifically geared toward a "maintenance" type of response.

I have seen people race ITC cars that they built from a $50 beater and went racing for under $500. They didn't go exceptionally fast, and they weren't 100% sorted out for that price, but they had far more than $500 worth of fun. I have even seen people drive their racecars to the track, unload, switch tires, race, switch tires and drive home.

Kirk, how much do you spend to maintain your racecar and what venue do you participate in?

Thanks.


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