I would like to ask you a question about racing and money. With all the questions now being asked about admission prices pit passes pay down in the features. tire rules and on and on.......................
I was at a Navy base in Maryland and went to a track called Potomac Speedway in Budds Creek. And there was a driver that won alot of races at that track. His name was Ronnie McBee after a year that he won just about every Friday night and won the track championship.The following year he only showed up about once a month and won of course. One night after the races I got a chance to talk to him, we sit down and talked for a couple of minutes and I ask him why he did not race there every Friday like he did in the past and win the $500 to win purse a easy task for him at that that time....he looked at me and said you know this whole thing is really not about money......... and then he got up and left. Ronnie McBee died in a very freakish non racing related accident. My question to Mr. Briscoe is this what the heck was he talking about, money seams to be the only thing everybody talks about now days. I know you have drivren for alot of years and trust your opinion.

Richard Murray

[pgray]

( This is the problem when you post a thread addressed exclusively to one reader ... he doesn't show up to answer , everyone else reads the post but will feel they cannot intrude on your private post ... maybe not a great idea , huh ? )

I'm responding for this reason ... The track that you speak of , Potomac Speedway in Budds Creek , Maryland , I raced at in the early 70's ( 70-71-72 ) , and I can recall Ronnie Mc Bee and others there in '78 - '79 and , as you said , winning on a regular basis. You were obviously there at the Naval Air Test Center , Lexington Park , better known as " Pax River " , right ?

I can remember Ronnie still racing in the '80's and I'm sure that when you didn't see him at Potomac , he was racing at Hagerstown or Selinsgrove ... he was branching out in the latter years. To this day there is still a Memorial Race in Ronnie's honor at a couple of tracks in Maryland.

I do not recall the circumstances of his death or what year it happened ? Please offer what you can recall ... I remember Ronnie very well while living and racing in Maryland for many years. Your post brings back some pretty neat memories of some "southern maryland good 'ol boys".

Paul Gray

Thank you for your response. Yes ! I was at the Navy Test Pilot School at Patuxent River....You know.... you are right I am very wrong in addressing this post to only Kevin Briscoe, Ronnie McBee's memory should be shared to all.But I know Mr. Briscoe is very out spoken about money and racing and stuff like that I just wanted to know if he had fun racing was it always about money and and if he got passed or passed somebody was he thinking that is another + or- 50 bucks just asking...... When Ronnie McBee told me it was not about the money I thought he was crazy and I did not understand what he was saying. I drove a race car only one time so I don't know what a driver... feels about things like this I did die in a plane crash once.... but I am sure all people have different thoughts about things like this. Ronnie McBee was electrocuted while at his job working on power lines... what year I am not sure early 80's....Sorry to Kevin Briscoe.. I did not mean to put you on the spot like this I just thought you might be the best person to answer this question on this message board.



Richard Murray

[sprint79]

Have you stopped to consider, that Kevin hasn't shown up to reply due to the fact he is camping at The Burg, racing in fun fest, with no computer? Don't intend to sound so short, but I respect Kevin among others very much and had to say something.:briscoe:

The reason why Kevin has not responded to this yet...He has been at FunFest in Lawrenceburg all weekend.

YES.... after I posted this I thought about that. I did not know if he would be staying all 3 days.......sorry.

[riskybrisky5]

FOR4 you are right from a drivers perspective it is not about the money. Most of us would race for peanuts. We as drivers are there just to compete and win. Drivers race just as hard for the 500 at Paragon as we did for the 10,000 at Lawrenceburg it is just our nature. For some it is about winning others just the pure excitement of steering it around the race track. But unfortunatly it takes money to own and operate a sprint car so at some point it becomes about the money. That is why there are so many different forms of racing from bombers to NASCAR, budget determines where you will race. But you know what there may be a NASCAR champion in the bomber race but just cant afford to go to the next step. That is why I respect every class and every driver just because they are not in a sprint car doesnt mean they cant drive it just means they cant afford it. I learned from my school that there are a alot of good drivers that dont get to race anything. They were fans that had $395.00 but couldnt afford a car. Sorry but I got off the subject. I will give you an example from our team and why from a team aspect not the drivers it has to be about the money.

Racing gets more expensive every year. Not only the racing but the travel to get there goes up every year. Not all teams are blessed with big sponsors so it comes out of there hard earned money every week. Into todays world every dime is hard to come by. This is not a complaint just stating the facts from my team, because I have been blessed to do this for 21 years when some do not even get the chance to race. But sprint car racing has become so expensive that it is tough for us to make it. That is why if things do not change in purse or expense the blue collar racer will be out of sprint cars and relegated to another form of racing. Here is a comparison between 1986 my rookie year to 2007. I know Lawrenceburg was paying around 1500 to win and bloomington at some point paid 1500 weekly but not positive in 1986, but pretty sure they did. Dont know exact start money but I think 150. I am going to use a 20 race schedule.

