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From the Jacksonville Speedway Facebook page.
Jacksonville Speedway
14h ยท
In one of those "why not" moods. Not sure this has ever been done before, and some in the biz might think I'm crazy for doing it - but thought I'd share the economics of opening night - which we were thrilled with. I've just heard a lot of "You were packed" etc. Here's the business-side of Friday Night. And this isn't for any purpose other than full transparency with our fans and teams just to show where your money goes how how a race night works. Mind you, this was Opening Night with an above average crowd... And for us it was a great crowd. We can't compare ourselves to most other tracks who have a lot more population within 20 miles.
There were 702 Adults that were in the grandstand. 50 of those were season passes. 105 Teenagers. Total grandstand deposit was $10,300. There were 378 Pit passes sold at $30 for a total pit deposit of $11,350. Total Deposit was $21,650 from the gates.
Expenses: Payout to racers was $16,850. (Yes, ours is way higher than most because $9k of that was for 410 Sprint Cars - but that's why most Jacksonville fans show up.) Help + Ambulance = $1,950. Insurance $1,000. Power/Lights roughly $250. Water roughly $250. Rent roughly $1,000. Total expenses = $21,300.
So from racing operations alone on a really good opening night, the night was about $300 right side-up. Oooopsss... I forgot the tractor tire repair bill I paid this morning of $395. So I guess we were $95 upside down. Oooops... forgot the diesel and gas for our equipment... etc. etc.
Of course that's not the whole picture. Fortunately we have some great sponsors, we sell food and beverage, get a little from Dirtvision, and host parties etc. out there to keep the ship afloat over the course of a year. Those things come in more than handy on sizzling hot August nights when the numbers above are way, way backwards. I'm totally not complaining, and we enjoy every minute we get to operate a race track. All we want is to make the place float and keep great events happening in Jacksonville. And we are succeeding at that.
But I point this out to illustrate why we charge what we charge for various events. Why we pay what we pay for various classes. Why every bit of signage/advertising we can find makes a world of difference to a race track for those unexpected bills and improvements. Why we just can't hand out season passes to every fundraiser or charity that asks - or let every "friend" we've ever met in for free.
No doubt those of you owning/driving race cars have a whole different set of economics that don't make great business sense either. But understand, that what we have in common is that this is a hobby for us as well. There's nobody walking away with piles of money at a race track - racers, promoters or anyone else.
I also point this out to hopefully show that we weren't "packed". There are 4,000 feet of boards in the grandstand. It should easily hold 2,000 people with everyone having 2ft per butt. But whenever we get past 800 people think there is no room. There is room. And we are going to need to pile about another 400 butts in there in three weeks to make the All Star race work. Yes.... there's room for 1,200 - even at 3ft per butt. Sit on a yardstick sometime. Plenty of room.
Moral of the story... this isn't an "us vs. them" game. This is an "all of us together can make it work" game. Thanks for your continued support of Jacksonville Speedway.
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