Rising Cost at Speedweek

[landracing]

Another item of interest in the November Meeting Minutes is the following..

"The course preparation fee will be increases to $25.00 next year from the $15.00 for this year.....Dana said that the course preparation fund was broke, spent $13,620.00 and the fund only had $9,660.00.  The fund would increase to about $16,000.00 with the $25.00 fee. "

Rising costs Blah... I find it hard to take to rise the costs again, which are at an all time high for the racer. The BNI can fork over $50 thousand at a time to the SCTA but want's to charge the racer another $10 per. As stated below...

"Dana Wilson handed out copies of the BNI check register.  There was a check to SCTA for equipment rental to subsidize the SCTA membership fee.  There was also a transfer of $50,000.00 to the building fund."

Although the Entry fee has not been set yet according to the letter.

Thoughts... Jon

[Dean Los Angeles]

I've heard it said that Bonneville subsidizes El Mirage. To hold down Bonneville prices, maybe we should raise El Mirage prices.
That's pretty easy to do. Join one of the SCTA clubs and vote for it.
At the Sidewinders meetings the SCTA and BNI check books have been offered for inspection, so it's not a secret.

I'm not complaining about prices. I would like to see several thousand prices lowered. Houses, gas, cars, etc.
I'm amazed that this racing happens at any price. It takes thousands of free volunteer hours at two locations far from civilization to make it happen. Those guys that just got elected are going to spend a TON of hours on your behalf.
If you run at Bonneville, are not an SCTA member, and don't volunteer your time, well . . .

[landracing]

I am an SCTA member and I do run Bonneville.

I offered my time to the motorcycle committee and was declined.

And as far as voting. Well I have been an SCTA member for over a year now, and I got my Ballott AFTER the voting was completed. I spoke to TWO OTHER members who are East coast and they NEVER received a ballot.

Im just saying the people who belong to the BNI are the ones Paying for a property alot of BNI members  dont use. So when I see a fund transfer of $50K to SCTA, that had to come from the BNI and Bonneville, and now they want to raise the costs, (which I am not apposed to if they were hurting for money) to BNI entrant. HOw about raising the costs for El MIrage meet to better support that organization that way BNI wont have to pay for so much. And that could keep our BNI costs down.

Jon

[Glen]

Jon
Your remark on property not being used by Bonneville members is not totally correct. The property is for storing and maintaining the trailers and all of the support equipment used at both venues. There are six trailers required for the operation. Each year at least two trips to the salt are required. This equipment takes a hell of a beating in travel and the weather on the salt. The clean up time takes a lot of volunteers and a couple of weeks before the next lakes meet it has to be done.

If we have one bad(speed week) year it hurts the treasurey a bunch. This next year a new drag will need to be made to prep the courses, the diesel generators will have to be serviced, Cones will need to be replaced as well as the mile markers. The costs go up and it's not a free ride.

[desotoman]

Jon,
  I think the El Mirage Property will save the SCTA money in the long run. No it has not been cheap, but as Glen pointed out, it allows us to bring trailers and other equipment to a common ground that SCTA has control over. No more having a trailer over here or over there or being destroyed by weather. Now they can be kept inside.

  It only takes one bad year at Bonneville to deplete the BNI funds. Look at it this way, the SCTA is investing in the future of LSR. This will only help in the long run.

Tom G.

PS. You will save money this year. Since you are an SCTA member you do not have to join BNI to be able to run at Bonneville. What did that save you $60 I think. So you are really ahead of the game.

[Stainless1]

Jon, if you get a PO box with a CA address and have it forwarded to CO, you would always have your stuff in time...
Like a lot of us, you just live in the wrong zip code.

[jimmy six]

I won't be the sour puss but the lines and everything else are going get to longer and Speed Week more expensive as long as LSR is continues to be easily found out about on places like the net. This site is great and it promotes more spectators, cars, bikes, etc... Every other motor sport activity is expensive and loaded with people ie: circle track, off road, drags etc. especially in high populated areas. Many seeing LSR as one or two times a year endeaver. This is a far cry from weekly or biweekly motorsports. To them it's really a savings. Think of the guy with an offshore boat, sprinter, midget, etc. One week a year is great.

If it gets to a point where I cannot afford it I won't be doing it. (one less guy in line) I'll spend my overtime but not my 401K retirement. The last time my vintage coupe ran was 1998. With the rules which have been past since that time at least $2000, maybe more, will need to be spent just to bring it back just in safety alone.(not counting a competitive engine). At El Mirage we are seeing some of our older members who have not missed a meet in 20 years not entering. It hard to compete on a fixed income today.

Let's all see who will be stepping up on the new board and how things go..Personally I'm looking forward to it.. J.D.

PS: I've already recieved 6 envelops back with "insufficient address" for their timing tags. Maybe they will wonder where they are and call.

[836dstr]

Tom G. (from another Tom G.) is right on about the savings to SCTA members on redundant costs, afterall the SCTA is the parent organization. A slight change in entry fees is small peanuts compared to other expenses for running at Bonneville. Our single biggest expense this year was gas for getting there and back. I live in So. California. I feel sorry for the racers that live on the East Coast.

That being said, Bonneville participation for some could depend of rising fuel prices. I hope SCTA/BNI budget accordingly. It will be interesting to see the entry numbers for next year.

My Brother-in-law joined BNI this year (actually I "joined him") and he ran there for the first time. He did not run later at El Mirage because of "guest fees". He will now be joining a SCTA Club. Now he will be participating much more, including the volunteer work the makes it all happen. Seems fair to me !

Tom

[landracing]

Tom and all thanks for the great information on the property stuff.

Jon