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Old 16 Feb 2018, 21:47 (Ref:3801915)   #16
jjvincent
Racer
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 337
jjvincent should be qualifying in the top 10 on the gridjjvincent should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
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Originally Posted by fieldodreams79 View Post
It stays busy all year? This is news to me and I've been going there since the 80s. Thanks for the heads up!
Road Atlanta has 46 events on their calendar for 2018. That doesn't count the private team testing, sanctioning bodies renting it out, tire testing, tv ads and manufacturers that rent the track for new car or motorcycle releases/sales training. They don't have to be spectator events to generate income.

Maybe it's not busy for 365 days per year but that is a lot of events as compared to let's say 1980. There are 27 car track days and 4 motorcycle, NASA, drifting, gridlife and LeMons. Those didn't exist back then. So, all of those days those groups rent the track out, keep it busy thus money keeps coming in. Back in the day, the track sat empty for months, thus no income, no racers spending money and no noise. So, it was easy to look at it like a nuisance back then.

Tracks like VIR and WG are nowhere near any homes and growth yet both failed. Today, they thrive and only because they can stay busy. A friend of mine runs three separate track events at WG and he even tells me, the track is 100% full from when they open to close. When the track had to repave and shut down, the town took a hit because of no racers in town spending money.

I wouldn't worry about Road Atlanta closing down. If it does, there are lots of other tracks to run that 10hr event at. So, it's no big deal.
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