How much are you willing to spend to boat race?

[Art K]

Was reading the latest issue of AutoWeek Mag. & came across an article about the SCCA Nats this past season in Cal. What caught my eye was the entry fee per class. $945.00 & it will higher next season. This raised the question in my mind how much are boat racers willing to spend to pursue their dream? In our case Kampen Racing currently has 2 drivers. Both compete in the large Mod run. classes in NBRA 1 driver runs D-E the other does D-SE both boats are Kidwells one new last season the other is 4yrs old. We also have a hydro currently in for repair that we run ocassionally. The motors consist of 2 Tohatsu`s 3 mod Merc 44`s and 1 Yamaha SE, a trailer spare parts I don`t know how many props. This season bought 1new lower unit. rebuilt 1 44Merc, Electromotive ignition for the Yamaha SE. No way I could put a value on all of this. But I do know their is no way we could afford those kind of entry fees.
Last season highest entry fee we paid was $45.00 per class at the Nats. The Sponsor paid $7500.00 in tow money. I got back more than enough from that to pay for the gas and some of our expenses. In fact every NBRA race paid tow money. It is not going to pay all your expenses but sure as hell helps. I sometimes wonder why some of the Organizations don`t take this approach. The money is out there. You just got to ask.
Art K

[Art K]

I guess what I am asking is how much the above the expenses of owning & maintaining your race equipment affects the amount of races you attend,and how far you will drive to race. In particular entry fees, testing fees, campground & motel prices, gas & vehicle expenses etc. Just a ton of extra fees & expenses that add a lot to the cost of racing. Also what would you prefer tow money or prize money?
Art K

[Yellowjacket]

The SCCA road racing nationals is basically a week long event consisting of multiple test sessions, qualifying sessions and a final 20 minute race. Considering the cost of renting the track, for all of that time, and the attendant safety crews, as well as other costs associated with that event, comparing it to a boat race is a bit like comparing apples and oranges.

Typical regional road race entry fees run about $150 to $175 per day. Yes that's a lot more than boat racing, but again, considering that the track and ambulance crews must be paid and other cost associated with the sport are indeed higher than boat racing, but not as bad as your comparison would suggest.

Don't get me wrong, road racing in the SCCA at the National level is a hideously expensive sport. By the time you buy a car, spend $200 dollars a tire for a set that will last for one weekend, pay entry fees, maintain your car and trailer around the country, pay for lodging and everything else, you have to be very well heeled to participate. Fortunately for the SCCA there are a good number of folks who can afford to play in that sport. Most of those folks aren't put off by the high cost and just do it.

Also note that there is a lot more track time involved in road racing. A typical race will have at least one test session, or perhaps two, a qualifying session, and then a 20 minute race. In boat racing, for each class you are getting three laps, or maybe 5 minutes of racing in addition to an open test session that are allowed. Again, trying to compare the two sports is difficult, the costs are much higher, but there is a lot more track time and that counts in the value equation. To get more track time most serious boat racers run several classes. So now you have to add entry fees for each class, maintenance for several boats and various motors, so the costs generally associated with boat racing don't compare on a 1 for 1 basis since to do it right you have to run several classes and that can increase the cost significantly.

A better comparison for kneel down boat racing in terms of cost and value is the SCCA Solo II program (one car on a course laid out with pylons and you run against the clock). In that sport the entry fees for the National event are $80, and each driver in a car gets 3 runs of about a minute each. Tires in the street classes last a season ($1000 a set), and you can run your daily driver with no modifications required. Since you can use your daily driver, that sport is generally considered to be not as expensive as boat racing, you can run an autocross every weekend in the summer, and you don't have the costs of towing if you run your daily driver, and since there are events all over the country every weekend, you don't need to pay for hotel or travel long distances to run a lot of events. Typical local entry fees are $25 to $30, and in a local event you will typically get 5 runs in a day.

Sports like Solo II (also called autocross) have blossomed in the last 20 years. The SCCA national championships has over 900 entries for that event and local events every weekend have between 80 and 100 cars entered. Most good size cities have an SCCA region and each region typically runs 8 to 10 events in a year. You can bring out your daily driver, pump up the tires, there are loaner helmets available for newbies who want to try out the sport.

