Cost of Competing: Jekyl Hyde Racing 2006 year-in-review

[JekylandHyde]

Last year I posted a 2005 Year in review to offer some insight to the expenses and challenges of racing.
2004 results can be seen here.

I decided to share this information again and I hope this is useful and/or appreciated.
Looking at what an entire season takes really puts perspective on things.

This is the first year we put effort forth to win a championship and we decided to go for two of them.
We competed in the Pennsylvania Hillclimb Association SCCA championship race and the NEPA SCCA
Solo championship race. I'm very proud to annouce that we won both championships!

Having now seen the amount of time, work and dedication that is required of winning championships,
I don't expect we will go for more than one in a single year again. It was a very busy year and things got rather hectic.

This year, in addition to Hyde, we had Jekyl (and even Jekyl Jr!) running at a few different events.
Besides myself, we also had four other drivers competing in Jekyl.

I suspect we will see more of Jekyl getting into the action in 2007, especially since the car has been
(I think we're just waiting for him to get his driver's suit since set up to go hillclimbing!
At this time, there is a driver (a fellow board member) that is considering going for the Hillclimb CSP championship in Jekyl. We'll have to wait and see if that happens. Otherwise, Jekyl will be my back up SM2 car if Hyde can't make an event.



Results:
2006 NEPA SCCA SM2 Champion & 2006 SCCA Pennsylvania Hillclimb SM2 Champion
16 events (in Hyde), 13 wins and 5 records
5 events in Jekyl (two 2nds and two 3rd places, 4 different drivers)
1 events in Jekyl Jr. (1st place and FTD)
1 events in Kupop's MR2 (2nd place)
More in-depth results here.

Hyde:
6 SCCA Hill Climbs ~ 6 wins and 4 new SM2 hill records
6 SCCA Solo 2s ~ 4 wins and two 2nds
1 road race event
1 drag racing event ~ open track
2 car shows - (1st places) Best Modified MR2 @ Kingston '06 and Best Engine at the GenX Car Show & Sound Off

Jekyl:
1 hillcimb - 2nd place (driven by Scott Barton a.k.a. sab0276)
3 autocrosses ~ one 2nd place (driven by me) and two 3rds places (driven by Kevin Tulay a.k.a. Kupop and Mark Shellhamer a.k.a. MShellhamer
1 road course - Fabi Circuit @ the Kingston 2006 MR2 Meet driven by David Hawkins.

Jekyl Jr.:
1 autocross ~ 1st place and FTD in the snow!

Kupop's MR2:
1 autocross ~ borrowed his car to make points and placed 2nd

Events:
24 events entered (17 in Hyde):
7 SCCA Hill Climbs
12 SCCA Solo II Autocross Events
2 cars shows
2 Road race
1 Drag race

Winnings:
6 trophies, one commemorative umbrella and 10 glasses
and $75 or so of prize money.

Expenses:
(does not count the last 3 weeks)
Food: $345.99
Sales/shipping: $990.52 (fees associated with shipping & handling)
Fuel: $1,131.26 (Hyde and the Tow vehicle)
Fees/Memberships: $1,092.95 (includes race fees, memberships & licenses/registrations)
Labor: $4,120.54 (includes dyno time, fabricators, my mech & noshoes)
Parts/Misc $10,247.45
Total: $17,832.21

Income:
(does not count the last 3 weeks)
Winnings: $75.00
Sales: $3,787.92
Sponsorships: $8,685.97
Total: $12,473.89

Problems/Breaks:
Spun a rod on the new engine
Clutch/flywheel set up can't hold the power (Tilton twin-disc on the way)
Tranmission is starting to groan, but still pulling

Coverage:
Featured Ride of the Month on the Speed Lounge
Featured at MR2 Only, the online MR2 Magazine
Featured in the September (first!) issue of the print edition of MR2 Only

It is possible that Hyde will hit the 1/4-mile one more time this year to try to go for a 10-second pass ... we'll see. Otherwise, our season is over.

Hopes and dreams for 2006:
Starting in 2007, we are hoping to travel outside of our region to race.
... maybe Hyde will be coming to your area. The biggest obstacle with
traveling to race is the expenses associated with trailering.

... so the goals for '07:

600+ rwhp
10.5 second 1/4-miles (or quicker)
170+ mph in a 1-mile Land Speed Race in North Carolina
6 SCCA PHA hill climbs with new records
1 Snow Shoe Mountain Hillclimb in West Virginia
3 SCCA Solo 2s
2 Survival of the Imports drag events
1 NMCA True Street drag challenge
1 Track Day

This amazing year was only made possible because of Hyde's sponsors.
I have refered to Hyde as the "community car" on occassion and it is so true.
So many people and business on this board have touched this car in some
way. You would be hard pressed to find a business in the MR2 community
that is not involved with Hyde somehow.

