I'm certainly not an authority on this, having entered only 3 vintage
events so far, all in the East. The Mitty (HSR), The Jefferson 500
(IEI), and the Festival at Mosport (VARAC). I got the most track time
at practice the day before the event ($125-$175) for the day, and the
three day events themselves run in the neighborhood of $150 to $300
total for three days. I'm happy with the amount of track time I get and
usually need the time between sessions to work on the car, and couldn't
really use much more. I also think the price is a bargain for what you
get. Even though much of the worker staff is volunteer, you really get
a huge support organization, track prep and maintenance, flagging, some
insurance, medical crews, scoring and administration, tech inspection,
newsletters, marketing, parties, food, t-shirts, patches and decals,
interfacing with track owners, etc, etc.. I'm probably paying less than
a penny an hour salary to all the people involved. In my book, its a
great deal, and if the organizers make money, all the better... they
deserve it... it's got to be a huge job to put on an event, and I'm
thankful they do it.
As to track time, from memory, which is usually awful.. -), the Mitty
had about five 1/2 hour practices for my group on Thursday, two 1/2 hour
practice sessions each on Friday and Saturday, and a warm up and race on
Sunday. The Jefferson 500 was about the same, except that I think there
were perhaps seven sessions for my group on Thursday... Friday through
Sunday were similar to the Mitty. Also, at the Jefferson, my group
(Monoposto) had less track time than most of the other cars, because the
theme for the event was Endurance Racing and the other cars typically
had one or more one-hour races, while the Monoposto race was a sprint,
which seemed appropriate to me. Mosport is next week, and I'm not sure
of the schedule.
Buy the way, does anyone know where I can get the Chunky Salsa that
Mission Foods put out in their big spread at the Mitty. The stuff was
fabulous.. but I can't find it in the stores here!
Vaughn
> ----------
> From: Wm. Severin Thompson[SMTP:wsthompson@thrunet.net]
> Sent: Friday, May 30, 1997 10:52 AM
> To: vintage-race@Autox.Team.Net
> Subject: race entry prices
>
> To all my fellow racers...
>
> Could we start a discussion of current entry fees vs. track time?
> Meals and banquets included? Any donations of proceeds to charity? I
> seems to me that there's a wide disparity of costs around the country.
> I understand that there are many contributing factors such as track
> cost differences, insurance, and profit/non-profit organizations.
>
> I have personal and professional experience organizing large events...
> car related, trade shows...whatever... so I don't think I'm naive
> about most of the business issues...so help me out. What are you
> typically paying for which organization at what facility for what
> tracktime.
>
> I don't mind paying a bit extra if in fact big buck go to a decent
> charity. But based on an overview of my own experience... there's a
> lot of raping and pillaging going on in entry fees these days. I
> wonder why if entries are up, spectators are up, should we also be
> expected to pay more every year.
>
> Perspiring minds want to know...
>
> I'll sit down and listen for my answer.
>
> Wm. Severin Thompson
> Team Thicko
> http:www.thicko.com
>
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