Roscoe

With arguably the worst start for equities in 40 years, clear signs recession is either here or closing fast, the real estate " wealth effect" evaporating quickly, will tracking, racing etc feel the effects of a weak economy? How immune is the average "car/track guy"? I am already seeing weakness in the exotics market ( wonder if we get surprised at Barrett Jackson next week). As with anything else, those that are at the top end are affected least. I wonder about the upper middle guy that has to start making choices about discrectionary spending; especially when it does not involve his/her family.

Thinking out loud.

TIm

Gator_86_951

Funny you mention it, I was thinking this exact thing just the other day.

Manny Alban

I'd agree, but the Zone 2 event received 195 entries in the first 36 hours that registration was open. I wonder if the smaller, less glamorous events will be affected more than the big ones.

paradisenb

One thing we might see is the smaller events picking up entries since they tend to be less expensive. Some may opt to do 2 smaller to 1 premium to maximize track time/$ spent.

I suspect regions who have local 'Home' tracks to feel a little less bite because travel expenses will be kept to a minimun for the majority of attendees and that will encourage participation.

Dan in Florida

The economic pain will be considerably worse throughout the country within a few months, particularly so in southern FL and CA. But we're lucky: many of our events bring lots of racers from regions that didn't experience the excesses in residential real estate that we saw down here.

Paddy

****, I got my end-of-year Visa bill and couldn't believe how much money I spent at Jeanett's- a little under a grand. It took me several (very upset) minutes to figure out who/what the hell I bought at Jeanett's Country Mart. After calming down I looked at the dates and figured out it was the gas station near VIR

That was just for VIR track time!!! Didn't include towing fuel costs or Summit. I may cry if I add it all up...

Veloce Raptor

Amazing how a 5% unemployment rate is being somehow spun into "recession".

Coincidentally, there is a presidential election going on, one side of which suddenly realized that it can no longer count on the war in Iraq (which we never seem to hear about any more....) to **** off the populace.

Johninrsf

I think we're going to see tires run many more heat cycles this year compared to last year!!

KLR

I was wondering about this too. FWIW, the Skip Barber advanced classes for the early winter still appear to be selling out well in advance, so I guess things can't be too bad...

todinlaw

Do you think they will start selling more 89 octaine at the track? I don't think the government will allow the economy to sink to far. In an election year they will dump money out of helicopters in necessary. the problem will be with inflation. We will be paying $5.00 for a gallon of gas soon.

RickBetterley

And, I wonder how the exchange rate between US and Canadian $ will affect those of us that enjoy our track time in Canada.

chrisc

Been through 5 recessions so far in my life and haven't participated yet, not going to start now. Who remembers the last recession of the early 90's? Not a big deal to the average working person. Keep the faith! If we spend all we can on our toys and passions the economy will prosper. I remember paying a buck a gallon back in the late 70's when I made 15,000 a year ~ and supported a race car on Sunoco 260. That was tough but got through it. Got a lot of nasty looks while in line at the pump with the race car in tow.

Bull

OH MY GOD, the sky is falling!!! Let us be sure to tell everyone so they will act accordingly!!!!

Larry Herman

Yeah, but to a contractor, it was huge. I remember it well. One of my big customers had 10 stores in the planning stages for 1991. They built 1. 2008 is not looking very good so far.

Mark in Baltimore

Contrary to popular belief, the real estate market is not dying, at least not here in the counties surrounding Baltimore. I'm as busy as I've ever been and had a great 2007, despite a very slow end of summer (slower than usual). I will say that new home sales have been quite soft, as I think it is throughout much of the country.