Anne DeBold
Member
For all those awaiting answers:
#1 Points Money...we never had extra money for a points fund, truly wish we did. Drivers need to be recognized for their standings. And we still want to do something for the point leaders. At this time we cannont give you a definate answer.
#2 How to keep this from happening next year....Hopefully we can gain some sponsors for next year. Starting late caused us problems with getting sponsors plus having someone to do the job as they say they would and not dropping the ball.
#3 Who's in charge? Shoes we are trying to fill...not many people want this job headed by John Bell. Questions about calls made are discussed by John and officials. Questions about calls should be referred to John. We are the owners of the facility and we did not intend to manage the program. That's why we had Terry as the manager. He hired his own help. Some didn't quite work out. We had troubles with the concession help, problems in the tower because people could not get along with each other and problems with calls on the track, all within the first 3 weeks of opening. Mind you, we hired none of these people. So we changed concession crew and it's working better. Then we hired John Bell to head track officials and now that's better. We now have a new announcer, but we still have issues in the tower. We lost Terry, and it was of his choosing. And we have not replaced him yet. We will be looking for someone to fill that position. We should not have to referee fights in the pits. This is racing, not wrestling. We could hire security at $18 per hour, per man, but again another cost and no money to cover. We know we have issues there as well. Changes will be made in that area for next year.
#4 Sponsorship program...Jeff had a program set up, but no one followed through on it. Once again all of Terry's workers who offered to do, did not. We have signs to be put up and some still waiting to be picked up at sign shops. Haven't had the extra money to purchase lumber to install signs on the back straight. All sponsors will be honored next year free of charge and those that have passes will be honored. Also let it be known that no money was exchanged for passes this year. Passes were given in trade for goods or services.
#5 In the red....The track went thousands of dollars in the red due to start up expenses (equipment, fuel, building materials) and repairs to the track and equipment as the season went along. What will make it change? CAR COUNT..CAR COUNT..CAR COUNT..and sponsorships would be a big plus for next year. It takes approximately $1900 plus payout money per night to put on a show. This does not include any monthly bills such as electric and other montly payments. On 10 races the average car count was 63 cars, the average pit admission was 155 people which is $3875..average payout on 63 cars is $6360...Average grandstand admission wa $2950. Now lets look at this income. $3875 + $2950= $6825.Then subtract the payout and you have $465 left, but now you have to subtract $1100 for track help and now you are in the red $635. Then subtract fuel and insurance of $800 and now you are in the red $1435. How many people can looses $1435 every Friday night and still pay the have to pay monthly bills. We would think not many. We never tried to cut the pay. We were always fair. I know for a fact, the second night of racing the late models were paid the higer payout for a low car count, which was my mistake of over $500, but I did not make them pay it back. There was another night when the results were given to me incorrectly after the checks were already handed out and picked up, and I went back and paid the difference to 7 drivers.
And by the way about the meeting that drivers had...we were not invited, because the drivers just wanted to meet at the track to see if they could put together a program to help the track finish the season. This meeting was called for them to decide how to approach us with the payout and they needed a place to meet. This meeting had nothing else to do with how thinks are run. It was their decision to race and decide how to be paid. and that's all.
And now a little about us and the track. We bought the track ( which by the way any one could have bought.) to try to keep racing close to home and alive in this area. All we wanted to do was make this place something to be proud of. So we tore down old and put up new. This in itself is a full time job. So together with Jeff Mills and Terry Flanagan in the operations department, this seemed good!. Then Jeff died. It did not take long to see who the real manager was. It was Jeff. and Terry ran the race. Without Jeff, things in the tower and the race program fell apart. Finding someone to fill Jeff's shoes is no easy task, Jeff did it all. Beleive us, we miss Jeff as much as anybody. If we can get someone with at least half the knowledge and enthusiasm as Jeff did, we would be blessed. He was the hub of this track. We have never owned a track before and this has been a learning experience, it's a lot different than just sponsoring a car. There are things that you don't know about until they happen. We are trying to do the best we can. It's tough to run a small track, We can't even imagine what it's like to run St. Francois or I-55.
In closing I want to say to those that have questions, please go to the right source. Curley or I. We have an answering machine at home 573-783-2040, or you can email me at purple_anne55@yahoo.com.
