Right On Tom. I don't know who he was either, he
hasn't appeared on the list before, but I think
he's thinking that everybody will pay $50 more,
no matter where they race. I guess I could see
his point in not wanting to "subsidize" Muroc if
he's racing at Bonneville. My feelings are, the
entry fee has to be whatever it has to be to
cover the costs. But hey, that's what this list
is all about. Everybody, with each his own
opinion, can get his opinion out in the open,
whether he is in the minority, out in left field,
or mainstream. We'd never come up with any new
ideas if everybody was afraid to speak anything
except a "party line".
--- "Thomas E. Bryant" <saltracer@awwwsome.com>
wrote:
> BR,
>
> I don't know who you are, where you live in
> relationship to Muroc, what
> your experience with LSR is, etc., so it makes
> it difficult to respond
> to this letter, but it does merit a response.
>
> I have been involved with LSR since the
> mid-fifities. I can certainly
> afford the sport now better than when I
> started, but I too don't
> appreciate the rising costs of participating.
> Really, though, the entry
> fees we pay are an insignificant portion of the
> overall expense of
> putting a car in competition. To the best of my
> recollection in 1960 the
> Bonneville entry fee was $75, at that time I
> was working for about $4 an
> hour. In comparison today's $300 entry is
> roughly $50 to $60 in 1960
> dollars.
>
> I'm tempted to some day give a history lesson
> on LSR as we know it. I
> don't think many of our participants realize
> how these meets were put on
> in the early years. Bonneville was budgeted at
> $1000 per day. Daily
> Sponsorships were sold to, various Speed
> Equipment Vendors, etc. and the
> entry fees were the only other income. The only
> people that received
> fees for their work were the ambulance and the
> timer, everyone else
> volunteered. The staff and volunteers received
> a room and the midday
> meal. Later, some times the SCTA Officials &
> Staff were reimbursed for
> fuel expense to and from the meet, if the meet
> made money. Many of the
> racers, including myself, worked at extra jobs
> to support our racing
> expenses. Of course in those days there were
> fewer entries and therefore
> less personnel needed to run the meet.
>
> Currently, I have no idea how the meet is
> staffed, who gets paid, who
> volunteers, etc., but I can tell you this, we
> have many loyal hard
> working people that make these meets happen,
> many giving up running
> their cars for a year or more, dedicating
> themselves to these events, so
> we can race.
>
> For the use of the real estate, I believe that
> BLM gets a percentage of
> the take at our El Mirage meets, I suppose it
> is the same at Bonneville
> and those in control at Muroc are asking $5000
> per day ($10,000 for the
> weekend), this is a bit different than it was
> in yesteryear. At
> Bonneville the fee was reimbursement for the
> insurance that the
> Bonneville Board, out of Salt Lake City, had to
> carry. It could be $1000
> or so if we were the only ones using the salt,
> or it could be a share of
> the total fee according to how many used the
> salt that year. Let us not
> lose sight of the facts in this discussion. No
> one is suggesting that
> fees be raised just for the sake of more money
> in the till, my
> suggestion of a $50 increase in entry to be
> able to run is to offset the
> greedy demands of the landlords, our
> government. I guess we could call
> it a tax!
>
> Tom, Redding CA - #216 D/GCC
=====
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Dick J *
* (In East Texas) *
* # 729 *
* C/GRS E/STR *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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