What do you guys/gals spend for your annual racing budget? I'm interested in knowing what it costs to race per event. Things like entry fees, fuel, tires, lodging, food, etc. I'm trying to plan a budget to present to the Finance Committee (wife) so she has an idea what we need to spend. I am not including any expenses relating to initial vehicle purchase or preparation.

I am using a value of 10 races in a season, some local, some not. I do realize that I may end up in a region that could have more or less races, so I just decided to use 10 as a nice even number.

Putting the numbers down on paper is a very dangerous thing to do.

For open tracking, which isn't too far off of what a real racer's budget is, I set aside my annual bonus and misc. income from side jobs as my "racing" budget. It usually was $5-7K per year.

You know, a lot of it is controllable: do you buy the bitchin $90 spark plug wire set or the $40 OEM replacement? (its just going to burn up when you install it incorrectly anyway ) Do you camp at the track or get a hotel? Do you go to practice days, or just the event days? It also depends a lot on how fast you are: ie the more you push your car, the more you wear consumables and the more likely you'll break things.

To run a full west coast CMC season (8 weekends), I'd say you're looking at a minimum of $4.5k for fees, fuel, tires, brake pads. Once you add repairs, upgrades, and other wear/tear items, more like $6.5k. If you really go first class on everything, replace things just in case (not because they need it) etc more like $8k.

Hope that helps, now delete it before my wife sees it!

"was" Mitch??

Yeah ... I'm considering dominoes ....

...yeah...you'll find most of us racers DO NOT like to put these kinds of numbers down....

If I look at a typical weekend $200-$250 for entry....$100 gas....$100 consumables.....a little more for livin' expenses, it doesn't sound too bad...

But....prorate in motor rebuilds, tranny rebuilds, tire costs, damage.....and it will be MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more than you would like...

There is a reason that a SM Miata in the SF region will rent for $1500-$2000 a weekend....

If I REALLY tried to count the pennies, I am SURE I would blow that away!

I'd say minimally $7-8k. I know it was considerably more than that last year as a lotta stuff broke!

I tried that camping at the track bit. Unfortunately, most all the tracks I go to have Friday and Saturday night drag racing until 1am. Not very restful sleeping.

Hmm....

OK, based on the information provided above, has anyone incorporated themselves for the purpose of writing off the racing expenses? I haven't looked at that book yet (Racer's Tax Guide) but am wondering if this is worth attempting.

http://www.ssapubl.com/index.cfm?do=detail...il&productid=57

My first year in SCCA T2 I averaged $1100 / weekend. This was maintaining parts, food, towing, hotels, and some tires as I got a couple sets for free. The faster I went the more expensive it got. I held back nothing, I could not enjoy my race weekend if everyone around me didn't so spending the extra to keep the wife happy was well worth it.

Yes, I did the cardinal sin and keep a spread sheet of my first season...never again!!!

ERV

Rob, I notice a few racers who have a "business" name plastered all over their car. Instant advertising writeoff. A few of them have told me though that the government has a rule that you can only call something a business and take a tax writeoff on it for a very few years if you're constantly taking a loss each year. Since racing isn't a money making business . . .

I haven't seriously looked into that but if I keep on racing for a while longer I'm sure I will. I would think it could be a hook for a potential sponsor. Tell a business owner you'll advertise for him and take a percentage of the tax writeoff to help offset your racing expenses. Hmm. Win-win situation, right?

Now THAT sounds interesting...I still might pick up that book, maybe this weekend if I don't have to work.

Writing off racing expenses is a little tricky. You need to be able to show intent to make a profit, and you need to actually show a profit one of every three years. If you get audited and can't prove you had reasonable expectation of making a profit, you get gacked.

