New-tulare super drag strip development-portions for sale (1 Viewer)

[Silly Savage]

Yep, people are making a fortune on the sportsman racer these days. Tracks blossoming up everywhere, and the existing tracks investing all those profits in making huge improvements.

Fine, someone put a tickler in their calendar, and let's revisit this thread every August 1st. If this facility actually exists and is still operating in five years, I'll gladly eat my words.

Who the f*ck said "making a fortune"....who keeps companies like Edlebrock, Jesel, Enderle, Hilborn, BDS, Diest, Crow, Simpson, Impact, Spitzer, Suncoast, Jegs, Summit, Dart, Brodix, Mallory, Holley, etc, etc, etc in business....sportsman racers. And the tracks that are around are being keep alive by sportsman and import racers....look at that heap 'o crap in your avatar....You run nothing but high dollar brackets and national events?

 

[clwill]

Who the f*ck said "making a fortune"....who keeps companies like Edlebrock, Jesel, Enderle, Hilborn, BDS, Diest, Crow, Simpson, Impact, Spitzer, Suncoast, Jegs, Summit, Dart, Brodix, Mallory, Holley, etc, etc, etc in business....sportsman racers.

Did drag racing remove everyone's sarcasm bone?

Impact's, just doing great now, aren't they? Edlebrock is selling out to Germans. And the rest are struggling. No one is making much of a living on drag racing these days.

Never been to a "high dollar bracket race" (there's an oxymoron if there ever was one). Race one national a year. But race that "heap o'crap" (currently in the top 10 in the division) all over the place, and none of those track operators would tell you they are "doing fine".

 

[Silly Savage]

Did drag racing remove everyone's sarcasm bone?

Impact's, just doing great now, aren't they? Edlebrock is selling out to Germans. And the rest are struggling. No one is making much of a living on drag racing these days.

Never been to a "high dollar bracket race" (there's an oxymoron if there ever was one). Race one national a year. But race that "heap o'crap" (currently in the top 10 in the division) all over the place, and none of those track operators would tell you they are "doing fine".

Then they need to find away to make more money...it's a business. If they aren't making money, then they are either in the wrong business or not running it effeciently....

 

[Jon Asher]

I lived and worked in California for 25 years so know the state fairly well. I also know the mindset of Southern Californians in particular when it comes to driving long distances, and it isn't good. When you spend your work week in Freeway traffic it has to be something extra special to get you back in the car for a long drive on a weekend. An hour-plus one way drive is, for a working person, a long ride to contemplate on a Sunday evening, heading home.

I'm not saying this facility is doomed to failure, but I don't like the odds.

Regarding the NFL situation, I've read these stories before. Heck, I remember when Al Davis slicked the city of Irwindale into giving him $10 million because he was going to build a football stadium in the old quarry! When that happened I couldn't find a single individual who actually thought it would happen. Only the Irwindale city fathers were naive enough to believe Davis's promises. The LA Times and other area media outlets were laughing outright about how Davis suckered Irwindale.

I apologize about my error regarding our members. Gee, I thought we WERE the arbiters of everything drag racing! How foolish of me!

I have great respect for competitors who put their cars on display whenever possible to enhance drag racing's image and reach. Getting racers to participate in a new venue will be far easier than getting fans out there to pay to see them run.

Maybe someone should ask a racer living in Tulare how long it takes to get from there down to Pomona, or somewhere else in the LA basin. Their input would probably settle some questions regarding the issue.

Jon Asher
Senior Editor
CompetitionPlus.com

 

[Jon Asher]

I apologize for back-to-back posts.

Remember the HD Partners fiasco? Why did that potential purchase of NHRA fail? Forget the spin NHRA put on it, it failed because the people who put the money into escrow for the potential purchase began to realize that they were looking at a 20 to 30 year return on their investment, not the 3 to 5 years most major investors seek.

Anyone hoping for a windfall from an investment in a motorsports facility is fooling themselves.

What do you think it costs to build a first class drag strip with all the amenities? Don't even bother answering. It's a helluva lot more than we realize. A successful business is one thing. Wringing a real profit out of a multi-million dollar investment is quite another. Anyone old enough to have the kind of serious money it takes to make an investment like this isn't going to be a 20-something and is unlikely to be a 30-something. It's more likely the big time investor is a 50- or 60-something. Is that person willing or able to wait 20 years or more to make a big profit? I don't think so.

But then again, what do I know? I figure if I have $50 I'm flush, Baby. Just rollin' in money!

