119 replies to this topic

[Pappy]

Doesn't matter Mike, he's still paying for that space whether it's being raced on or not. And he can't use it for anything else as long as that track is sitting there.

[Mayberryman]

Just as I thought, not one name.

[Gator Bob]

This is Tim Hottle owner of the Outback Motor Speedway. I'm not sure why this Mike Swiss needs to know any of our personal business as what are you to gain from that?

 

If you must know, yes my garage is a commercial space. I built it originally to run my sign shop out of, and since have used it for my construction business as well as this slot car hobby shop deal. 

 

What happens if someone falls? They get up! If they want to try and sue me, yes, I have insurance. I learned a long time ago not to assume things as you never really know what's going on until you get the facts.

 

To be honest this thing is growing so fast that I'm thinking about moving it into a bigger building and running a hobby/sign shop out of it. But again what is that any business of yours?

 

Also why does a track have to be a club or commercial? Maybe we run ours as a true race track? Do you consider your local dirt or asphalt tracks as race tracks, or club racing? It's the same thing that we do. Those tracks make a schedule, open up and run a complete racing season. They have mainly the same racers showing up weekly, so now are they club racing to you?

 

I personally run OMS just like a race track. We run time trials, heat races, C-Mains, B-Mains, and then our A-Main. Every one of our "Crown Jewel" events have at least one Non-Qualifier's Main Event, and some events have two Non-Qualifier Main Events. We are always trying to think of ways to create new events, and different ways for everyone to race and have a good time! We are in VA and pull in racers from upper PA, MD, NC, GA, and even have had a racer come from New Mexico. 

 

I can tell you right now if you don't think having over 3,000 facebook followers as a positive thing, then I'm not sure what you think is a good thing?

 

It has helped us create a lot of interest in our slot car track as well as help promote our sponsors. 

 

How many commercial raceways have taken their track to a "televised Event?" OMS has. We were featured on MAV TV, NBS Sports, and the old SPEED TV. You can cut us down all you want but I'm pretty sure we have a pretty good thing going on here.

 

I was asked by Greg to maybe give a little insight to what we are doing and how we are growing, and helping to promote slot car racing which in turn should help all of us, but instead it seems like I'm just going to create a lot of conflict because a few want to "assume" we aren't legit.

 

I asked my son to post a few details about our track and how we run, so that it might be an idea that some of you would want to try, but instead it has turned into a "bash" about our track.

 

If you, Mike, don't like what we are doing and you are pleased with your way, more power to you. I'm not saying Here at OMS we are the know-it-alls, or the leader, or anything to that effect. We were just going to simply explain what is working for us, that's all!

 

This in my opinion is why slot car racing has never really been big, as this happens all the time. Nobody wants to seem to work with each other, and worse they want to degrade anything that seems to not benefit them personally.

 

I told my son, we will not get on here and argue with anyone, and create controversy. If that is all we can contribute to this forum then we will choose to just not post anymore.

 

Hope this post at least clears up a lot of things that was really no one's business but OMS, and I wish all of you nothing but success and good times!

 

WTG Tim, The site looks great, big car counts in the points rundown, cool rules and it looks fun.

 

We got a bull ring near by running crash and burn. All  Womp and FCR based classes.

 

Same with 1:1 tracks not working together even if their life depended on it ... ego thing .. I want the bigger slice even if it's smaller.

I only know of two tracks that really worked together by running alternate Sat Nites. at near by speedways South Boston, VA. and Orange County, NC .. thing of it is and why it worked is because it was the same owner. When he sold OCS to the owners of Southern National, Kenly, NC they couldn't make two tracks work.

 

Looks like you're doing the right thing and having fun doin' it.  How about a link to the TV deal?

[MSwiss]

Just as I thought, not one name.

West Suburban Slot Car Association was the original with probably  40-50 members.

Bob Dunkle/Meadowdale along with regular Friday night action, held annual 24 hr. races with  multiple member teams, with additional guest drivers like myself and Sano Dave.

http://home.comcast.net/~fatherbob246/

 

I held events for them at my raceway that had 24+ entries.(hardly everyone)

 

A personality clash created a split and the Great Lakes Slot Car Club formed.

http://www.greatlakesscc.com/news.php

 

It's website has 60 registered members.

