Drag strips are going thru a tough time right no. IHRA seems ready to fold. A lot of tracks left NHRA looking for a better deal. Maple Grove near me did that and today announced closed for the season. NHRA is a tough organization, rumor has it that they may not take back the tracks. Without a big group behind them these tracks cannot get insurance.
Very hard to make a business case. A lot of land, some improvements, upkeep, and if you have a viable customer base, maybe a WED and FRI night and perhaps half the weekends each year. Add in no neighbor concerns, low taxes and no vandals to the wish list, along with employees for those hours. Don't forget at least a small fire and ambulance crew. I have pondered them when they come up as a lottery wish, but it seems to follow the old adage, How do you become a millionaire racing? https://realmo.com/race-tracks/for-sale/
There alot of IHRA Tracks in some serious financial problems because of What has happen , Many are Premier 1/4 tracks in USA. Some track owner have not been payed , Racer's not been paid Not just drag strips Many motor sports , Boats Dirt Tractor its big list ... & NHRA is not letting ones with IHRA licenses move across to NHRA & grandfather let us just pay the Due / license fee ... I told NHRA all the emails I can find for NHRA I for One will support OutLaw tracks
I have watched drag racing dwindle in the midwest for decades. Lack of population allowed for few spectators and few racers. As we all know, it takes lots to even run a bracket car much less a cl*** car. When the super tracks in the large areas folded, I took that as the last straw. What used to be everyman's sport is gone for most. I raced for 20 years. It was doable back then. I'm thankful for that but I don't have much hope for today. The drag and drive events are stimulating interest but I can't see them generating enough revenue to keep tracks going. Look at the 1.4 million investment and do some math and come to an amount that you would have to generate during the season to stay in business. Maybe you could get a 5 year loan with 20 -40% down. That gets serious in my world. That's wandered off topic and I apologize for that.
Hey, Anthony; The *perfect* setup for your schools' curriculum: - *why* the kids(& esp adult night cl***es) (should)learn to do what you(& others) teach. Let's see; driving skills, auto-design/building skills, business administration/management, maintenance(property/et-al), advertising, finance(ing), investment banking & personal investing, money management, industrial design(like Lowey-design of an advanced raceway that sadly never got built), & others I'm too tired to think of right now. . Yeah - "you should drive it". . Marcus... Ahhh...; "readin', writin', 'rithmatic(& it's application(s) pro-n-con(here), sales & salesmanship(to & for the strip to the school n county{'ceptin' it can't be run by govt-type "officials/etc", since actual businessmen-enthusiasts are needed to show/teach the skills} as a perfect tool for teaching vo-tech/real-world-skills ). Could include building(s), streets(read: raceways for other "sports"), &&&...
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