Basically, there are no barriers to entry for running autocross, there are classes for most every car, and if you think you might want to try it, you can go out and try the sport and if you like it you can compete all you want for the cost of the entry fees and a helmet. For boat racing the barriers to entry are the cost of a boat, motor, a trailer, joining a club, maintaining the equipment, cost of fuel to tow to the races, a tow vehicle (since most cars nowadays don't tow) and food and lodging, and so on. Just to get involved in boat racing is going to cost several thousand dollars, and that's for back marker equipment. To run front row stuff costs several times that, and multiply that by the number of classes you want to run.

I live in Indy and can run Indy region, Ft Wayne Region, and Columbus Sports Car Club events almost every weekend in the summer and never spend a night in a hotel. If I want to run on the national level I can run 30 weekends a year and travel some and race against the best in the country every weekend. This is the real competition for kneel down boat racing. The road racing program is much more similar to tunnel boat pro racing and other higher levels of the sport. Yes, I know that the only prizes in the road racing program are beer mugs and silver platters, but the program is well established and along with those mugs go bragging rights and to a lot of these folks that's better than money.

Part of the problem with boat racing is that even with a lot of traveling I'm going to run maybe 4 events next year. Unless I load up a trailer and run three or four classes that's not enough seat time to progress as a driver. To compete in kneel down boat racing takes a much larger commitment than just one boat and motor.if you want to do it right.

The bottom line is that there are other sports out there that offer the thrill of speed and competition every weekend for less money than it costs to go kneel down boat racing and the barriers to getting involved are a lot lower.

Boat racing has several problems. One are the barriers to entry, the other are the limited number of races that one can attend, and third is the cost. Cost is always an issue but that's not the only issue. But the barriers to entry and the "percieved value" (not a lot of races or seat time for the money spent), are in addition to the cost too much to overcome and folks just don't jump in.

If boat racing wanted to grow they would develop a class similar to the ones being run in Wisconsin but with a one simple change. The key elements are inexpensive motors (no racing gear feet), inexpensive boats (small enough to go pretty fast on an inexpensive motor) and lastly boats that can be used as fun boats that hold more than one person (an element the Wisconsin series lacks). That sounds like a silly thing since when the boat is being raced it only holds one person, but that is actually a key element in the value equation. If it's a fun boat that can be run in a local lake on the weekends and aren't a special purpose one man boat, a person that wants a fun small boat can buy one and have fun with it. If it can be used in a lake when it isn't being raced, it will be a toy like a jet ski, but a useful toy and the ability to hold two people is a requirement. Remember that in the early 50's the runabout class required a cockpit for two and that allowed folks to race a boat that they could rationalize buying to have fun with too, and boat racing grew as a result. A class like that would provide a "feeder" system and bring new blood into the sport.

JMHO and qualified as such...

[propfxrO84]

Try out a sprint car. $70,000 for a decent ride. Then don't forget your toter (75K-500K) stacker trailer (30K-150K) spare motors (2=30K-75K)spare everything, paying living costs for a "volunteer" crew. Oh, and at least 3 sets of tires per night, and all the methanol and diesel to get there. (I'm talking limited, semi-local deal). Boat racing is the ultimate "bang for your buck" we can compare for eternity

[propfxrO84]

Sorry Art, I didn't answer your question. I think if you add up what you spend (after owning all your equipment) to campaign say, 6-7 boat races a year. $6,000-$10,000 per year. (That would include fuel for MH, boats, oil, 2 new props, upkeep, and repairs to equipment. Pretty darn cheap to compete in a national racing series.

[froggy3racer]

I race in the Pro division and the US Title Series. I track and treat my racing as a business as a lot of racers do. My total cost for a full season averages around $20,000.00 to $25,000.00. That is just to maintain. If you want to run out front, then you can figure in another $5000.00 to $10,000.00 on top of that for new props and equipment especially if you can't make things yourself.