 

Also splitting from that original group is the Bensenville Bombers.

http://www.homeracin...wforum.php?f=39

 

They were just tired of not getting to race enough with the large crowds, lack of lanes, and extended bench racing, before the real racing.

 

Junkyard Dogs is also another off-shoot from the original.

 

Then you have Bruce Necker's Berwyn group that has about 10 guys.

 http://slotblog.net/...=+bruce +necker

 

Then there is Karl Stahlein's group that also has about 10 guys.

Bolingbrook Speedway Slot Cars

https://www.facebook...8748113?fref=ts

 

Spencer,

You never mentioned why you skipped OMS's last season.

 

Afraid those $500 payouts would put you into a higher tax bracket?

[Gator Bob]

I'll try one more time.

If you want to start a new thread on  .
 
......... is the host's wife tolerance for having strangers use her bathroom(s) and her taco dip production capacities.

 
 "Free Space Raceways" ... I'm there dude ...
 
Wife's Taco dip ...

His extra expense to hold races are the extra flushes of the toilet.
see above ... lol

Maybe a bit more A/C with more doors opening.
 
All that body heat and taco dip too ...  

[Mayberryman]

I guess it is time to test the waters, Mike, with all due respect it is NONE of your business where and when I race.  Perhaps your attitude is why you must move so often.  You stated that there were more than one private raceway operating in the Chicago area at the present time with as great or greater participation that Outback, when asked for these current clubs all I get is a stupid reply from you.  OK, one more time, I will go Joe Friday on you, just the names and dates on these ongoing clubs.  If you can not provide the names just admit to it.

This has nothing to do with racing income or elevated tax brackets, just the truth.  By the way, I checked into the sites that you mentioned and 10 to 14 racers is not bad  but comes up a little short to 23+.

 

As far as my skipping last year, I attended the first two races and my wife had fairly sever medical problems.  Now perhaps you could tell us why you had to move.

[Outback]

Gator Bob, 

 

Here's the link to our TV debut on Speed TV: 

 

 

Here's a commercial one of our Great Sponsor DirtonDirt.com did for us:

 

 

 

Spencer, I personally wouldn't worry what this Mike says, it's obvious he's a legend in his own mind, and knows more than all of us put together. Sorry to hear of your wife's medical problems, sure hope things are better.

 

To everyone else, Happy Slot Car Racing!

[Dennis David]

I didn't know slot car racing was such a vicious sport. LOL.

[Cheater]

I find it to be particularly vicious, especially when compared to other "modeling" or "miniature" activities. Larry Shepard was probably right.

 

It's a given that people will have different viewpoints. What's so unusual is that there is seemingly no one concerned about the overall hobby, by which I mean model car racing in all its scales and subsets.

 

Other modeling and miniature hobbies are more inclusive, more tolerant in regards to the different aspects and interests of their hobbies. Why has slot racing historically been so divided and fragmented?

 

Slot racing? Almost everyone just wants to race and not be concerned as to the bigger picture.

 

Model car racing, at every level, is so much fun, it deserves to be, at the very least, visible, stable, and respected, which are conditions other modeling and miniature hobbies enjoy.

[Samiam]

Mike was just clarifying the difference between commercial raceways and club. This thread was about commercial raceways.

 

Don't read more into this than there is.

 

Any conversation about the health of commercial raceways is wasted on mentioning club tracks. Unless you are mentioning them as an alternative. Not a comparison.

 

If the two raceways I visit regularly now close,I will look very hard at getting a club style track going. But not in a private dwelling. A rented space with expenses shared by 20 or so members. But that bridge does not need to be crossed. My local raceways are healthy and well attended. And profitable.

[MSwiss]

Spencer,
You don't read very well.

The W.S.S.C.A. had so many guys, the 3-4 lane basement venues weren't big enough to accommodate them all.

There was invite only races that lead to popularity contests like junior high.

Stuff like "we know you brought your cars, but you have to just watch".

A few minutes ago, from one of the heads: "I would guess at the peak somewhere between 35 and 40 members?"

Why I have moved?

Twice in 10 years.

First time was a move from an industrial spot with no windowage, 25 minutes away, to a commercial spot, 90 seconds away, the primary reason to take care of my Alzheimer addled Aunt, which I did for 3 years while keeping the raceway afloat.

With her passing, I was no longer tied to a location too short for a quarter mile drag strip.

