Competitor Budget for the Runoffs 2011

R

RonInSD

Well-known member
I am thinking of making my first attempt at the Runoffs for 2011 and I starting to work up a budget. Any one have something written up they have used or have a some good ideas on costs?

Gas for tow
Food
Lodging
Entrance Fee
Parking Fee
Golf/pit cart fee
Fuel for race car
Fuel for generator
Tire (how may sets for the week)
Mounting Fees
?????
 
Heres my plan. I never keep track of how much I spend as I don't want to know exactly what it costs me. :shock: I get my entry back in towfund so thats a wash. Biggest expense is getting there and getting home everything else is like a "normal" race weekend except the number of days.

If you haven't been there before, do a test day it's worth the money. You get 3 sessions on the test day (more track time than qualifying) so you are WAYYYYYY ahead when the timer starts for qualifying. If we both learn a track at the same rate and I do a test day at the start of qualifying I'm where you will be at the end of qualifying.

Gas for tow : My box truck (diesel) and trailer gets 8-10 mpg, so I figure it at 8 mpg. Check the truck stop websites (http://www.flyingj.com) for fuel costs and I add .05 - .10 per gallon. When I go to Miller I always stage my fuel stops and stop in Wyoming and top off so I don't have to buy fuel in Utah. Ask for a "RV" card, saves you a few cents at the pumps. I like the truck stops and use the RV pumps, easy in and out. I also map the trip with Google maps because you can drag your route around to find something longer but flatter or around a city. Ask others from your area how they get there. I found some great short cuts that are a few miles longer.

Food: I try not to eat at the track. I have a grill with a side burner and my wife can cook anything on it. Stick with easy meals, sandwiches, grill food - burgers, brats, hotdogs etc. Top ramen when it gets cold, cheap and easy.

Lodging: I have a bed (queen mattress) set up in the trailer with a Big buddy heater. Showers at the track are easy to use or bring your own towels and use someones hotel. If you have a long drive it may be 1 night on the way and 1 night on the way home. I've found some great mom and pop motels in the midwest for around $40.

Entrance fee: None if your an entrant.

Parking fee: Everyone has a different opinion, I gladly pay the $100 so I can park with my friends and show up when I want without the stress of finding someplace to park.

Golf/pit cart fee: $50 for the year long pass, if you get one at the Sprints, it's good at the Runoffs. I bring my street bike, lic.=no fee. Do you need a atv or golf cart or will a bicycle do. I used my mtn bike this year, good exercise although the townhall meetings were a long way to go at the kart track.

Fuel for race car: Can't remember the fuel cost, but every year I go home with about 5 gallons of track fuel. In qualifying I ran about 7 laps X 4 miles =28 miles

Fuel for generator: I give a couple cans to my friends staying at a hotel and have them get it or I borrow a truck and go out to get it.

Tires: Depends on your schedule and if your doing any test days. I used 2 sets and I can probably use them for the first double in 2011. Some sticker up every session.

Mounting fees: Hoosier it was $96 to dismount, mount and balance a set of four if you take your old tires.

Add in a couple hundred for unknown runs to Walmart, Farm Fleet and the track vendors. Farm Fleet has everything.
 
One more thing, bring everything you own for the car. The stupid part will break and you have one in the garage sucks.

If you need a tool, someone has it or look in my truck, it's in there somewhere.

I also have a big dry erase board for notes and track schedule.
 
I could run that report in QuickBooks, but then I would feel the urge to run it for the entire season, for both cars. And then would get really nasty around here, and no one likes that. So I can't tell you. :lol:

Just make sure you take more than one credit card + extra cash, and then make sure you know the location of the closest ATM. Just in case, mind you.
 
I go with Jon and Lesley, I could figure it out but then I probably wouldn't be racing this year. Do a quick figure of the big items, fuel, entry, hotel, tires, and then add 50% of that. Then bring a few hundred extra for "incidentals", like dinner at Schwartz's, or Rosie's Supper Clubs.

Course I try to do it on the cheap and run towards the rear, so YMMV.
 
I did the Runoff's including the enrty fee for $1248.00. Yes it is my home track, I stayed across the street in the RV park, I didn't eat out., I went to the parties and had fun and ate for free , I paid for a paddock spot too BUT many of my friends didn't pay for a spot and got really nice locations. They just showed up and got the spots nobody paid for. Worked out well...I had a lot of help and support from friends but it can be done pretty inexpensive.. Just my 2 cents...
 
HP 66 & FF 92
Two sets of new tires for the HP car and takeoffs for the FF
Towed up with Dan Helman and split fuel. Round trip is 2,000 at 8 mpg.
Honda money paid for both entries.
We stay at the Blue Harbor resort in Sheboygan and get a great rate for the week on one of their condos. It's about 75/day per person for the 4 bedroom condo.
We bring my crew chief/shop foreman and split his costs (room and food). I hire someone to work for him while we're gone.
The tires are my biggest expense.

