We just got the official word from our insurance company today that they will not pay for any part of our racing operation which was lost in our shop fire on July 7, 2017. This was due to the fact that we only had a regular homeowners policy which covered our house, our garage and the regular contents. But it WILL NOT cover anything which can be used to make any income such as racing. Every tool, tire, rim, frame, motor parts, helmet, suits, etc, associated with racing is NOT COVERED. The insurance did however already cover the actual building structure, my dually truck, and my trailer.

I know some of you might have already have known this ahead of time, but I didn't know that everything I had which can be associated with racing was not covered by my insurance in case of a fire like this....so my advice to every racer who parks their cars and/or equipment in their garage at home.....you better call your agent and make sure your stuff is covered by your policy or you could end up receiving nothing for the contents of the structure that are associated with racing.

So my next course of action is to consult an attorney and see if they believe we have any hopes of fighting this decision and then as we rebuild the racing team, I am going to be seeking additional commercial insurance for my racing items to cover for fire/theft, etc.

If you have any experience at fighting something like this or if you have a good idea which could help me in this fight, please contact me at 812-798-0203 or smorin@bop.gov

We will rebuild, but now it will take a little bit longer. Hope to be back in 2018.

Steve Morin

I understand if you don't want to announce it but do you mind if I ask who this insurance company is that denied your claim. I'll be sure not to give them my business in the future

Indiana Farm Bureau...been with them for 30 years.

If the insurance companies see the racing related property as potentially money-making "inventory", I wonder if the IRS would accept that as justification for writing it off as a business loss? Probably wishful thinking, but I hope you can recover some of the financial burden...

Jim, you can deduct your expenses, long as you get a1099 for the income, you have to take the long form, I really thought everyone did. It's all legal. Bob

Obviously they know nothing about racing ,if they did they would know you're not making money !🙂

Not that this may help but it doesn't have anything to do with making money doing it.the contents is based upon what is normal to have to maintain your home and property.vehicles and trailers are covered by an automotive and or trailer policy.not sure about others,but state farm is the same way.

I know Bob, it just seems that sometimes the IRS is more likely to disallow some deductions as they think what we are doing is a "hobby"...

Jim, my CPA had a brother in law that was heavily involved in NHRA, and she had a lot of info the average bear doesn't have, but you never want to "assume" anything, we just did the more common stuff, and never had any problems, I also had to report it on my "means test" for the VA, so it all made sense, the income was small, but the deductions, did help pay expenses, it didn't cost that much more when she was figuring my taxes, so we went with it, kinda made it seem like you were "making money"! Bob

I think Steve's point is you should check your homeowner's insurance policy with your agent. The insurance company did nothing wrong, sounds like they paid up no problem for what they said they would cover in the policy. We also lost some racing equipment due to a large tree falling on our garage and collapsing it. The building was paid for, no auto parts or cars covered printed right there in the policy. Shame on us for not reading it, or adding it. It is each persons responsibility to verify coverage with their agent, and pay for more if you need it.