My recent move was to a larger location, at a similar rent,without a leaky roof and old,unreliable furnaces, 10 minutes away at easily the best slot car location ever in the Chicago area, and which is also long enough for a 90 ft. drag strip.

This thread,started by you, was supposed to be about normal commercial raceways.

Tim's lengthy advice to the commercial raceway owners could of been condensed down to 8 words.

"Find a free space to put your track".

Stuff like talking about running heats, vs. round robins, sounds like some local squabble amongst your area racers.

Thinking that minor stuff like that, is the secret, is like your backyard BBQ'er believing that the brown sugar in his sauce, is the secret to people coming to his Sunday cookout, to eat the free food.

[Mayberryman]

Mike, I like the way you dance.  You stated that Chicago area club racing had several clubs with like participation however, you have not produced one.  Your best reply that "You guessed that at it's height" this one club had equal participation but no fact.  I went to all of the sites that you listed and the best turnout was 14 cars in one class.  Mike, I do not know what you have against small footprint oval racing but it is obvious that you have your way of doing things and in your own mind you are the master of slot racing.  From my perspective your logic has so many holes that you could not have been named anything else but Swiss.

[MSwiss]

You're looking at current results from a 35 - 40 group that splintered off.

The 35 - 40 quote was from Neal Isler, one of the original club's, head.

They did split.

There is no longer 25-30 guys in one basement.

Apologies if I didn't make it clear it wasn't last week.

[Mach9]

I don't personally know any of the parties involved in this discussion. But as a former track operator that is considering setting up another place, I really wish we could end the p#ss#ng match and have an adult discussion. Obviously, both of these guys have been very successful, if in different ways, and I feel we could learn a lot from all of their experiences. There's more than one way to skin a cat as they say. I look forward to reading anything either of you, or anybody else for that matter has to offer. I have some ideas on how I would want to do things 2nd time around based on my experiences the first time. But I certainly don't know everything and will happily soak up any advice that is offered.

[MSwiss]

Great post, Mack.

I never said I had anything against small footprint ovals.

If the point was less risk, and max profit potential, it would be the way to go.

The King track business model is a poor one.

But I do it on my own free will.

When I opened, I built my own King,without any previous track building experience.

There was used ones available that I could easily afford.

When I added the Flat track, it was so comparatively easy to build, to challenge myself, I added stuff like real decreasing radius turns and and an 8 ft. rotating section, where I could switch from tight esses to a straight roadbed, in 90 seconds.

I didn't choose the "King, big floor space, crappy business model,make my own tracks" path because it was easy.

I chose it because it was hard.

[Dennis David]

That's what Kennedy said on reaching for the moon and Mike, your no Jack Kennedy. ;-) I think most of us are in aggrement that a smaller footprint is the way to go. Maybe a Daytona type track that could include a small road course. The road course could have slightly squeezed lanes. That would certainly cause some action.

[MSwiss]

"Ask not, what your raceway can do for you, ask what you can do for your raceway."

[Dennis David]

We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard;

[MSwiss]

He left out the part that the U.S. was competing with the Russians, and there wasn't any easy way to get to the moon.

In my case, I had much easier options.

Anyway, I'm done with this thread.

My point and Jim Honeycutt's being, I've been in business 10 years, and Jim at least 3 times longer, having racers pay us to race, not paying them from other business's donations.

[Arne Saknussem]

Mike,

I must've missed where this thread was about what bills the Outback Motor Speedway is paying. I've dealt with track owners like yourself before so I won't go back and forth with you.

All I will say is this thread was about what a track needs to do to survive. Here at OMS we have worked hard to accomplish all of the things we have done. We have been blessed with a track that has gained over 3,000 followers on Facebook and has been able to accomplish more than we could've ever dreamed.

Instead of worrying about our bills you should sit back and read what we have done to make it this far. If it helps you or your track, great; if not that's fine, too.

One big thing that I see hurting tracks across the US is the fact that they won't work together.

 

As an old friend of mine once observed, "if you don't have any overhead your gross is net."

[OMS]

As an old friend of mine once observed, "if you don't have any overhead your gross is net."

Apparently your friend isn't to wise. As there is no such thing as no overhead.

[Mayberryman]

My point of getting "Business Donations" and other forms of support has been known in the world of real car racing as "Promotion".