[DtwSailor]

Before looking at the costs of boat racing, take a look at the costs for other sports that we don't even think about. My daughter dances competitively (age 11) and I know that is close to 10 to 15K a year for costumes, travel, etc.. My son plays travel baseball, and that will run 10 to 15K easily with uniforms, practice facilities, and travel.
Makes kneel down a pretty nice option!
(Also you know why I am not as active on the circuit as I could be)

[blueskyracer]

You really need to compare the expense and travel time with the actual time you get to use your equipment at each event?? If the event has no testing how much time are you on the water actually racing if you are in one class

[DiGia54D]

You really need to compare the expense and travel time with the actual time you get to use your equipment at each event?? If the event has no testing how much time are you on the water actually racing if you are in one class

Well if your running anything faster than ASR I bet at a race with no testing, you will have less than 10 minutes each day of boat time. Not counting the 3 minute flag

[Andrew 4CE]

What are you guys spending on? I spent $1091 this year maintaining equipment and racing for 8 days. Half of that is fuel. Fuel this summer in my area (Toronto, Canada) was about $5.33 a gallon for 87 octane.

To clarify... I raced one class... all memberships, entry fees, camping included

[Andrew 4CE]

Yes if you racing nationally it's different, most on here are not. I'm just getting at the lowest person above me is $6000 a year. If I included a new sidewinder $5000, new hull $4000, 5 props $1900, $5000 trailer, pit cart, ez-up, race fuel, new kevlars/lifejacket, crew uniforms and helmets every few years, travel fuel, race fuel, oil, sparkplugs, 12 events (24 races) a year at 500 miles average trip, balanced over 10 years and then threw out the equipment (zero value)... I can't spend that much. I'm still at $5000 or so a year. Some of you need to rethink I think. haha. And you can't count food/drink, you have to do that even if you just sit on your porch for the weekend. I dunno... maybe I'm missing something. haha. Back to the spreadsheets

[Harold8]

Andrew, How did you do that!! I spent half that in material just to fix my boat after Waterford! Missed Gravenhurst, repairing boat, went to erinsville , then Dunnville to end season. Started in Franklin PA, then Waterford, one day there , then accident on Sunday. I figured $3000 easy!

[Andrew 4CE]

LOL. well stop hitting stuff Harold

[DiGia54D]

What are you guys spending on? I spent $1091 this year maintaining equipment and racing for 8 days. Half of that is fuel. Fuel this summer in my area (Toronto, Canada) was about $5.33 a gallon for 87 octane.

To clarify... I raced one class... all memberships, entry fees, camping included

I spent over 1,000 in gas just going from CT to Florida and back with a 2 boat trailer

[propfxrO84]

$1,091? That will get my fuel paid for and maybe entry fees for 1 race. I'm not griping, just stating reality.

[guedo499]

I spend approximately $153.42 per year. Yep, $153.42 sounds right. No receipts please.

[blueskyracer]

with all those classes you run I guess you get free entry fees

[DiGia54D]

I have to move to the west coast. I spent more than $153 just in Highway and Bridge tolls..lol. Hell it cost me $75 just to fill my truck up

[Dave_E71]

Apparently, way too much....
For the 2015 season, so far:
2 new (to us) Kala 125/175 boats.
A new 125 powerhead, updating a second 125 powerhead to newest specs, updating a third 125 powerhead to the newest specs.
A new (to us) 175 powerhead.
1 new lower unit.
Rebuilds on 2 additional lower units (with gears)
1 New pipe

This is in addition to the crap we already have
Once the season starts, Jims numbers in post #6 are very realistic

I'm also hearing rumors of 2 sidewinders from the other side of the trailer
2 new boats for the sidewinders
Props for the Sidewinders

And I need a helmet and lifejacket, does anybody know if SRP is having a Black Friday sale?

This is still far less expensive than campaigning the GT3 that is sitting in my garage. If you put one of the titanium rods through the side of the crank case, you're looking at $40,000 for a replacement engine from Porsche.

[David Weaver]

Davey, the boats and engines should be amortized over 5 years thereby dropping the annual costs significantly!