| Author | Message | ||
     Court |
Racing . . . even for a small effort . . . can get REALLY expensive . . . REALLY fast once you get past "Privateer" status. Folks tend to mentally budget for things like tires, fuel and fees and forget the cost of airfare, the fact that nearly every moment of everyone's time while in the air, Saturday and Sunday is overtime and how the meals and rental cars add up. Very easy, if you were going to do the entire AMA season on a "tight budget" to work your way through $1,000,000 in the blink of an eye. | ||
| Davegess |
Yeah, Court racing has gotten unbelievably expensive. People will spend all the money they can get their hands so you can't compete with them unless you get at least as much money. Racing is sorta like a junkie; everything goes to the drug until he drug kills you or you give it up. The more money you have the more addicted you can become. It has always been such at the top levels. | ||
| Slaughter |
The problem with expenses is that many privateers do NOT set aside enough money. JUST MEDICAL INSURANCE which will PROPERLY cover every contingency is more than $1200 per month. Add to that $1500 in entries, tires. Add another $300 in "crash contingency" another $300 in expected wear-and-tear, add another couple hundred in misc expenses and that's what the lowest level privateer has to pay (that'd be me). If you don't have a spare $2500 to $3000 a month, you shouldn't be racing - even at the Club level unless you are willing to stop the first time something happens. Figure in your own time at minimum wage and the bill gets enormous. It's HUGELY cheaper for me than most racers since I ONLY now race at Willow Springs - a 20 minute drive from home... so my travel and overnight and food expenses are zero. I've already had a quarter-million dollar race weekend with a major wad-up, 6 months out of work plus expenses... but all was covered by long term disability and medical insurance. I get a little tired of people getting hurt and then begging for relief. While I sympathize, if you CAN'T afford the expenses, don't take the chances. I mostly do my own wrenching but even the help I get for "free" from Antelope Valley is probably worth another couple hundred bucks a month and that doesn't count an hour or so here and there on the dyno. I know there are people who THINK they're racing cheaper - but they're cutting corners too far - or they're in denial about the actual costs. If you're talking a TEAM racing at the AMA Pro level, then we are probably going from my measly $2500-$3000 a month to $25,000-$35,000 or more. | ||
| Davegess |
You are spot on Slaughter. The insurance is huge. Many folks have some through work and the fine print says they don't cover injuries from racing activities. I bet over half of all privateers running do not have any sort of decent coverage; heck a lot of low level pros don't. The emergency room staff near Blackhawk Farms used to be pretty willing to enter "fell off ladder" or "fell down stairs" as the cause of the broken leg the guy in leathers came in with. The insurance companies are wish to that now I think. | ||
| Slaughter |
I carry supplemental insurance on BOTH my racing AND Scuba Diving. Both are common exclusions. Long Term Disability insurance is MANDATORY. Crashing sucks. First time Erik Buell came to Willow to announce the Buell contingency, I was in a wheelchair. | ||
| Court |
Insurance fraud is scary stuff in that . . . get caught and you are not only guilty of a crime but you'll play hell ever getting insurance. I marvel at some of the "how little do you pay for insurance" discussions simply because some of the folks, declaring themselves the "winners" are doing some seriously dangerous stuff. I pay a boat load (for me, these days, it works out to about $100 per ride) for insurance but I have max coverage and limits on everything and an umbrella policy over the entire thing. Like Steve said . . I'd damn sure hate to toss a bike in a ditch and find out I am out of work AND income for 8 or 10 months. I sometimes wonder how may folks, at track days, have checked their policies and played some "what if?" games. | ||
| Paint_shaker |
If I never did anything because it was dangerous or I didn't have the insurance to cover it, I'd never do anything.... My regular insurance covered most of my crash last year, I only roll with about $100 extra on any given race weekend, I bring a spare belt (new for this year, didn't have one all last season), a lever and maybe a foot peg, my average race weekend runs between $700 and $1000. I won 2 championships last year, but apparently I shouldn't be racing... Looks like I didn't get the memo... Besides, my profession is much more dangerous... (Message edited by Paint_shaker on June 23, 2010) | ||