1986
$9,000.00 new motor
$6,000.00 new rolling chassis
-----------
=$15000.00

Per night expenses and I am missing somethings I know.
$75.00 for engine rebuild that cost around $1500.00 at that time
$50.00 per night for RR tire at $100.00 figureing new tire every 2 nights
$10.00 per night for LR tire only using 2 tires in 20 races.
$45.00 for pit passes at $15.00 dollars each for 3 people for my team
$20.00 per night for fuel for car at $1.00 per gallon for 20 gallons
$20.00 per night for fuel for truck at $1.00 per gallon for 20 gallons
$50.00 per night in wear and tear and replacement parts oil filter so on
--------
=$270.00 per night times 20 = 5400.00 add the $15000.00 for the car and motor and you have $20,400.00 spent not counting crashes or blow ups. So you had to avererage bringing in 1,000.00 per night to break even.



Side note shocks were $60.00 a piece then and now $120.00 to $700.00.
Numerous other things are up also


2007 Around the same to win at 1400.00 at Lawrenceburg and 1300.00 to win at Bloomington $200.00 to start


$35,000.00 for a new motor
$15,000.00 for a new roller
-----------
$50,000.00

$250.00 per night for engine rebuild at $5,000.00
$92.00 per night for RR tire at $185.00 new tire every 2 nights
$15.00 per night for LR tire at $150.00 using 2 tires in 20 races
$75.00 for pit passes at $25.00 a piece
$55.00 per night for methanol at $2.75 per gallon for 20 gallons
$55.00 per night for fuel to get to the track at 20 gallons
$100.00 per night in wear and tear and replacement parts
---------
$642.00


$642.00 per night times 20 races = $12,840.00 add $50,000.00 for the car and motor and you have 62,840.00 spent not counting crashes or blown motors. So you had to average bringing in around $3,000.00 dollars per night to break even.

Not one person is getting rich off of Sprint car racing. From the promoters to the racers we are all struggling to get by. We live in a tough economy. That is why I have said we have to find a way to either cut costs or find a way to pay more money from 3rd on back. Blue collar racers cannot survive very long with the costs. If we do not watch what we are doing there will be know more blue collar racers. If we continue on there will only be high dollar teams with the big sponsors and no little guy. To me that stinks that is what makes this sport exciting seeing the little guys try and take down golliath. This isonly my opinion and I may be way off. But if we continue to go in the path that we are before long the names like Anderson, Christian, Charmiceal, Cone, Cummins, Spencer, Shuman, Smiths, Gaines and so on and so on will be done. You will only have the big teams left and they only hire young driver devolpement drivers. If it were not for the teams of Pace, Truckers, and Eddison what are the veterans without money going to do. They are about the only traveling teams left that hire drivers. I may be tottally wrong in 10 years the sport could be as strong as ever. But in my humble opinion is if things do not change we are not looking at a bright future.

Kevin...

I agree 100%...but is there any kind of answere out there?? When the 360 deal started they all said this is the answere. Cheap engines,you won't use as many tires and you won't have to rebuild the engine as often. Well we all know that deal has gone over the edge financially. Shocks, well they are completely stupid (as far as the price goes). Heck the car is the cheapest item to buy. The tire deal didn't really change the cost of weekend racing as much as advertised. The purses as you stated havn't changed in 20 years and I know that in this day and age it can be tough for a race track owner to make serious money each week but that being said I still think they (PROMOTERS) could be doing more to help the situation by PROMOTING instead of just trusting their fate to chance in the hopes that they will have success just because the doors are open. I mean the promoting thing works!! All you have to do is go to B'town,Tri-State or L'burge to confirm it. As far as cutting the cost so that the blue collar worker can afford to race I'm not to sure that it's not already to late. The fans already pay enough so you can't dig into them for more cash and the racers are paying way to much per week so what do we do. Where do we cut first?? Engines are the most expensive part but what do we do to make the changes necessary to lower the cost that hasn't already been tried?? I am all for a BIG change to lower the cost or you're right there be nothing but big money teams racing. Something needs to be done thats for sure but what??

[wbr]

Fantastic post Kevin.:respect:

I am fairly new to being a car owner, I have been around racing most of my life though. I really don't have any answers, just some thought provoking questions.
You mentioned if things don't change, the future doesn't look so bright for sprint car racing as we know it. Could the swing towards drivers buying rides and high costs of racing just be an economic "cycle" so to speak? 20 years from now will it be like it was in the 80's? I hope we don't have to wait that long to see things turn around, but as I said before- I don't have the answer to saving sprint car racing as we know it. Perhaps through the winter someone will read this thread and help us all out with the answer.

[flipalong]

AMEN Kevin I completely agree that the cost is out of control

A couple of my ideas include

1. the DT3 you run the heat (or qualify) is the one you run the feature on. Keeps big money teams from strapping new ones on all night.

2. Hand us our shocks when we sign the car in. Then it will be guarenteed we all are running equal shocks. Nobody can out shock race you.

Nick Johnson