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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