The easiest way is to convince a "sponsor" (someone with a legitimate business that turns a profit) to use you as "advertising". If they give you money, they can write it off. So they get back from the gov. whatever they paid you times their marginal tax rate. So, it still costs them money, just not as much, right? So here's where it gets really twisted: say they give you $1k, and say they have a 30% marginal tax rate, so they really gave you $700. Now you give them $700 back. Net net, they broke even, you made $300, and as long as uncle sam can never prove the reverse transaction, everything is cool. Gotta love white collar crime huh?

I am running my dirt track operation as a business. I also bought the book for ideas and talked with other racers.

The key is documentation.... You must keep a very detailed set of books.

You do NOT have to earn prize money to consider it a business... IF you sell advertising (sponsorship) and have the INTENT to earn a profit then you can claim a business expense.

In the dirt track racing it is a little easier since we earn a paycheck almost every week and the track files a 1099.

I also sell used parts from parts cars to help suppliment the INTENT to earn a profit.

My accountant and the Racer's Tax Guide book both stress the need for detailed records in case of an audit to prove your INTENT to earn a profit.

This is kind of like that crappy "how much have you spent on your car" thread I started a couple weeks ago.

I consider any racing I do to be on the same level as doing something fun, i.e. going to the movies. Keeping track of it only puts a dollar value on having fun... and that's never fun.

Keeping track of money spent on my car is not keeping track of fun, it's keeping track of my idiocy, so I still do that.

I guess I'm really lucky. Our local track only charges $75/day for open track days (with a $35 annual license fee). Since I run 555R IIs for street and track use, I only count about half the cost as part of my "racing" budget. Add on to that a set of race pads once a year and plenty of brake fluid and that's most of my set budget. Of course, then you have the unexpected things, like the suspension damage from my last track day. Granted the insurance paid on that, but there was still the deductible and the fact that I ended up buying better (more expensive) replacement parts instead of going stock. I usually don't count mods to the car though, as I'd normally do those whether I open tracked it or not.

I'm dying to know, how did you get insurance to pay for it? I'm assuming that you damaged it "on the street"? Did you "hit a curb"?

Actually, my policy has no exclusions against driver's education events, they just can't be competetive events. However, when I called them, I just told them I hit a chunck of concrete (which I did a few days before). They didn't even ask what street it was on, and when they sent me the check it was filed under comprehensive (which I think was a mistake, but I'm not going to say anything).

Sounds similar to my policy (the driver's ed, but no competition part). And, I've considered doing the same, should I ever need to. What happened to your suspension? I'm assuming that they wouldn't buy it if you said, "I hit a chunk of concrete, and it screwed up my upper A-arm, and nothing else." Just want details in case I ever have to do this.

Bent spindle arm, upper, and lower a arms on passenger side. No body damage and no frame damage. Also destroyed one wheel. The shop I use knows me pretty well, so they helped out on the estimate (quoted full retail on everything, when they knew I could find it for a lot less). I ended up going ahead and getting GW upper a arms and 1LE lower a arms to replace the stock pieces. The adjuster did ask the shop manager what happened to the car, but he of course replied "I have no clue, I just fix em."

As to the chunk of concrete, if I'd actually hit it dead on with the wheel, it probably could have done similar damage. It was a little less than a foot across, and I was doing about 60MPH. I was following a truck, and of course they cleared it and I didn't. Fortunately, all it did was impact under the car and put a nice gouge in the floorboard. I caught a piece about half that size several years ago in my 92 Vette on the edge of a wheel and it bent the wheel and knocked the alignment out pretty good.

Well not racing here's what I rekon for a typical track weekend;

Tares: Last 2 events 650 plus 60 mount balance 710/2 =355
brakes: Last 1 event 200
every other event rotors 100/2 =50
Gas 30 gallons =60
gas for tow vehicle = 10 mpg 300 miles 30 gallons = 50$ x 2 =100$
hotel if needed 100$
Entry fee 200-500

total 1 weekend

1000$ - 1300$
I did 15 events last year, and wrecked my car to the tune of 6 k! 20k gone! But
it's a hobby and I enjoyed it