Passing through the economic dry spell that probably should've shut me down, I'm learning a few lessons I'll pass along. In now way to I pretend these lessons are absolute, clear even in my own mind, or transferable to any other situation. These are just lessons I'm learning about the living dynamic of me and how I try to operate a track, my racers who are in an area that has had Slot Car racing off and on for a couple of decades and this strange economy we are in post-Covid.
1. What worked at a location last year and yesterday does not necessarily work now. The very thing that provided pretty high revenue for Upstate Speedway dried up almost in a single week and sunk like the titanic. I had no lifeboats at the time so I was going down with that class of racing. Even now, I can't explain why as no one talks about a reason for ending that class except that it had been the main class for over two years. Now we are shifting to JK Box Stock and it is flourishing while the previous class has come back but at a small fraction of what it was. LESSON: There is no plan that is permeant.
2. Don't break stuff trying to make things better. I had a great Hillclimb that needed some work. I could've brought a track builder in for $3500 and made it like new. But I feel under the spell of the buzz around having a prestigious King Track to replace my aging Hillclimb. So we quit racing the Hillclimb, paid $5000 for a King, $2000+ to haul it down and started working on it. 18 months later, I degrade the track a little more every time I try to work on it. So she sits mocking me every week. I will hold till I can bring that builder in, drop another $3500 into this King and make it work as I SHOULD have done with the Hillclimb. LESSON: Don't fix it if it ain't broke.
3. Rent has just about killed me this summer. That and power. It will take awhile to dig myself out of this hole but I am trying to diversify the racing program while I dig out. LESSON: Create a rainy day fund to cover an entire summer of no racing.
So... I'm looking at a year of rebuilding. Engleman track has sustained the entire racing program until the recent edition of a particularly small oval that will be going to the county fair next month to hopefully create some new racers and bring in some much needed financial relief. I'm adding plastic track racing to introduce some more diversity in the program. And that King....that beautiful beast of a track that I am storing in my shop..... she will one day breath and repay me I am sure. But for now.... we aren't on speaking terms.
These are just a few of my lessons learned as I survive phase 1 of track life and cautiously enter phase 2. Summer will come and try to kill me again but this time...I'll be ready for her.
