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RE: Let me have it!

To: "'Mark J Bradakis'" <mjb@cs.utah.edu>, <fot@autox.team.net>,
Subject: RE: Let me have it!
From: "R.M. Bownes III" <bownes@emi.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 12:54:41 -0400
Take the Cal Club approach and get a loan from the SCCA. Form a private
company (you can still sell shares in Utah) and go for it. That's how the
multi-million dollars were raised for thunderhill & ButtonWillow (?)

If you can show potential customers and a long term lease, a business loan
of that size is not out of the question for a private company with signed
contracts for use.  Let's look at some potential income:


        Rates:  Schools & Regional Races        $2,500/day
                        Autox                                   $200/day
                        Testing                         $150/day/car
        SCCA Regionals: 2 two day regionals
        SCCA Driver's School:   1 two day event
        Vintage Event:  1 two day event
        Marque Club Events:  ?
        Autox:  How many?
        Testing:        ?

So, you've got at least $20K/year in income. You'll need to get pretty
creative beyond that, but if you can come up with $50K/year of income, I'd
bet you can get it bast the banks. Local Economic Development Authorities
would be a big help as well. Stress the potential income from hotels, food
services, temporary jobs (you are going to pay your flaggers, right? :-})
etc. And at least one full time manager...

Oh, and there is always the income from the 2001 VTR Convention....:-}

The big expense is insurance for the company. I don't know enough about
that, but some work by the Utah region with Denver would probably go a long
ways toward answering the question.

Or go out for private investment $$$. I'm in the process of doing that now.
It's remarkably easy.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark J Bradakis [mailto:mjb@cs.utah.edu]
> Sent: Friday, October 02, 1998 3:40 AM
> To: fot@autox.team.net; team-thicko@autox.team.net
> Subject: Let me have it!
>
>
>
> Don't just site there, get up from that computer and send me all your
> money NOW!
>
> Hmmm, that approach seems a bit too direct.  Perhaps I should explain.
> Apologies to those of you on both lists who see this twice.
>
> Anyway, I live in Salt Lake City, Utah.  A modest number of
> race drivers
> also call this valley their home, whether they flog some
> ancient brick of
> pig iron around the track, the latest mega-buck trick SCCA
> ride, or even
> a well-tuned two wheeler.  I guess a three wheel Morgan would
> fall into
> the "ancient slab of pig iron" group.  When these folks want
> to go racing,
> they have a lot of choices.  They can tow over the Rockies
> for a day to get to
> one of the tracks in the Denver area.  They can head for the
> scorching deserts
> of the Southwest, Phoenix, or perhaps Las Vegas.  Load up and
> strike out for
> Portland, Oregon, or haul over Donner Summit on their way to
> Sears Point or
> Laguna Seca.  If you live in Salt Lake and you want to race,
> you have to face
> at least a day's tow, no matter the direction.  What fun.
>
> I spent this past weekend working corners, sweeping the pits
> and generally
> fussing about at a "race track" a mere 42 miles from my
> house.  A dozen or two
> folks, including a handful of Legends, came to play for the
> weekend.  The site
> is close to a real race track, but no, uh, well, maybe saying
> "cigar" just now
> isn't the most politically correct phrase.  The place needs
> work.  What it was
> is a test track that the army built a few years ago.  Out at
> the Tooele Depot
> the D.O.D spent a ton of money building a new truck, tank,
> etc. repair center.
> Then they decided they didn't need it, and now the facility
> is in private
> hands.  The developers can build houses and condos like
> crazy, but they have
> no idea what to do with a race track.
>
> But it isn't quite a real race track just yet.  The layout is
> your basic oval,
> a little over a mile long.  A road bisecting the middle of
> the track provides
> a chicane of sorts where it meets the oval, so there is at
> least a second or
> two of turning the wheel to the right.  If you have a
> mechanical failure or
> run out of gas in the wrong spot, there is no place to go to
> get out of
> traffic.  Some of the corners have a serious dropoff at the
> edge of the
> pavement.  The railroad tracks over there are a bit too close.
>
> There is hope.  What the place needs is some safety work,
> more asphalt here
> and there at a minumum, a few barriers around the 12 foot
> deep tank fording
> pit and some of the power poles and other such obstacles in
> the way.  The
> minimum estimate is about $80,000 to $100,000 dollars to get
> the site ready to
> run SCCA sanctioned events.  And of course twice that amount
> would go a long
> way to making the place enjoyable, and not just bearable.
>
> For those of you still reading, here's where you come in.
> I'm looking for
> ideas to raise funding.  The new owners of the place would be
> happy to lease
> the site to a group that deals with racing.  Intermountain
> Vintage Racing
> would love to develop the place, but we are way fetchin'
> broke.  So close,
> and yet so far.  Any ideas on how to raise a hundred grand or
> so?  Perhaps
> set up a public corporation, and try to sell shares, giving
> free track time
> to purchasers based on their ownership stake?  Selling stock
> just in Utah
> would be fairly easy, I did it once many years ago, sort of.
> Going national
> might be necessary to adequately fund the place, but a lot
> more hassle in
> terms of interstate trade regulations.  What other options do we have?
>
> Say, anybody want to buy an autocrossing Spitfire for
> $125,000?  I'll throw
> in a set of fresh Hoosiers to replace the ones I corded at
> the VTR convention!
>
> mjb.
>
>
>


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