Hi folks, my name is Andrew, I am 20 years old, and from Long Beach California. I have limited racing experience. I am looking to take up Cory Krusemans 2-Day dirt racing school out here in Ventura California. From there, I would like to start up a very small operation and run 360 non-winged sprint cars in the USAC West Coast Sprint Car Series over here in my region.

I just want to know how much does 360 sprint car racing cost in general? When conducting my research I've read a wide variety of figures. I have read articles on mainstream websites citing how it costs 50k-100k just for a car, which is definitely very expensive for me; But on classified ads such as on this forum, I've seen ads where "Race Ready" Non-winged 360 sprint cars are going for 6k-20k. As an Emergency medical technician, I would make approximately 32k a year, I would like to dedicate 25k/year of my salary for racing while in college, So would 25k be enough to get started? Lets say I bought a 'race ready' 360 sprint car for 13k, brought a 1.2k hauler a 3k tow truck, and 1k for driver equipment. Would the $8,000 I had left be enough for other expenses and equipment that I might need?

Sorry for all the math, basically I just want to know is can I reach the race track with 25 thousand on hand.

Or if not, could I save up for two years and have 50k on hand to startup?

Any advice would be appreciated since I am a newbie .

Thank You.

It all depends on what you're looking to do. Do you want to just go have some fun on the weekends? Or do you wish to someday race the Indy 500?
Can someone spend 50k on just a car? Sure! Can someone get racing for 10k? Absolutely. Just remember you get what you pay for...for the most part. You can find good quality, lightly used sprint car rollers for around 5 grand. Obviously your biggest expense is going to be your engine/s. I'm not 100% sure what a good 360 goes for, but plan on a rebuild or 2 throughout the year in your expenses. This is where you would want to check with a reputable engine builder in your area.
If you race locally, 8 grand should get you through the year. Keeping in mind, you'll need spares and tires and fuel. If at all possible...try and find some sponsors. Anything helps. 100-200 bucks could be your pit pass money for a couple weeks.
Sounds like you're doing your due diligence before and that's a good start! Best of luck. And remember...have some fun!

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Look into racing Speedway motorcycles. There is racing close to you. A 10 grand investment would get you a brand new bike, riding gear and spares for the season. After that your entire race program for a speedway season wont cost you what you pay for just tires and fuel for a sprintcar. Plus that no matter what folks say someone starting out in speedway has the best chance to win races NOW. Justing wanting it bad enuff would get you D3 wins, plus some D2 success I would imagine. Speedway is Fun, bikes so simple to prep and nothing feels better than taking a victory lap with the checkers. One thing you need to consider with a sprintcar is the amount of hard work involved, just to have the car track ready. It can easily sap the fun out of a sprintcar if you dont have help needed. Getting the car is the least expensive, easyiest part of the deal. I like that your looking into the nonwinged cars, good luck out there.

http://www.calightningsprints.com/

Check out the lightning sprint racing in your area to get started. Plenty of fun and experience... at least 1/2 the cost, maybe even 1/3. Learn how to maintain and tune a chassis. Learn how to race. Learn how to be smooth and consistent in the seat. Then see if you can line up some help and go sprint car racing. It will be awfully tough running a sprint car with only 32k a year, especially if that's a pre-tax value.

If you are in a position to put 75% of your salary into your racing you better get started ASAP...Find somebody with one of those 10/12K turn key cars (there are many many in CA with 360s...lots of good deals out there)...make the seller load you up with at least one extra wheel for each corner, all the used tires he has taking up space, 6 sets of gears, a couple extra shocks and some radius rods..make him take the car to the track and show you that it is indeed truly "Turn Key" and ready to race...let him race it, or hotlap it, or make him be your crew chief for one night....anybody who really wants to sell will be willing to show you that it is the quality they say it is.

At the salary you make, if you go the route of lightning sprint or something, that will be where you end up from now on. They are great cars, don't get me wrong, but once you start pouring money into a certain car it gets harder and harder to get rid of all your stuff and move into something else.

Run your whole first season on other guys used tires, put a decent baseline set-up in the car and leave it alone other than minor adjustments, and keep your eyes peeled for great deals on a wheel here and a shock there and a spare set of nerf bars here and some gears there..And don't worry about having a super huge trailer full of nice new shiny stuff..I go to the track with my sprintcar on a 16ft flatbed trailer, 4 spare rear wheels/tires, a spare front, a few extra shocks, gears, bolts, nuts...a set of radius rods and a front axle...a couple of 3 drawer toolboxes and 3 fuel jugs.....and not one time this year have I said to myself "Boy I wish I woulda brought a ______".....

SO if a sprintcar is where you want to be...get one..get one while you can put so much of your income into it, because one of these days you will look up and realize you have 2 kids, a mortgage, 6 insurance payments a month, etc etc etc... until then you can gradually upgrade your stuff and end up with a really good piece and plenty of spares to operate on.

I agree with the post above. We race speedway but have a mini/lightning sprint we play with. I think a unwinged minisprint is the perfect "budget racer" plus its doable with just one guy. Also you can just hop in start it up and drive off or onto your trailer whatever.

Thank you very much, I was not aware of this series. I will very much most likely be racing in this series.

Yea, Indy would be a dream for me lol. But lets wait 6-10 years and see if I make it there or not.

One more question folks, Which is more affordable, Mini Sprints, or Midgets? Which would be a better stepping stone?

The only thing I would worry about is, where to get help. I will be doing this solo, so I wonder if I would be able to find someone who knows this sprint car/mini sprint business and can help me out with track secrets, tire secrets, setup etc since this would be my first time driving a car, and being on dirt aside from a limited sting in karts. But I was looking to advance my career faster, and moving to dirt seemed like the best option, since I can learn dirt from running mini sprints and later move up to full sized sprints once I am comfortable with racing dirt and know the trade. Hopefully I can be successful at it. I want to so badly. Hopefully I can get a test offer from some racing team in a top series or something if I succeed down the years. Who know

I'm not your typical driver who started driving karts at 8, I only got into a kart at 19. I didn't come from a rich family so I couldn't race younger. Now Im in college and making my own money, so I want to pursue racing and see where I can end up. I definitely have the drive and dedication for it. I wonder where i'll be in 8 years,