| Firstbuell |
our [former] man Jazza in UK series - http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?artic le=40926 | ||
| Firstbuell |
mo' Danny http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?artic le=41013 | ||
| Firstbuell |
mo' Jazza [scrool down to 3rd press release] apparently, Canuck & former Deeley's Bueller Darren James is Jazza's teammate http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?artic le=41018 (Message edited by firstbuell on June 30, 2010) | ||
| 186bigtwin |
I saw another video on YouTube where Eslick wheelies away from most of the pack on a race start......Looked good...... | ||
| Trojan |
apparently, Canuck & former Deeley's Bueller Darren James is Jazza's teammate Still current Buell racer I think. He is dividing his time between racing a Buell & Xr1200 in Canada & USA and the XR1200 in the UK series, so he'll be clocking up some air miles this year  | ||
| Firstbuell |
looks like Jake Holden had the measure of Danny @ RA - til he goofed up, anyway great XR1200 race tape! http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?artic le=41124 (Message edited by firstbuell on July 11, 2010) | ||
| 186bigtwin |
Regardless if you like the bikes or the series, it was a good race. AND the video was one of the best (picture and sound wise) I've seen on this site. Vance and Hines must have had pros shooting this film....... | ||
| Court |
Great video . . . that brought back some great memories of racing Sportsters. Those guys REALLY ride well. | ||
| Jens |
I love that Briggs & Stratton Logo! | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Love the way they back the big toads into the corners at about 1:12 and 1:39. | ||
| 186bigtwin |
Yeah, the leaders were riding the shit out of em........... | ||
| Firstbuell |
who's gonna be on RMR's 'guest' machine[s] at the next round? for that matter, are any RMR rental XR1200s being raced? | ||
| 186bigtwin |
Where are the next XR1200 races ?? | ||
| Svh |
Mid ohio is the next one | ||
| Firstbuell |
big news !! http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?artic le=42032 | ||
| Knickers |
That could make for an epic battle between Jeremy and Danny. Too bad its not televised. | ||
| Maru |
ANYBODY KNOW WHY THE GEICO BIKES WERE FOUND TO BE ILLEGAL AT NJ? | ||
| Trojan |
ANYBODY KNOW WHY THE GEICO BIKES WERE FOUND TO BE ILLEGAL AT NJ? I hear it is something to do with engine mapping irregularities but no details. Whatever it is they should be banned for the rest of the season, not just stripped of one round points/prizes. Spec class racing is underpinned by everyone abiding to the letter of the rules and as soon as one team cheats it ruins the whole premises of the class. Unless the punishment is seen to be severe enough to finish your season then there is little point in policing it. There is also some doubt as to whether Jeremy McWilliams will be fit to race in the final US round after he was injured during a track day in Spain. Last weekend at Goodwood he spent his time 'off bike' hobbling around on crutches with broken ribs and some leg injury, but still managed to race well in the classic races there. | ||
| Imonabuss |
Spec class racing is where the worst cheating always happens. It was huge in the old AMA roadrace series with Sportsters. I agree they should be banned for the rest of the season, to make a really serious statement for that class. Now that would shake things up and make the outcome of the series more interesting! | ||
| Court |
Really . . to not ban them is tantamount to complicity on the part of the governing body. Many folks will be watching . . their credibility is on the line. | ||
| Davegess |
There is a certain amount of the old NASCAR attitude. and this predates DMG by a good bit, that cheating is expected and it's not really cheatin' if you don't get caught. The old 883 class was so far from stock it was funny. there is a rumor that one rider had a 5 speed in the gear box for a couple races! | ||
| Maru |
I hear Jeremy Mc Williams crashed and broke some ribs. Does anyone know if he was still planning on racing in the US this weekend? | ||
| Doerman |
Jezza just won at Barber. So he must be ok. He's a tough fella. I bet his past 20 years has been spent in perpetual recovery from one injury or another. |
