How much $$ to build a drag strip?

[2QUIK6]

Anyone have any idea how much it would cost to build a simple 1/4 mile drag strip? at least concrete for the first 1/8 and asphault after that.
blacktop or asphault pits.. Not an NHRA event track.
Including costs for lights timers, etc..

Not taking into consideration the land purchase since the land alone would vary significantly in cost.

Also, anyone know how long the stopping distance should be after the 1/4 mile? I'm guessing a 1/2 mile to be safe.

 

[fitz3820]

Is this track in your backyard or something you will hold races with spectators etc? Or is it just for fun?

I would imagine that the cost of the asphalt and concrete is the least of your worries. Permits, zoning, insurance etc. will get you.

Maybe just buy a house with a long driveway...

 

[2QUIK6]

Public track...Insurance might be a kicker, but tracks make money or they would not be around. Since everyone signs a waiver I wonder how much the insurance would be...
I've found a great place that is centrally located in the middle of an industrial area and surrounded by railroad tracks, about a 1 mile stretch of land. Don't think zoning would be an issue, noise would definitely not be an issue..the nearest homes are over 1 or 2 miles away.

I think it would draw alot of people due to the location...the nearest track is about 40 miles from downtown FTW...the other closer track is about to be closed due to homes being built all around it..it already has to shut down at 9pm most days. This would be less than 5 miles from downtown.

Figure you're open 4 days/evenings a week....bring in avg of 600-800 paying people per week at $15 avg a pop....thats $624k a year revenue to start with and thats probably a low number.

 

[fitz3820]

You might be in luck - they have been trying for years to open a dragstrip in MA, CT and RI. It is too crowded here, people do not want a dragstrip near them. Probably different in your area.

Insurance will be expensive - liability for someone falling in the grandstands, eating a bad hot dog, getting run over in the pits etc. will cost $$$. See http://www.dragracingonline.com/deadon/iv_7a.html

Permits for selling food, bathrooms, fuel etc. will be needed. Grandstands, lights, maintenance equipment etc. will be needed.

Paying employees for admission, tech lines, start line, Public address, fuel shack, bathroom cleaner and the all important hot girl in the timeslip booth. Employees need salary, social security, unemployment, benefits etc.

Many racing events require a ambulance/EMT crew on site - more $$$.

Not trying to discourage you, just being real.

I remember my college professor putting holes in everyones business plans in "Small business management 101" quite sobering. My class project/idea of changing oil at a customers place of work was shot down due to insurance liability issues.

 

[Little6pack]

I would have to agree with fitz if you are talking about building one as a business.

If it is a personal use issue my guess you would want the flatest land possible & cheap. Maybe in the mid section of USA.

I also have seen portible strip equipment like they use to use at airstrips back in the early 60's.

Otherwise buy a home in the same town as a drag strip. Usually people that live in the same town get free entrance to all events. I know NEW ENGLAND DRAGWAY does this for the people who live in Epping NH

Or buy a house near a long flat highway & kik arse.

 

[2QUIK6]

You might be in luck - they have been trying for years to open a dragstrip in MA, CT and RI. It is too crowded here, people do not want a dragstrip near them. Probably different in your area.

Insurance will be expensive - liability for someone falling in the grandstands, eating a bad hot dog, getting run over in the pits etc. will cost $$$. See http://www.dragracingonline.com/deadon/iv_7a.html

Permits for selling food, bathrooms, fuel etc. will be needed. Grandstands, lights, maintenance equipment etc. will be needed.

Paying employees for admission, tech lines, start line, Public address, fuel shack, bathroom cleaner and the all important hot girl in the timeslip booth. Employees need salary, social security, unemployment, benefits etc.

Many racing events require a ambulance/EMT crew on site - more $$$.

Not trying to discourage you, just being real.

I remember my college professor putting holes in everyones business plans in "Small business management 101" quite sobering. My class project/idea of changing oil at a customers place of work was shot down due to insurance liability issues.

