What to race?
I think my racing career is at a crossroads.
I want to move on to a pro series; something with more exposure, prize money, etc. SCCA Pro Racing has just announced the end of the Pro Spec Racer series; and in any case, I think it’s time to move on. The problem is, I can’t find any great options…
2004 Pro Formula Mazda - an excellent new car next year, and from what I can tell, this is a well-run series. Heavy commitment from Mazda, a television contract, and races within the U.S. Sounds great, right? A few problems…one, there are very few cars still available in the planned production run. Delivery won’t be until the end of the year at the earliest, but they need deposits immediately. Second, the cars are pretty expensive - about $70,000 (ouch). Third, no payout until the end of the season. Total cost to run a season, not including car - probably in the $100,000 range, plus crash damage.
Fran-Am 2000 North American Pro Championship - A relatively new series, excellent cars from a technical perspective, and pretty significant payouts. And if I could pick the races I wanted to run at in North America, they’ve got them - 5 weekends with CART, and 1 or 2 with Formula 1. Wow, how cool is that? Payout - $28,500 purse per-race, year-end payout involves paid rides in the Formula Renault V6 Euro-cup. TV contract, but tape-delayed to November/December timeframe. And there’s actually a car in California for sale right now. Downsides - car is also pretty expensive, around $50,000. And many races in Canada, which are a really long tow from Denver, which translates to either a lot of time or a lot of money. Total cost to run a season - probably around $120,000, plus crash damage.
Formula SCCA - a new car, new class, new series. Relatively inexpensive, with the car selling new for under $30,000. Downsides are many, however. First, lousy payouts. $800 for finishing first in a pro event? Come on, that doesn’t even cover a set of tires and entry fee. Second, sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing - the same crew who just cancelled the Pro Spec Racer series without notice, and who seem to have a less than stellar repuation for securing series sponsorship. Will the series last? I hope so, but who knows. Third, the cars aren’t ready yet, because of technical problems. This whole thing strikes me as not well planned, but maybe they’ll surprise me. Total season cost - $50,000 range, plus damage.
We’re working on putting together a sponsorship package right now, and I think we have a pretty good case to make. However, for the first two series I mentioned, I would need sponsorship to run them. And to do well in the series, I need testing time before next year’s season. Which potentially puts me in the uncomfortable position of needing to buy a car now, without knowing for sure if we’ll be able to raise the required funding to race it. The third series isn’t quite so bad, but the rewards are far less in terms of payout and exposure.
I’m a little torn…the Fran-Am car for sale suddenly came up, but I’m having trouble pulling the trigger on that deal. It’s an uncomfortable financial situation, before I know if we’ll be able to secure sponsorship.