t8jones

My Feedback: (1)

Hello all, I was wondering if there are any RC track owners out there that I can pick their brain for info on? I was playing around with the idea about starting a track in Indianapolis and I wantedd to try and gather some info. There are a few tracks here already but right now its just an "idea".

One of my main concerns is profit. Let me say this, I'm not necessarily in it for the money, its for the hobby and for fun, but I can NOT take a loss each month/year. I am a single income house with a 2 year old, and another on the way. So loosing money on a hobby (other than what I already spend) is just not an option. I would rather make it a business venture for myself and help the hobby and my friends while Im at it. So does anyone know if most owners loose money, break even, or turn a profit.

Any info on this will help whether anyone knows of any unforseen cost associated with a track that I may not be thinking about. Also, if you prefer, let me know and I can send my personal email and we can talk off record.

But any info insight on this from ANYONE will help. What are the PROS and CONS?

Access

I think it's pretty well-known in the hobby you can't really make profit off a track. Not a track alone, at least. Most tracks are run by stores, or by organizations, or something similar at a loss. Sometimes industry sponsors are willing to throw money at tracks for advertisement. Sometimes the track serves as a 'draw' to get people in the store or to expand the store's customer base or market. But I'm yet to hear of a track that has actually been able to, by itself, turn a profit.

One thing you might want to think about is outlaw racing. Now that you have vehicles like the summit that are designed to go anywhere, you don't necessarily need a permanent track. A race day might consist of finding an area using a satellite map, hopefully an area with a mix of terrain and then set up a temporary track in that area. Then just race, and when you're done, pack up and call it a day. Next race day, find a different area, race there, and so on. Kinda like what the crawling clubs do, only more real racing. Personally I would find this much more enjoyable than a prepared track that is pretty much the same from one race day to the next. I know you have the vehicle-of-the-month thing to keep things somewhat fresh, but that can get a bit expensive to keep up with. Also with outlaw racing I think you could keep it cost-neutral, you don't really have any costs no land, no insurance, nothing other than a bunch of people with appropiate vehicles that want to do it.