Well, people don't want a dragstrip in their neighborhood here either, but this place is over a mile from the closest homes and everything else is industrial businesses and shipping plants, or rail yards near it, and even a chemical factory or 2.
Thanks for the insurance link, yeah, that would be the kicker there, not to mention taxes on such a property in the middle of the city unless I left some cows or goats to wonder the land and claim it as agricultural which would be partially exempt I guess thats why all the track are way out in the middle of no where.

Having an EMT crew there each night costs about $100 hr total for 2, my wife works with abunch of EMTs.

Already thought about the lights/stands and stuff....As far as food, I'd let a catering company deal with that one, those folks with their own trailers that sell food at construction sites etc..

Already thought about employees to pay, but since it would not be a full time job, only open about 20-25 hours a week, no benefits to pay.
Also, Myself, wife and step daughter would work it so only a handful of others would be needed to operate it.

Already thought of bathrooms and stuff, no prob there, that stuff is cheap compared to the track cost and insurance....cinder blocks are cheap
A buddy of mine owns a performance shop and would relocate his business to the track so there would be an onsite garage and repair center for all those kids not doing their own work
Another buddy has a transmission shop and wants to get into performance parts sales...so there's another opportunity to have a Speed shop right there on site......Steel buildings are cheap one time cost compared to the track and insurance again.
Buy parts, have the shop put them on and test it right there at the track.
Maybe even build a large storage building with a few lifts in them to lease out monthly to folks needing a good work area for a small amount of time and needing a lift...like to build an exhaust system, etc...

Oh well, the insurance will be the killer....maybe easier to just open a topless bar instead If you haven't figured it out...I'm looking for a new career..I'm tired of mine owning a software consulting business..I already know about insurance/benefits/corporate insurance/taxes and all that crap..

 

[2QUIK6]

and the all important hot girl in the timeslip booth.

Well that's definitely different than here, they have the oldest, fattest, ugliest ones here that can only sit all day ...otherwise I'd be making a pass every chance I could just to pay a visit to the slip booth

 

[odell4o8]

owning a dragstrip

the best way in my opinion to own a dragstrip is to buy one that is allready up and running, good luck oc,

 

[sixgun86gn]

Rob I vote for the topless bar.Just let me be the talent scout,or at least invite me to the auditions! :biggrin:

 

[disco stu]

Just throwing this out there. Amarillo Dragway is being sold and the asking price is $550,000.

 

[2QUIK6]

Thank for that info stu, a buddy told me he thought the 2 local 1/8 miles tracks here sold for around $1M, I don't think one could be built where I'm thinking for less than that for sure...especially $550k, cause real estate is getting rather expensive around here...but with the closest track on the verge of closing, your options in FTW are go to Denton which is 40 miles and is 1/8 mile, go to Ennis which is 1/4 mile but is 75 miles away...
FTW needs a track thats close cause the people will definitely come.

No prob Patrick....me and some friends and my wife have talked about doing that for a long time..a friend of mine that's known by the local mob says it would not be a good idea since most of the ones in FTW are owned by only 2 different people and they control the liquor sales to all bars...ain't that the pits...but it could be BYOB and you know what that means in TX we'd have more than just hooters to audition

 

[ijames]

Back in 1981 a friend who worked as an estimator for an asphalt company told me that a two lane road was about $1,000,000 per mile including grading, bed, and asphalt. I think 1/2 mile of shutdown is the minimum for 1/4 miles cars running say 120 mph, and if you want to run 200+ mph cars you will need at least 3/4 mile. Call a local road construction company and ask them, but I bet you will have well over $3,000,000 (probably closer to $5,000,000) by the time you include staging lanes, return road, pits, spectator parking, and entrance road. You should be able to get track specs from the NHRA with a phone call, and maybe even some rough price estimates. Then you have all the wiring, fencing, control tower, concession stands, timing equipment, tree, scoreboards, track prep equipment, firefighting equipment (I'll never forget one night at Capitol Raceway when a car wrecked near the finish line and burst into flames - the announcer came on and asked that anyone with a fire extinquisher please go to the finish line! Hello? I thought that's part of what we were paying for to race there? I think they finally got their fire truck to the scene but then the car was fully engulfed and they just watched it burn to the ground. Thank goodness the driver got out as soon as he stopped, with no major injuries or burns.), scales if you want them, and whatever else you need in the way of hardware, and then the payroll for your staff. Good luck, but it ain't going to be cheap!

