Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Buying Hartford for 1 million and then sprucing up what is a REALLY run down shithole, good Lord, seems like dropping 3.15 million on Badlands would be a slightly higher expense and a LOT less hassles.

This is an interesting point.  I haven't been to Hartford in many years but if what is being said here is true, it sounds like you're almost starting over as far as the facility goes.  Does anyone have any idea what this would cost?  Also, what about track working equipment?

As far as starting a new track somewhere you would obviously have the costs as far as the facility goes but what about getting utilities and zoning costs?

I'm not trying to be a negative nancy here but if three different guys with money determined that $3 million was too much money for a race ready facility, are either of these options a realistic possibility?

Well, most people who have a lot of money are smart. I'll leave it at that.

There were apparantly 3 people who had the finances to be in on the auction. I'd guess all three were motivated more by their love of racing than by the idea of getting rich(er).

There has been a tradition of Sunday night racing in the area for about 60 years. Nearly all the other competing forms of entertainment-basketball, football, hocky, etc.- have weeknight games, so Sunday night shouldn't be a problem if they run the show in a timely fashion.

Typically only a few cars come up from Knoxville. But over the years, a lot of 410 points champions also ran Knoxville the night before: Giddings, Lasoski, McCarl, Dobmeier, Madsen, etc.

What's wrong with ending a post with a question??

   Anything's possible I suppose, but it remains to be seen if people smarter than us can put something together. I see Hartford as being like my 1st house. It was built in 1890 and was showing it's age. But it had a good structure and a lot of other things going for it. I bought it and fixed it up. Maybe Hartford has that same thing going for it. I don't know that everybody should be so hung up on the price when that number is based on every rumor people have heard. If there's a way to revive local racig and the price for Hartford is too high, someone will point that out. Things sell for what someone is willing to pay for them, not what someone thinks they're worth. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't.

     I think the last time I was at Hartford they had a 5 car 305 feature race. The place is rundown but has the basic structure for a racetrack in place: a track carved into the landscape, a bleacher are built into the hill, a front stretch concrete wall, a parking field, utilities on the property, and a skeleton of a concession area and something resembling bathrooms.

I have to be honest, I could care less if Hartford ever raced again.  Like I said I've only been there a few times but I was never impressed with the racing.  To me what made "the other place" lol so great was the racing, I don't believe I ever saw a bad race there.  Unless they could reconfigure the track to give these kinds of results, I could care less.  If they were going to build a brand new track, I hope they would copy that other place as much as possible.  This is just my opinion and doesn't mean either one of us are wrong.

What I do hope for and what I honestly see as a best case scenario is where these 3 individuals or maybe more can pool their money together, understanding that they probably won't get their money back.  Along with that hopefully other businesses and individuals can step and make other donations, whether it be labor for building structures, letting equipment be used or financial donations.  

If the 3 individual's thought 3 million was to much to make a good business decision how does 6 million make sense. Chuck had no intentions of selling the race track, it's his last piece of property that can keep him in the news in South Dakota, unfortunately I don't think that many people even give a shit anymore. I'm sure in a week or so he will come up with something new to post.

Bzzztttt!  Barf alert, I just read something that makes me want to puke.

What makes sense to you or to me might not make sense to the next person. I'm working under the belief that there are at least 3 people out there willing to spend some money for the return of local racing. It's obvious they could spend that money on other things that make them more money, so I have to believe they're in it more for the love of the sport. I think if anybody can get something going, it's going to be people like that.

I think the only possibility for Husets is to ask someone what they felt like they were willing to pay for it at the auction. It is obvious that 3.15 or whatever it was was too high, but maybe if all three of these guys were willing to pay 2 million, they could all go in together? I dont know, just thinking out loud. I dont know who the other two were, but I do know Dave fairly well and I am certain that he walked into that auction with no intention of ever getting rich off the track, but maybe 3 guys at 2 million makes more sense than 2 guys at 3 or one person at 6. Again, just thinking out loud.

2/3rds of the investment for 1/3rd of the profit

OR

2/3rds of the investment for 1/3 of the loss

OR

2/3rds of the investment for 1/3rd of the work/commitment/time.

OR

2/3rds of the investment for ALL of the glory and respect and honor of getting it done for the fans the drivers and the community.

