“How am I gonna pay for all this?”
If you’re not independently wealthy, it’s tough. You are going to have to give up a lot of other things to pay for this new, expensive habit. I do it with the help of a lot of good friends, some sponsorship, and the understanding of a loving family. For my first car racing season, I bought a nice, class legal, middle of the pack, small vintage race car with a few spares for $8K. Be sure to pick a car that parts are still available for. Limited production race cars means high dollar, custom parts.
I borrowed a buddy’s trailer for a couple of weekends, and then bought a new flatbed car hauler built to my specs for about $2K. I can get at least three weekends out of a set of $600 race tires. I budget an engine rebuild once every season or two, and have learned to do the rebuild myself, while contracting out the machine work. Parts/labor cost about $1K, much more if I break or upgrade stuff. Transmission and diff rebuilds as necessary, maybe every other season. I am lucky enough to have the parts department of a large car dealership willing to sponsor me with parts money in exchange for wearing their logo on my car. I value there financial help tremendously and fly their colors with pride. All the guys working in the PEORIA NISSAN parts department are simply the best! All sorts of sponsorships are out there if you are willing to be professional, creative, and follow through on your all promises to promote their product. You MUST also have family members that understand your new affliction and are willing to let you spend your time and money chasing this new passion. If you want to keep racing, follow two of the best tips I was given many years ago – Be sure your wife’s car works at all times (do not steal parts off of it for your race car), and clean your fingernails before you go to bed.
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