Jon Asher
Senior Editor
CompetitionPlus.com

 

[Baron]

Dear Ms. Green:

No bet!

This sounds like a scam, or if not, these people are seeking investors in the wrong place, because I think if all of the members here pooled their money we probably wouldn't net more than, oh, maybe $50,000!

The prospectus reads like the HD Partners fiasco...

But I think I do know how you can find out if this is legit: Ask NHRA if they've ever even heard of this project. Then contact NASCAR and IndyCar. Their responses alone will tell you if this is something you should be investing in.

One more thing. Why did Ontario Motor Speedway fail? Why has, for all intents and purposes, Pikes Peak International Raceway failed?

Because in both instances excellent race tracks were foolishly built too far from the suburban areas necessary to support the track. Remember that Fontana is only about 10 miles from the old Ontario location, yet it's succeeding where OMS failed. Why? Because of all the bedroom communities that have mushroomed throughout the area. When Ontario was built it was largely empty land out there, and people from the Valley wouldn't make the trip (please do not write back about how you went to every race. YOU weren't the problem. It was the thousands of others who didn't go out who caused it to fail.)

Pikes Peak is too far from Denver and too far from Colorado Springs. Yeah, we all know that it isn't, but people just don't seem willing to make those drives.

Despite what this prospectus says about massive population nearby, it's not going to work, and that's why these people are trying to find someone else to bail them out of their lousy initial investment.

Jon Asher
Senior Editor
CompetitionPlus.com

Sorry Jon, I don't agree. Pikes Peak is located in the most populous county in Colorado. El Paso County has more than 600,00 people - more than 120,00 of whom live right across the street in the southern suburbs of Colorado Springs. Pueblo is about 30 miles south with another 150,000. Denver is not the center of the state.
PPIR failed because it was not promoted well. We all have to understand that "sports journalists" are just failed athletes, former athletes, or wannabe's. If it's not a game, they don't cover it. We have to do it ourselves.
Promotion requires real effort. I can remember when such efforts were made - bringing Indy cars to downtown Denver, for example. Those efforts produced results.
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb still goes on - I've been going since the early 60's. The Hill Climb is definitely an acquired taste and the attendance wouldn't support an Indy race; but they make it work.
We share some of the blame for the demise of these tracks. I say that because we don't insist that the "regular" media cover our sport. You know that tracks don't prosper in a vacuum.
Keep up what you're doing. In the meantime, I'll continue to rail against the media establishment - to their editors.
Cheers,
Ed Arcuri

 

[HEMI6point1]

Impact's, just doing great now, aren't they? Edlebrock is selling out to Germans. And the rest are struggling. No one is making much of a living on drag racing these days.

Edlebrock is selling the company to someone in Germany? That is crap!

Where did you hear this?

 

[glofria]

just a few more comments and then I'm going to drop this subject.

John I remember that Al Davis story too. Seems to me he when there, took one look at the property, collected a check and got back in the car and left. Can you imagine the sigh of relief the folks of Bradbury gave.

Getting government officials to agree with plans you have you'll to oversell them on the idea with plans of grandure. And to be honest, I'm not sure what the construction plans are, so I shouldn't make bets. The dragstrip might be the last thing in their plans.

Steve Faria is out of Tulare, maybe someone should call him to get his perspective. The guy I was with this past weekend had his doubts, but he believes now.

Chistopher, Sorry I can't read sarcasm over the internet. I agree we'll wait to see how it goes. BTW, I'm hearing the same rumors about Edelbrock too. Gotta go by their later this week, I'll see if I can get some answers.

 

[Cymon Sez]

Edlebrock is selling the company to someone in Germany? That is crap!

Where did you hear this?

Not trying to hi-jack but read this.

Investment in Edelbrock by Industrial Opportunity Partners

Post #185

 

[Jon Asher]

Ed, I'm not arguing your population numbers of locations because you are largely correct about that. I also won't dispute that some major promotions were undertaken by the track. You might not know it, but a former NHRA executive handled the track for some time and is very promotionally oriented. It didn't matter. For whatever reason, people didn't come out, and in short order the Indy Car people bailed, followed almost immediately by NASCAR after (I believe) one Truck and Nationwide Series race. If memory serves me there was only one IndyCar race, too.

The point is that despite what appeared to be good promotional efforts, people did not come out.

