Sawblade

Timmy Timmy Timmy!
Sep 24, 2000
1,491
0
Much to my dismay my local track is closing down at the end of the month. :( The owner sold the land for development. The next closest track to me is about an hour and 15 minute drive. But it is a diffacult drive late in the afternoon with traffic. Since there are so many other local riders that are left with the same problem of no local track. I have been considering the possibility of starting a club to create a private track.

In the late 80's I ran a race track for two years. After I stopped promoting races at the track I ran, a local motorcycle dealer, myself and a few other riders created a club to preserve access to this track. Unfortunately politics came to pass with the local motorcycle dealer that caused me to sever my relationship and the club ceased to exist. I was also a member of a club in IL in the mid 90's when I lived there. As you can see I have experience in this area, but I do have some questions about how to start a club, do's and don'ts or I'm I just damn crazy to try something like this?

First, the only way I see this working is if someone has land they would be willing to lease to the club. With the cost of land in my area, there is no way this type of organization could generate enough cash flow to purchase land.

I'm wanting the club to be a private club with restricted membership to keep control of the track and protect the interest of the members.

The club would be structured with by laws with a president, VP, treasure and secretary

What would you pay for membership dues to have access to a practice track? $250, $500 a year? More less?

What would be the best way to set up the club. LLC, NPO or both?

What about insurance?

Does anyone else have experience in starting a club?

Thanks for your comments! :cool:
 

ellandoh

dismount art student
~SPONSOR~
Mi. Trail Riders
Aug 29, 2004
2,958
0
if someone had a club near me. 30 minutes or less, which i had access to 6 days a week for practice id give em 500 . its all about convenience, quality of the track, and availability for me. less of any of those 3 and i'd start weighing options
 

BSWIFT

Sponsoring Member
N. Texas SP
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Nov 25, 1999
7,926
43
Get in touch with Danman or Taraker. Each of them belong to clubs in Texas and may have some insight for you. My advice would be to form an LLC or NPO, low cost in it sheilds the individuals from the bottom feeding ambulance chasers.
 

Patman

Pantless Wonder
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Dec 26, 1999
19,774
0
Our club has 3 lease properties all within about 1 hour of me. We have a club membership which grants you access to club events at various properties we have access to when they are setup and then the lease membership is basically $300 plus 5 work days per year.
 

mx547

Ortho doc's wet dream
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Nov 24, 2000
4,787
102
are you prepared to sacrifice every spare moment of your time?

i hope it works for you. it might even be close enough for me to go to.
 

SpeedyManiac

Member
Aug 8, 2000
2,378
0
Our club got donations from the community, businesses and government for land and starting to develop a track. Each member has to pay $100 per year plus a one time $100 initiation fee or 20 hours work time. So far we've spent around $250 000 clearing the land and building the track (along with parking area and fenced perimeter). We covered our costs through logging the land and from donations. We got the land for free from the government, but it has restrictions on how much can be logged. Right now we have 1100 acres but only 25 is logged. If you are a very motivated person I say go for it.
 

Sawblade

Timmy Timmy Timmy!
Sep 24, 2000
1,491
0
mx547 said:
are you prepared to sacrifice every spare moment of your time?

i hope it works for you. it might even be close enough for me to go to.

No doubt it will occupy a lot of time. I'm willing, I just hope others are willing to get involved also.

Patman,

Were the 3 properties donated by club members? If the property was donated by a non member, how did the club find the land?

ellandoh,
You hit the nail on the head! I want to create a track that is open at any time to members, but would be a private track for riding or practice only.
 
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