BR,
I don't know who you are, where you live in relationship to Muroc, what
your experience with LSR is, etc., so it makes it difficult to respond
to this letter, but it does merit a response.
I have been involved with LSR since the mid-fifities. I can certainly
afford the sport now better than when I started, but I too don't
appreciate the rising costs of participating. Really, though, the entry
fees we pay are an insignificant portion of the overall expense of
putting a car in competition. To the best of my recollection in 1960 the
Bonneville entry fee was $75, at that time I was working for about $4 an
hour. In comparison today's $300 entry is roughly $50 to $60 in 1960
dollars.
I'm tempted to some day give a history lesson on LSR as we know it. I
don't think many of our participants realize how these meets were put on
in the early years. Bonneville was budgeted at $1000 per day. Daily
Sponsorships were sold to, various Speed Equipment Vendors, etc. and the
entry fees were the only other income. The only people that received
fees for their work were the ambulance and the timer, everyone else
volunteered. The staff and volunteers received a room and the midday
meal. Later, some times the SCTA Officials & Staff were reimbursed for
fuel expense to and from the meet, if the meet made money. Many of the
racers, including myself, worked at extra jobs to support our racing
expenses. Of course in those days there were fewer entries and therefore
less personnel needed to run the meet.
Currently, I have no idea how the meet is staffed, who gets paid, who
volunteers, etc., but I can tell you this, we have many loyal hard
working people that make these meets happen, many giving up running
their cars for a year or more, dedicating themselves to these events, so
we can race.
For the use of the real estate, I believe that BLM gets a percentage of
the take at our El Mirage meets, I suppose it is the same at Bonneville
and those in control at Muroc are asking $5000 per day ($10,000 for the
weekend), this is a bit different than it was in yesteryear. At
Bonneville the fee was reimbursement for the insurance that the
Bonneville Board, out of Salt Lake City, had to carry. It could be $1000
or so if we were the only ones using the salt, or it could be a share of
the total fee according to how many used the salt that year. Let us not
lose sight of the facts in this discussion. No one is suggesting that
fees be raised just for the sake of more money in the till, my
suggestion of a $50 increase in entry to be able to run is to offset the
greedy demands of the landlords, our government. I guess we could call
it a tax!
Tom, Redding CA - #216 D/GCC
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