I only think option D would be work for most, Maybe C

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nothing wrong with Harford. It is nothing fancy but a very racey track and has great pontenial. Just needs some bleacher work and maybe some new lighting. Needs somebody who can run it and keep the show moving  and not piss everybody off. As far as building a new track somewhere, it will never happen. To many non race fans will bitch, to noisey, to dusty, don't want traffic on my  road.  Probably never see any new dirt tracks built ever again anywhere.

     You make a good point. It's probably about as easy to get permission for a new nuclear power plant as for a new racetrack. Anybody know when was the last dirt racetrack built anywhere?

All the new tracks i know of are built inside existing oaved tracks. Isnt Indy building one now?

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Off Road Speedway is new in Norfolk Neb probably 4 or 5 years ago. They race the nebraska 360 and the MSTS twice a year.

I think the fan co-op is a great idea sell shares and people buy what they want or give as gifts to people and after everything is paid off at the end of the year if their is anything it could come back to the shareholder. Shelby county speedway in Harlan IA used to have one. I don't know if they still do.

In most areas I agree that Sunday night is not a choice night for racing. So why has it been for the Sioux Falls area? Simply put, it's not so much because of the sprint car competition on Friday or Saturday nights. It's all the other racing, and all the other entertainment. First the other racing. There is nearly a countless number of race tracks running in SD, IA, MN, running all sorts of classes on Fri-Sat nights. The number of race fans at those tracks that include not just race fans, but other classes of drivers, their crews and their families and friends that would use Sunday night to go catch their only opportunity to see a sprint car race only had Husets to do so. And as a fan, I know for a fact that driving an hour or hour and a half to go to Husets was pretty common for a lot of the fans. The other is the camping and fishing crowd. Pretty easy to see when you go to a major event like the Nationals or Kings Royal and others just how many sprint car fans own campers and motorhomes. They don't own them just to go to the races. Minnesota and Northwest Iowa have a very large number of fantastic lakes with modern camping hookups (and there's no reason to go to Sioux Falls camping). So, when a vast number of those folks take off on their camping trips for the weekend, they take off on Friday night, and usually head back home on Sunday morning or early afternoon. Whether they live in Iowa, Minnesota or the Sioux Falls area, they have nothing to do on Sunday night for entertainment. So it's "let's go to Husets" for a good number of them. When you add it all up, the fans from other tracks tracks and the outdoors fans, adds up to enough people to make the difference between a crowd that will make or break a race track. Husets was a hot spot on Sunday nights for a lot of years. Stagnant purses and falling car counts became a problem.  

As for your question as to how many cars were shared by Knoxville and Husets, I'd say during the peak years as many as ten or twelve, gonig back quite a few years. In recent years it varied a lot. Some weeks just two or three, other weeks maybe four or five. I think costs and stagnant purses had a lot to do with that. If Brennan did anything right, he did stir the pot up in regards to the purses. Another thought is this. Look at the migration of young drivers to hit the All Stars. Maybe, and I've said this befor because I believe it, Knoxville, Jackson motorplex, and Husets could become just enough of a Fri-Sat-Sun connection to attract a good number of new drivers to our area. So if not Husets....then something new. As for the actual number of Knoxville fans that went to Husets, hardly any because of the distance. But the number of fans within an hour to an hour and a half from Sioux falls is large.

 I mentioned a new track ages ago, and I still believe it could be done.

I would have a meeting with restuarant owners primarily on the west side of Souix Falls, give accounting of plans, possibly get some advertising buy in from bringing people to a West Side event on a Sunday. Really study what businesses benefit from the influx of people on a Sunday.
 

Go 10-12 -20 miles out west of SF and create a huge well banked half mile. One that could support special events. USAC Sprints - Silver Crown, All Type Sprint Organizations, Stock Cars, Have a couple high paying hobby stock races.
 

Check on grants for South Dakota Tourism, see what help the state can be. 

Pour some concrete in the infield and a slab under the bleachers that are on a berm. 
 

South Dakota Farm land is probably pretty prime but cut some young farmer in.

Don't go nuts on concessions initially. Probably hard to manage a race track and restuarant/Bar that is open 3-4 months out of the year at first.

The key is build something special as far as a track that would draw and be of new interest. 

Off Road Speedway began racing in 2015, the year after Riviera Speedway in Norfolk closed. A lot of really good racing on the 1/3 mile bullring.

Technically, Jackson Motorplex is a new race track this year since it was rebuilt last fall.

I think folks would tolerate make shift concessions and bathrooms if the track and bleachers are good from the start. We know you can only do so much to start with.

Even though I may not know you, I 
care what most of you think!