Here it seems to at least some people that the active and ongoing "Promotion" of a track is a bad thing, who would have thunk it.  Charlotte Motor Speedway, Humpy Wheeler and Bruton Smith have done it wrong all of these years and we can no longer consider Charlotte Motor Speedway a success.  Mike, a couple of questions, since when did it become a bad thing to get outside sponsors?  When did it become a bad thing to keep up to date, creative and informative web pages and facebook pages?  Outback Motor Speedway might be operated from a residence but that is an option that will become the norm.  Tim and Brent Hottle have poured their time, effort and money into making Outback Motor Speedway one of the best success stories in slot racing.  From coverage by Speed Channel to Dirt on Dirt Magazine, to sponsorships from The Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series, to Winchester Speedway and Hagerstown Speedway, to sponsorship from John Blankenship (current active Lucas Oil Series Driver) as well as a plethora of local businesses both auto related and other.

 

When you think of the operation growth and recognition Outback Motor Speedway has (Outside the rather small confines of historical slot racing) one would have to wonder about the old Backyard BBQ V The Restaurant comparison.  On a given night at Outback Motor Speedway (and I have done it) you can go to the drivers stand and stand between "Liquid Lou Cicconi" (Long time super modified driver) Alan Sagi (Current Williams Grove Late Model Champion) and talk with JT Spence (current Winchester Super Late Model Champion) as well as Bo and Trevor Feathers, both former Winchester Late Model Champions.  Add that to a group of dedicated 1/24 Dirt Late Model Slot Racers and you can get a little of the flavor of an AVERAGE night of racing at Outback Motor Speedway.  I would have to wonder how many Restaurant Raceways can boast of the quality and number of racers for a weekly show?  With the continued three year growth and prospect for even better in 2015 with most of the regulars returning and commitment from 4 or five new racers to race on a completely new track with new surface and new braid for much better on track racing it would seem that the sky and space limitations are the only impediments for this very active with an eye to the future track and it's owners/promoters.  Perhaps some of the Historic Restaurant Track Chiefs should take a hint and get out of the kitchen some and go outside of the walls of the Restaurant and promote as to why more and more new people should get involved.

[Matt Sheldon]

This thread is too apples to oranges. You can never compare the success of a home based business with that of a brick and mortar establishment within ANY business sector. Neither are required and sometimes allowed to operate under the same rules. The original post was directed towards a particular company and asking for what I would consider proprietary information. While I realize the slot car entrepreneurs are a little closer then many industries, as a business owner I would never divulge the edge that I know I have over my competition. The OP seems to have the answer for everything, so why ask the question to begin with? I would venture to guess that the intended raceways success is not based off in house racers. Home and club based tracks are SOLELY based off in-house racers.  Mr. Swiss may not have been the OP's intended subject, but he did ask and state valid and legal (regardless of industry) questions and opinions. 

 

Bullring and backyard based tracks are a blast, there is absolutely no doubt about that. There is a different atmosphere and there is no greater feeling to hanging out with your buddies. I will disagree however that you cannot hangout with some outside industry stars while slot car racing or successful people in general. On the right weekend being an Ohio retro racer you just may be standing with some of the best slot car racers in the country as well as open wheeled dirt racers! Head a little farther east and you could hang out with with a mix of the fastest racers in the world regardless of racing discipline as well as some very popular short track racers. Head south and some of the NHRA's fastest Pro Stock drivers can be found slot drag racing during the off season. All that said NONE of this would exist today if it was not for the original commercial slot car track! 

 

Outback from the outside looks like a successful operation and that is great, but like him or not, Mr. Swiss and the majority of other consistent slot car raceways are doing what needs to be done during this fragile time of raceway ownership. It would be foolish for either to replicate the others business practices.

 

Gentlemen we are in the era of social media mayhem and forum bliss. If you are going to ask a question there should be no need for a disclaimer that opinions and outside questions are going to follow. 

 

The thing that really makes me throw up in my mouth a little is the poking of the eye as if one way is that much better than the other. Success is success, even if graded on a curve. 

[Arne Saknussem]

Apparently your friend isn't to wise. As there is no such thing as no overhead.

 

And apparently you have no sense of humor.

[Pappy]

You run races, half the year, 

Ice cream stands, amusement parks, swimming pools and many other businesses are only open part of the year. Are they not legitimate businesses?

 

Mike, if you bought your own building and paid cash for it would you now be deemed a "Slot car club"?  It would be free rent, right?