Money, where does it come from?

IMO, racing should be handled like a toy.....never financed. Using a credit card is fine as long as you pay it off at the end of each month. You can easily dig a hole and RUIN yourself by supporting a hobby on credit; i have seen it happen.

"I just need to get my suspension sorted"..."just some race tires, then im good"..."my bike sure could use some upgrades"..."work was slow this month, ill put my race fees on the card then pay it back when work picks up"..."ill charge it just this once...."

Next thing you know you have $50,000+ in credit card debt that you will NEVER pay off unless you can afford to pay thousands towards the debt every month.

I know a guy who would skip work and not pay monthly bills to be able to race. Then he wrecked, had a bad injury and didnt have any insurance. His credit is shot (which could take 10 years to fix...assuming he straightens his act up), bike has been repossessed and he has tens of thousands worth of medical bills and no job.

Like others have said, it is like a drug addiction. If you are irresponsible, it will ruin you.

To answer the original question, my job pays for my racing.

 

i want that work schedule!

i think im in the wrong field

 

I work at Boeing right now and I have the exact opposite experience, very competitive salary, best health insurance I've ever had (had 12 broken bones in the last 3 years to test this out), and I work a flex schedule with Wednesdays off. Boeing rocks!

 

I used to travel to races with a guy that had the perfect set up. He was a young guy about your age. Worked building fences. His girlfriend was about 50 and owned her own business. So, my suggestion is find a sugar momma.

 

where does the money come from?

in my experience..mainly from engineers and IT guys. it seems there's an overabundance of these two professions in the paddock.

i think it's because those are probably the two most common professions where decent money (enough to afford an expensive hobby) comes at a young age (while you're still young enough to want to do the stupid)

 

+1

Make sure you're in a position where being totally selfish with your money is acceptable. Then it's easy.

 

My wallet and a few sponsors allowed me to race last year. :up:

For this year; my sponsors were feeling the pinch, my wallet has been too thin and my salary just took a hit so my racing for 2010 has ended with only 2 race weekends. :down:

It sucks, I am experienceing withdrawal

Alcohol helps, but not much

 

+1
Nailed it.

Possibly the best idea so far.



I'll be 40 next month and have less discretionary income than ever thanks to family, house, 401K, 529, etc. Fortunately I have a career that allows me to afford it. Thank god I didn't start racing 10 yrs. ago when I was single, I would have spent much more than I do now.

My advice is to set a budget and actually stick to it. Hard to do sometimes but definitely worth it (vs. pulling out that c.card).:up:

 

I never used credit to pay for any of my track riding/racing. After 3 years of doing this stuff and a full race season last year, I have definitely felt the financial hit. I can't afford to really race that much this year, but I've done a couple so far. I'm one of those younger IT guys just like a few others on here are and for a couple of years of my track riding, I lived with my parents which helped me save a ton. If you let it, it will take everything you own. You just have to control yourself and decide when enough is enough or sacrifice everything to live the dream. Personally, I will never used any type of credit to finance my racing hobby.

 

Money comes from money trees.

 

My new favorite kid's book.

 

Yup...ya gotta try and grow one of these.

 

I did a trackday then started thinking about racing but couldnt afford it. Then I had a family member pass away and leave me $25K. That 25K went into the racing account and lasted 2 years. The third year came out of my pocket and hurt. I decided to back off and focus on building my business and then when it can support it I will go back on track. I never went into debt racing and never spent what I couldnt afford. It puts a huge strain on a marriage if you have kids because of the time and money. It is a drug habit, you eat, sleep and breath it once your in. Once your out for a year or two you get some clarity and if your in debt for it the reality is ugly. If your paid up then you have amazing memories and experiences.

People use the drug habit thing a lot, I dont think new guys understand it's not a joke. It's a bad coke habit with wheels. Same big cash, same big rush, girls, parties and fun. Only difference is the cops wont break down your door for racing. The health risks between the 2 are probably a wash.

 

Yes, I am driven to compete, I do not like losing, but I tend to know when/where to pick my battles. But, also for riding fast safely. I haven't really had time to take the bike out and really hate taking it out to the canyons out here. Why do all of the cool roads have a cliff wall on one side and a drop off on the other? And crazy car drivers on both sides?

I understand the drug addiction to the sport. But, that can be linked to anything that you really enjoy, especially if you like adrenaline. Aka BASE jumping, sky diving, anything involving speed.

This helps a lot. Thanks a lot!

On average what are you spending a year? SOme people were saying 25k for two years. SO around 10-15k? How are you spending basically a full bike every year? Or is it more like 20ish k your first year, getting everything "race awesome" and then the next year just riding it for 5-10k at the races and not needing too many upgrades?

 

figure $1000-1500 a weekend in the C/B classes

then tack on a bike. If you're starting out, go buy a used prepped bike for $5000 rather than a new one and prepping it for well over $10000

 

Smaller bikes (SV650) cost less to race, too.

 

I am super cheap with everything other then my bike. I have no loans out I drive a 99 honda civic.... live in the cheapest place I could find just so I can race.... its pretty sad. I might buy a 2007 Husqvarna 510 SMR tho so I will have one loan.....and the military is the same pay every month so it is easy to set a budget. For me I set it at 1000 a month and my motor blew up so that was 2000....so that month took up next months 1000 to.

 

if you want to spend less then you can either race an SV or Ninja 250 or else you can race MX or supermoto for MUCH less.

 

You've got it ALL wrong... I want the wife that is the bank for my racing!

 

I tried to sell my teenagers to a medical research lab...they found out what the grocery bill was gonna be and backed out of the deal.