 

[ajt86]

1 or 2 miles is nothing- there are people who live 5 miles or more from atco and they bitch about sound

 

[tjthorson]

Couple of things I can input. One of the tracks around here is buddy buddy with the cops. The police bring out some car they siezed in a drug raid and painted to look like a squad car to race against other local kids. Keeps the kids and the racing off the street (somewhat) while the kids get to race the police.... legally....

My point is, a good selling point to the community is to use your track to help discourage street racing.....

I remember my college professor putting holes in everyones business plans in "Small business management 101" quite sobering. My class project/idea of changing oil at a customers place of work was shot down due to insurance liability issues.

Its one thing to have constructive criticism to your students.... But I take issue with these "instructors" killing peoples dreams because they are on some power trip because they had to go become a teacher because they couldn't make it in the real world.

For his information, those "oil change at work" places is a booming franchise that is VERY popular. I remember the guy that came to our office building was having to come once a week because of the backup. You just parked in the lot near his oil changing trailer, give him the keys and go to work. Pick up the keys on your way out....

http://www.oilbutlerinternational.com/low_cost_franchise_business_d.html

 

[2QUIK6]

Yeah Todd, I was thining it would mostly be for the street racers, this area I found is right in the thick of where all the street racing takes place on the north side of town.

As of the mobil oil change business..I meant to comment on that earlier, about 5 years ago when me and my business partner were laid off work before we started our current computer software consulting business we thought about doing just that..but the thought of working on the concrete all day in the summer wasn't that appealing..anyway, we investigated the Oil Butler thing but they wanted too much in franchise fees, so we were going to do it on our own...with out hardly trying we had the entire fleet of Lenox repair trucks we could have done, my wife's hospital she works at loved the idea as well as the hospital across the street from her, and also the school district going to each school doing the teachers cars... We could have been kept very busy very easily.

When you go into a business, you have to set yourself apart from the crowd. With the oil thing, price it very competitively at first, as business grows, increase the price...price about $5 over what the Jiffy Lube do because now, are you going to go to Jiffy lube and have to wait not to mention driving there to save $5 or are you going to just drop your keys off at the front desk at work and it cost you nothing in personal time?

 

[Pronto]

What about an old airstrip? Maybe you could buy one and convert it.

 

[Red Regal T]

Don't worry. They'll be discouraging street racing in your neck of the woods any time now. The law, impounding the car permanently, arresting you, and fining the racers thousands of dollars will certainly discourage street racing. It did in Florida. And that's without worrying about building a dragstrip.

 

[2QUIK6]

Yeah, they have pretty much shut down all the street racing in Dallas, now all the Dallas racers come to Ft. Worth..was just abig write up in the local paper Friday about it..Ft. Worth PD says is not a big issue but if people start getting killed they will assign more officers to control it... Just down down to the north side of town around midnight on Sat and there will be a few hundred street racers in the area parking lots. Most races only last a few minutes and are in a different location, so its hard for the cops to keep up.

But, thats the main reason for having a drag strip, so the more pressure the street racers get and the more publicity, the better for the drag strip..if there was one close Not sure how it is in FL, but here there's plenty of wide open land but there's also plenty of wide open flat roads for the street racers too.

 

[UNGN]

Bruton Smith is still thinking about buying the NHRA... which could mean a 1/4 mile track at TMS. Something to consider if you are thinking about a track in Ft Worth.

Bruton has pretty deep pockets.

 

[2QUIK6]

Bruton Smith is still thinking about buying the NHRA... which could mean a 1/4 mile track at TMS. Something to consider if you are thinking about a track in Ft Worth.

Bruton has pretty deep pockets.

He's been talking about doing that for some time, but Ennis has a contract with the NHRA that any NHRA National event will be at Ennis until 2012.
Unless Burton is going to buy that contract from Billy.

I've given up the thought of doing this anyway...too much overhead. It seems that most tracks do not even carry insurance because of the extreme cost....maybe that's why they go up for sale so often.....someone gets hurts and files a lawsuite..the track closes/files bankrupcy and sells.