Like Jon said about practice. If you've never been to the track (regardless of where the race is held) pony up for some practice. The only bad thing about doing just one day is it might rain and you learn almost nothing. Personally, I'd advise you to go to a marque club DE or regional race during the year to get some time on track without a lot of demand on performance.

We spent about $2,500 each this past year just for the runoffs. Most of the Houston crowd is not planning on returning because of the track, the trip and the expense. Not in any order. That said, I'd advise going at least once for the experience and the chance to meet a lot of folks you just see here in the ether.

James Rogeron
HP 66, FF 92 and maybe FP this year if I can find enough trailer space.
 
I have a friend here in Denver thats pretty fast in his prod car, but has never been to the Runoffs. He keeps track of his budget that he sets at the start of the year to the penny. Yea, he's one of those 011100011010 guys. :lol:

He had planned to go the last 2 years but had car problems leading up to the Runoffs and pulled the plug. He made the comment this year about "I don't understand why you guys concentrate so much on the Runoffs, it's just like a big National, right?"

Well we convinced him to fly out last year. He rented a car, got upgrade to a Suburban, and slept in that or on someones floor. He now understands, it is an event and I think some of us lose that perspective because we've gone all these years. He now understands and has been working on his car, non stop since.

I went and crewed for Tony Rivera for a bunch of years while I was still running my shifter kart. Slept on alot of floors, but enjoyed the experience. If you can't afford to go and race, find a way to go and watch.
 
My first thought was "Budget!?!" and to laugh hysterically. We've tried it over the years and it never works quite as planned. Trailer blows an axel, tire blows out on the tow rig and totals the rig, things happen. So no real good advice on "budget".

But there have been some good points thrown out as to money savers:
* they do seem to serve meals every night now. Ostensibly they used to be just "worker dinners" and I always work the ROs, so I never thought about it, but I think everyone gets in now, so you can pretty much not pay for dinner or your drinks for the week. And if you can work a specialty, even just a couple times, you can usually get your lunch paid for for the week as well.
* showers at RA aren't great, but they're tolerable, so you can stay on-site and save hotel $.
* If you can share a paddock space with someone and dump the extra trailer off in a field, you can save some money there. We've always paid for the reserved spots since I like knowing 1) where we will be and 2) that I can get back and forth from my grid-worker commitment quickly, so paying for the spot works best for us. But others are right - there are always decent spots that remain open with no-show's.
* Since RA (and Topeka) let us bring the dogs, we didn't have to pay for kennels, so that saved us money, too (one reason I don't like Mid-O; the other being the fact their security thugs threatened to have me arrested - long story for another time).

And yes, bring every spare you've ever gotten for the car. Including the unobtanium widget that never, ever, ever breaks. If you don't have it, it will break, and the only friend you know who will willingly break into your house to ship it to you happens to be driving out to crew for you and is already north of Chicago.
 
one reason I don't like Mid-O; the other being the fact their security thugs threatened to have me arrested
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You too?? Did you get a ride back to your paddock spot in the back of a sheriffs car? You're right, it is also a long story.
 
I can't speak for Carolyn Jon but I'm pretty sure you and the common denominator deserved the ride you got. :mrgreen:

Ha, ha. Yes, I know that story.
 
Mid-Ohio five-0..... 8) Made me remember staying in the camp ground (not allowed to camp in paddock. Here are the facts in brief.... after 11:00 pm, very loud commercial (road crew sized) generator, two nice requests for quiet time to be repected, short fence between us and them. One quick hop for me, find the off switch, hop back like nothing happened. Cheers from my new best friends in the camp ground, one very grumpy old dude proclaiming my soon to be imediate beat down would be swift and beatle bailey like. Me reminding old dude he had to get over the fence before said beat down could occur and I would be on the other side no matter what side he was on. So grumpy old dude went to M-O five-0 who told me I was naughty but told him to keep the generator off. Might have been the twenty new friends that helped convice the five-0 to be semi-nice to me. Shockingly the next day the camper on the trailer gumpy old dude was in had moved :cry:

Bryan Floyd
Hmmm.... then there was the time it rained for qualifying, drinking at 9:30 a.m., Larry Gallagher spinning into china beach and shocking as it may be the day went down hill from there.
 
Mazda Jon":1lup90pi said:
one reason I don't like Mid-O; the other being the fact their security thugs threatened to have me arrested
Click to expand...

You too?? Did you get a ride back to your paddock spot in the back of a sheriffs car? You're right, it is also a long story.
Click to expand...

The only thing you and the CD/HD were guilty of was poor judgment!
 
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