Thank you
#1 Points Money...we never had extra money for a points fund, truly wish we did. Drivers need to be recognized for their standings. And we still want to do something for the point leaders. At this time we cannont give you a definate answer.
#2 How to keep this from happening next year....Hopefully we can gain some sponsors for next year. Starting late caused us problems with getting sponsors plus having someone to do the job as they say they would and not dropping the ball.
#3 Who's in charge? Shoes we are trying to fill...not many people want this job headed by John Bell. Questions about calls made are discussed by John and officials. Questions about calls should be referred to John. We are the owners of the facility and we did not intend to manage the program. That's why we had Terry as the manager. He hired his own help. Some didn't quite work out. We had troubles with the concession help, problems in the tower because people could not get along with each other and problems with calls on the track, all within the first 3 weeks of opening. Mind you, we hired none of these people. So we changed concession crew and it's working better. Then we hired John Bell to head track officials and now that's better. We now have a new announcer, but we still have issues in the tower. We lost Terry, and it was of his choosing. And we have not replaced him yet. We will be looking for someone to fill that position. We should not have to referee fights in the pits. This is racing, not wrestling. We could hire security at $18 per hour, per man, but again another cost and no money to cover. We know we have issues there as well. Changes will be made in that area for next year.
#4 Sponsorship program...Jeff had a program set up, but no one followed through on it. Once again all of Terry's workers who offered to do, did not. We have signs to be put up and some still waiting to be picked up at sign shops. Haven't had the extra money to purchase lumber to install signs on the back straight. All sponsors will be honored next year free of charge and those that have passes will be honored. Also let it be known that no money was exchanged for passes this year. Passes were given in trade for goods or services.
#5 In the red....The track went thousands of dollars in the red due to start up expenses (equipment, fuel, building materials) and repairs to the track and equipment as the season went along. What will make it change? CAR COUNT..CAR COUNT..CAR COUNT..and sponsorships would be a big plus for next year. It takes approximately $1900 plus payout money per night to put on a show. This does not include any monthly bills such as electric and other montly payments. On 10 races the average car count was 63 cars, the average pit admission was 155 people which is $3875..average payout on 63 cars is $6360...Average grandstand admission wa $2950. Now lets look at this income. $3875 + $2950= $6825.Then subtract the payout and you have $465 left, but now you have to subtract $1100 for track help and now you are in the red $635. Then subtract fuel and insurance of $800 and now you are in the red $1435. How many people can looses $1435 every Friday night and still pay the have to pay monthly bills. We would think not many. We never tried to cut the pay. We were always fair. I know for a fact, the second night of racing the late models were paid the higer payout for a low car count, which was my mistake of over $500, but I did not make them pay it back. There was another night when the results were given to me incorrectly after the checks were already handed out and picked up, and I went back and paid the difference to 7 drivers.
And by the way about the meeting that drivers had...we were not invited, because the drivers just wanted to meet at the track to see if they could put together a program to help the track finish the season. This meeting was called for them to decide how to approach us with the payout and they needed a place to meet. This meeting had nothing else to do with how thinks are run. It was their decision to race and decide how to be paid. and that's all.
And now a little about us and the track. We bought the track ( which by the way any one could have bought.) to try to keep racing close to home and alive in this area. All we wanted to do was make this place something to be proud of. So we tore down old and put up new. This in itself is a full time job. So together with Jeff Mills and Terry Flanagan in the operations department, this seemed good!. Then Jeff died. It did not take long to see who the real manager was. It was Jeff. and Terry ran the race. Without Jeff, things in the tower and the race program fell apart. Finding someone to fill Jeff's shoes is no easy task, Jeff did it all. Beleive us, we miss Jeff as much as anybody. If we can get someone with at least half the knowledge and enthusiasm as Jeff did, we would be blessed. He was the hub of this track. We have never owned a track before and this has been a learning experience, it's a lot different than just sponsoring a car. There are things that you don't know about until they happen. We are trying to do the best we can. It's tough to run a small track, We can't even imagine what it's like to run St. Francois or I-55.
In closing I want to say to those that have questions, please go to the right source. Curley or I. We have an answering machine at home 573-783-2040, or you can email me at purple_anne55@yahoo.com.
Thank you