Denver may not be the center of the state but it's certainly the largest population center, and those folks would not drive south on I-15 to the track. Part of their reasoning was undoubtedly the almost constant construction projects that often make the I-25 corridor from Pueblo to Denver a nightmare.

Pueblo was and continues to be an economically depressed area, with most of its industrial plants closed. People out of work aren't buying race tickets.

Jon Asher

 

[rocketman]

Jon has a point. LA county Raceway out in Palmdale never drew giant numbers and that was about what 45 min to an hour from the heart of LA?

We have had sharpies come in here to Oregon wanting to build a super NASCAR track in the middle of a less populated eastern Oregon town called Boardman. It was 2 hours from Portland but right on the freeway and it never got off the ground.

 

[clwill]

We have had sharpies come in here to Oregon wanting to build a super NASCAR track in the middle of a less populated eastern Oregon town called Boardman. It was 2 hours from Portland but right on the freeway and it never got off the ground.

Same "sharpies" were up here north of Seattle trying to build it just east of Bellingham (~90 mins north of Seattle), wanting a range of tax breaks and infrastructure improvements. After a whole bunch of publicity, it too fizzled.

 

[glofria]

Jon has a point. LA county Raceway out in Palmdale never drew giant numbers and that was about what 45 min to an hour from the heart of LA?

Bernie said he would do realy well on Import Dayz. Said he couldn't understand why he would get thousands of kids sitting in the stands in 90 degree sun all day long to watch 10 sec. rice rockets, but could only get a few hundred for his Fox Hunt.

I had mentioned before about going out to the public in an effort to keep drag racing in the minds of the casual fans and introduce it to new fans ( I don't like that name "fans"). Here is an example of what I speak of; 2010 Bixby Knolls Dragster Show It was the Lions Reunion at the Bixby-Knolls part of Long Beach benefiting the Special Olympics.

Next up will be in Burbank, CA for the Shriner's Childerns Hospital on Aug. 28 if anyone is in the area. Come out and make a difference in someone elses life. If you have a car, bring it out for $20 and a day out of your life. It aint racing, but you may be suprised how much enjoyment you'll have.

Can't make it, well there are others coming down the road Wounded Worriors in Long Beach, Cruzin for a Cure, in Orange, Cruzin 4 Life, in Santa Maria just to nam a few off the top of my head.

 

[Nick Name]

Drag racing may have been a passing fad that took 60 years to pass, at least in So. Cal.

They have street legal drag racing up here at Willow Springs ( will be running Friday nite ) and don't get as many cars as the drifters do.

 

[Cymon Sez]

Drag racing may have been a passing fad that took 60 years to pass, at least in So. Cal.

They have street legal drag racing up here at Willow Springs ( will be running Friday nite ) and don't get as many cars as the drifters do.

I dont know about that we have two tracks still and every thursday night one of them has the staging lanes full......oh and a new track record 3.80 @ 207

I think the other might get a little more use if it were open more often. I am not a big fan of 1/8th mile unless the cars are slow in which case they get off the track quicker for the big boys.

 

[rocketman]

We are doing an event similar to that called the night of fire on Sept. 3 in Oregon. Go to capracing.com home page for info

 

[The Little Lizard]

This Fresno Bee, August 23, 2010 article updates the status of efforts to sell portions of the Tulare Motorsports complex, and development of the facility, at the weblink provided below:

Land slated for Tulare track up for sale - Local - fresnobee.com


********UPDATE 12/10/11 THE ABOVE FRESNO BEE NEWSPAPER LINK NO LONGER HAS THE ARTICLE CONTENT ON IT. IF ONE DESIRES THEY CAN FIND THAT INFORMATION IN THE FRESNO BEE ARCHIEVES******************

 

[DragFan2]

Looks like things are progressing slowly or not at all. The article stated that the original deal for the land expired in January 2010 and has not been renewed, but the deal is still out there and for the same price. Kinda hard to entice racing type businesses (what they want) to build if the track or tracks have not been built yet.

 

[glofria]

Anybody who has tried to develop part of their own land knows what it takes when it comes dealing with the city, the county, the state, and so on. These things take time, sometimes it seems like forever. But when its done, the communities will support them.

Keep in mind that this is not the only project being developed as reported by DRO yesterday. Anyone who wants to know more about Santa Maria can find out Saturday (Aug.28) at the Burbank Masonic Lodge Car Show as one of the members of it's LLP (Art Foster) will be there displaying the Santa Maria High School NE1 dragster. Otherwise, come out and support the good cause.

I thank you in advance.