Any track owners on the forum?

[dearnhardtfan7]

I haven't heard any mention of it so I doubt it but I was just wondering. Me and a good buddy (Brent) of mine are looking at land right now and are going to open an mx park. Land prices down here are pretty low right now so we figure this would be as good a time as any to buy some. We have all of the angles covered, we are just trying to find the right tract of land for what we want. We are between 2 tracts right now, and are just waiting on the appraisal of the timber. What we plan on doing is buying the land, and then selling approximately 75% of the timber and use the money for start-up and to pay a little ways in advance on the loan. The thing is, we have connections for everything we need to run the park.

1 - A good friend of mine's dad owns a timber company. We plan on selling him the timber and he said he will start cutting as soon as we sign the papers. He also owns an mx park and his son, Chad Ward, has his pro license. They know mx and have said we can come to them any time we need any advice or anything.
2 - My buddy Brent's wife works for the insurance company that insures Southern Supercross Park, which is the place Mr. Ward owns. She will make sure we have the right coverage.
3 - My first cousin whom I grew up with and live 2 doors away from, is a paralegal. She will advise us on any legality issues.
4 - Brent's Dad lives next door to a guy who owns a dealership down here and has said he will provide us with some sponsorship.
5 - Brent's uncle is a manager at a local Tractor and Equipment co. and can get us the equipment we will be buying at cost.
6 - Brent graduated high school with a guy who is now a loan officer at a local Wachovia and we have already sat down with him and ran a credit app, and we have been approved for 200,000 at 30 years, 7% interest.
7 - I also have been running equipment for about 8 years now, so I will be the one doing the track building/prep/maintenance.
We plan on racing at least once a month, twice some months, and be open for practice all during the week, with the track being prepped on the weekend and each wednesday. Once we open, I will let anyone from the forums come and ride for free your first time there. JLV will always be paid for lol.

I just wanted to get the word out. We are very serious about this and I just was wondering if anyone on here had any expertise that they thought would be helpful. We will be located in central Alabama and haven't decided on a name yet. I really think we have a good plan in place and can't wait to get the ball rolling. I will update at various stages. The goal is to be open for practice by fall and maybe hold one race to get our name out there and be fully operational by next spring.

Keep an eye out for us and wish us luck lol.

[wheels1758]

Hey man,
Best of luck in getting this thing going. I wont be able to take you up on the free first ride as it would cost way more than the day's track fee to fly myself from Washington to Alabama. Sounds like you have a pretty good head on your shoulders and aren't just jumping into something blind. Good luck and keep us updated.\
Wheels

[yzmxer608]

Sounds like you have everything you need, can't wait to see you run a successful mx park . Keep us updated along the way!

[brent26]

see. Some Brents are for goood use! lol. Sounds pretty fun man. Good luck!

[Mikey]

Nice chris, Hopefully one day in the future i will be able to ride at your track Be sure to make a MXS replica of it

[Shadow]

Good luck with the project mate! I'll hold you to that free ride if I ever find my way to the states.

[borderpatrol199]

What part of the U.S. will it be in?

[wheels1758]

We will be located in central Alabama...

[Voutare]

Best of luck to you. Starting up tracks is no easy chore, but I'd say you can do it.

[Pinit721]

My local track is a non profit organization and it is owned by it's members.
So technically im a track owner. I own 1/400th of it lol
My dad was the track manager for several years.

[jlv]

You didn't mention any environment regulations. In NJ wetlands and endangered species can ruin your life. Probably not as bad in Alabama though.

Good luck!

[ShackAttack12]

You didn't mention any environment regulations. In NJ wetlands and endangered species can ruin your life. Probably not as bad in Alabama though.

Good luck!

Josh, down here in the Pinelands, for every 1 tree you cut down, you are supposed to replant another one somewhere else in the pinelands. Not to mention it is pretty much near impossible to build in protected areas (which covers most of eastern south jersey.) There is so much unused wooded land down here that is just screaming to be molded into a MX track.....

[JB323]

shit you couldnt touch the land/tracks out here for 200,000. $


the local track out here changed ownerships for over 1.2 mil including 2 water trucks + 2 bulldozers + 1 tractor.

fixed lighting poles/lights were over 80k not including the rental generator the track uses to power it.


ive been in a lot of behind the scene track work, where i have worked for a few tracks out here with building/prep and done publicity for tracks and theres ALOT to it.

Biggest thing of all is where your ROI is ? i havent been to AL but it doesnt click right away with me when i think of motocross states.

Texas,Arizona,Cali,Flordia are the big states with tracks and riders, even the tracks now with ALL the riders there are making much of a profit if any.

You will spend about 2-3k a month on diesel gas for equipment also.

[dearnhardtfan7]

Yea the land regulations around here are pretty much non-existent lol. We have checked into the zoning and both tracts we are looking at are good to go for recreational purposes. One tract is actually only about 10 miles from a big ORV park which has a gp track but they don't do any racing on it. We have the equipment worked out. 1 Cat D3 dozer, 1 Mahindra 3535 with box blade, disc, and front end loader attachment, 1 Case 1845C skid steer. All used and we can get all 3 for 25,000. I will be renting a 30,000 lb excavator for initial startup. As far as diesel fuel, I have figured up approximately $200 a day for initial startup, and approximately $100 for track prep when up and running. I have my own personal track at my house, so I know about what it takes to prep my track, and it is alot less than that. I have also been a part of track prep for some of our local tracks. We are not going with a water truck. Both tracts are on hillsides with streams running through the lower portion of the property. We will be digging a pond approximately 200ft by 200ft by 15ft, and pumping the water out into a custom built irrigation system. I have dug ponds and know how to properly line it to not leak water. The pond will be dug as soon as the loggers are off the property, so it can start filling up. We will have to have a little bit of help from mother nature lol.

As far as being in Alabama, you never hear much about the mx scene, because we are not an AMA district. We do have 2 AMA sanctioned tracks however. We draw alot of riders from Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia as well.

Me and Brent have talked, and we will be putting approximately half of what we make from the timber, onto the land mortgage. Depending on how much that is, we could have anywhere from 1 year to 4 or 5 years paid in advance. This is possibly our biggest advantage.

http://www.landwatch.com/default.aspx?c ... tmid=23111
http://www.landwatch.com/Cullman-County ... d/88244085

These are the 2 tracts we are looking at. The first is closer to our houses, lower price, and more land. The reason for the lower price and more land is the landscape. It will make a sick mx track, but it will take a good bit of work as far as the irrigation system and pitting. Nothing that I can't do it just will take a little longer. The 2nd track, the one in Dodge City, is on more workable land, but is a smaller parcel, at a higher price. The timber also is better tho.

The final decision will come down to, the price we get from the timber company, and the monthly payment on the mortgage. I will definitely keep everyone updated. This is not something we are just jumping into. We have been planning and discussing this for about a year now, and it seems like over the last couple of months everything has started coming together. We have definitely agreed that if something doesn't feel right, we are not going to stick our necks way out.

[jesplind]

Oh I so want to be a part of this lol. Red through it pretty quick so maybe you've mentioned it. No close neighbours or anything that could stop your project? Promise me to post pics when you have get there so we could see the opportunities.