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.
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.”
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.
Harry Schaefer and Frank 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.”
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.”
