[s-cars] NAC: NY Times Article

[Abe Berman]

June 3, 2008
At Small Tracks, High Fuel Prices Put Racers in a Pinch
By JOHN BRANCH
NEW EGYPT, N.J. — The cost of high-octane fuel for the racecars is up
to $8.25 a gallon. And that is not the worst of it.

The truck-and-trailer rigs that log long miles to haul the cars to
tracks generally have miles-to-the-gallon averages in the single
digits. And with diesel costing roughly $5 a gallon, about double what
it was a year ago, the escalating price of fuel is altering the
already skimpy economics of lower-tier racing, the type that takes
place on the half-mile dirt oval at New Egypt Speedway and at most
tracks across the country.

On Saturday night, 134 racecars in five classifications — from
relatively glamorous modifieds to the scratch-and-dent cars of outlaw
stocks — arrived to test their mettle, and metal, against the others.

But they also compete against their own budgets, testing their
appetite and ability to pour more money into their tanks, fueling a
sport that relies, like few others, on gas-powered propulsion.

"The price of fuel is definitely banging on our door," said Butch
Zipp, a midget-car owner from Bridgeport, Pa. "I mean, it's making it
a little bit tougher, and you cut corners where you've got to cut
corners."

Gas costs are less an issue for teams on the big-time circuits, like
Nascar's Sprint Cup series, because they generally have fuel provided
for their racecars and have big-ticket sponsorship deals to help
offset travel expenses.

But at a place like New Egypt in central New Jersey, the gas-price
issue reverberates to all corners, including the track's offices.
There is some debate in the industry about whether high gas prices and
a bleak economy help or hurt attendance at smaller tracks. Maybe
people will forgo more expensive and elaborate entertainment options,
the hope goes, and come to the track. It is too early in the season,
which began in April, to know for sure.

But there is no argument about what gas prices are doing to the racers
themselves. The pit areas adjacent to the track began filling up with
trucks and trailers when the gates opened at 3 p.m. on Saturday, a few
hours before the races began.

Harry Schaefer dragged his No. 48 super stock racecar in on an open
trailer behind his pickup. A truck driver from Carteret, N.J., about
60 miles away, Schaefer comes to New Egypt every Saturday night. He
wore a gray goatee and a black cap with a red 48 on it, and if he won
his race, he would receive $500.

Nearby, Frank Cozze of Wind Gap, Pa., arrived after a
two-and-a-half-hour drive in his customized Haulmark motorcoach. It
has a kitchen and enough room to sleep his crew of five. It pulled a
35-foot enclosed trailer with two racecars inside. Cozze races his
modified car here every Saturday, and spends the rest of each week
traveling to other races in the region. "Cozze" T-shirts are available
at the concession stand, and first place in his race was worth $2,500.

Schaefer and Cozze would seem to have little in common, other than a
thing for speed. Now each faces the same rough track: trying to
maneuver through unprecedented fuel costs and find other corners of
their worlds to save a few dollars.

"We don't super-size anymore," Schaefer said with a smile. "We use
Styrofoam plates instead of china. But we're here."

A few minutes later, Cozze sat outside his rig. A generator hummed. He
pondered how higher gas prices were forcing him to scale back, too.

"Who knows how long we're going to keep it," he said, nodding to the
motor home. "Hopefully we can survive through the year with it, but
I've kind of got a feeling we're going to be downsizing a little bit."

Last year, Cozze pulled a 52-foot trailer, big enough for four cars,
but decided it was not economical. "We kind of saw the gas thing
coming," he said.

Cozze usually races close to 100 times a year. He will probably race
60 times this year, choosing tracks on the basis of proximity and
payouts.

"To tell you the truth, we've really had to do a lot of sit down and
think about how we're going to do this, and what races we're going to
be cutting out," Cozze said.

Like others, he nearly did not come on Saturday because bands of
thunderstorms throughout the day threatened the night's schedule. He
did not want to drive all that way if there was no race — and no
payout.

The arithmetic of the racing business is already performed mostly with
negative numbers. Gas prices are making it worse. Bryan Kobylarz, from
Birdsboro, Pa., is a team manager of two midget cars that race as part
of a regional tour that stopped at New Egypt on Saturday. A year ago,
fuel costs accounted for about 15 percent of Kobylarz's budget. Now it
is about 25 percent, he said, and climbing.

It took about 40 gallons of diesel to get his cars to and from the
track in his 40-foot trailer. His midget cars run on methanol, which
cost $5.10 per gallon at the track pump Saturday. Up to 1,000 gallons
of four types of race fuel is sold on Saturday nights. Kobylarz buys
his elsewhere in 55-gallon drums for $206 (a little less than $4 a
gallon), but he said the price of the drums had risen about $80 since
last year.

"Basically, you have to finish in the top three to come out with a
positive cash flow," he said. In an average week, 28 midget cars enter
the race.

The majority of racers at New Egypt are part of the weekly schedule.
They have full-time jobs and tinker with their cars in their off
hours. They have no substantial sponsorships. They spend their
Saturdays at the track, toiling in the pits, waiting for their chance
to race 20 laps in front of a few thousand fans, hoping to emerge with
some points in the standings and a car free of major damage.

Gas prices are altering the dynamics. Schaefer spends about $120 in
gas just to pull the trailer to and from the track each week. He pays
$25 for each crew member to enter the gate. At the beginning of the
season, he paid $100 for a yearlong pit pass.

Ten gallons of 110-octane race fuel cost $82.50 on Saturday. Add in
tolls, food, tires, parts and labor (much of it unbilled in a
do-it-yourself sport) and Schaefer is left to wonder if there is a
point when gas prices will keep him home.

"Pretty high to give up the car," Schaefer said. "What are you going
to do with a $20,000 car? Let it sit again? It's hard. It's a big
decision — whether to let it sit and do nothing, or to work other
jobs, part-time jobs, and do the best we can to get down here."

The thunderstorms turned the track to mud on Saturday afternoon. That
pushed back the start of the races by 90 minutes. The uncertain
weather left the bleachers mostly empty.

The sky cleared for several hours of racing, and the only threat
seemed to be an 11:15 p.m. curfew mandated by the town. But at 11,
rain sprinkled. Minutes later, it fell in a deluge, punctuated by
lightning.

Cozze's modified race was stopped midway through, to be continued
later. And the final two races of the night, including the super
stocks, were postponed until another time.

Cozze was headed to the next race, without a payout. Schaefer was left
to haul his super-stock car back north to Carteret. It would cost him
about $60 in gas just to return home from a race he never ran.