Thank you sponsors!!

Thank you 2006 Jekyl Hyde Racing Sponsors!

NoShoes Speedworks ·ATS Racing
TWOSRUS · TURBOHOSES
Wolfkatz · KBOX
MRControls · MR2OC.COM
Full Race · Spaz Chicken
Spiral Moons · Racing Strong
Safe Drives · Chase Cam
GRT Aerodynamics & TomG · Sandra & not12listen
Heidi Nolen, Jeff Herstine, Ardell & Robert Simon

*And a big thanks to the entire Jekyl Hyde Racing crew

*A huge thanks to MR2OC.COM and it's members for supplying such an awesome source of knowledge.


See how many people have touched this car? ...
... now you know why I say it is the MR2 community's car.

Hyde's successes are the MR2 communities success.

THANK YOU

... one last shameless plug ... 2007 Hyde Calendars can only be ordered until November 10.
The proceeds from this product will go toward the 2007 race season.
Details can be found here: http://www.jekylhyderacing.com/2007_calendar.htm

[Gotian]

Thats a good amount of money, but I bet the year was fun, have fun next year aswell.

[chevytrucks92]

That's cool man. I like reading post like this. Lets other people see how much it really cost to do something like this.

Starting next year, I'm going to keep up with how much it cost for a sportsman to drag race, lol. I could about do it for this year, but it would be VERY INFLATED since I bought a new race car, lol.

[-The Stig-]

Awesome Jeff.

[JekylandHyde]

Thanks guys

chevytrucks92, I would really encourage you to do it.
It puts things into perspective and would really benefit others on here as to what the real world costs are. I'd be curious to see your numbers.

Also, if you can document an income, you can claim your racing as a business which potentially has some very sweet tax benefits

[chevytrucks92]

Well, $45 to enter an event, $25 in buying back in after eliminations start (where I've been racing, this is automatic, we as drivers split the buybacks with each other, meaning I pay your half if I beat you, you pay my half if you beat me-it cost $25 to buy back in, and they have 2 rounds of buybacks), $40 for racing fuel (me and my uncle usually split that however), roughly $40 to buy gas for my truck (that's to fill it up after going and coming home), and then probably $10-15 in food.

Sooo, I spend around $165 to just go to the races!!!! SHEW! And I usually go every weekend during the season, so we're talking easily 20-25 races. So if I only go 20 times a year, that's $3300 to just go and get the time runs, and 3 round of eliminations, or 5-6 runs down the track.

Ok, this past winter/spring, I spent $4875 on a short block and valve springs for a set of heads. Add another $600 or so for lifters and rocker arms. And then I break my first car (Casper, the Vega) and then after setting out for about 2 months, buy a new car ($12,000). Ewww, lol.

Now I havne't been going to the track that I gave the numbers for all year. But I have went there about 6 or 7 times this year BUT I've only raced probably 15 or so times this year because I missed nearly two months because of the breakdown. Anyways, it still cost atleast $120 to just enter a race for me.

And as for sponspors, I have one. Don't get any money, but I do get free vinyl, which as you know, can be pricey.

Sorry to hijack your thread, but I'll keep up with it dollar for dollar next year.

[Chiquae07]

this is a great thread jeff. i like how it shows all the costs of racing for an entire year. now i have an idea about how much it costs for me to go into the field of racing. i think as a common american, i spend over 200 dollars in burgers and fries alone....lol. thats not a true statement. what are the plans for jeckel then? ase your going to build an exact 'replica' as hyde in a way so its not too much different?

[JekylandHyde]

Awesome Chevy ... I think you might be surprised how much it adds up to when you actually document it.

Chiquae07, there are no deifntie plans for Jekyl. We just got the car prepped so I would not miss a hillclimb in the "worst case scenario." As I said above, I have another driver that is considering running Jekyl for the CSP hillclimb championship.

If I keep both of the cars, Jekyl may ... some day ... see a supercharged V6 swap.

[Chiquae07]

ahh. i was wondering if you were going to go the supercharged route, just to be different. that would also bring in more sponsors, since you have both turbo and supercharged mr2s. I'm just waiting for you to open up a shop just for mr2 tuning, as there isnt that much available that im aware of that specializes in mr2s.

[BLU CIVIC]

good information for someone wishing to start a "career" in racing

how much would it cost to get my business name on your car?

[chevytrucks92]

Congrats BTW on winning TWO! championships.

[JekylandHyde]

Originally Posted by Chiquae07

I'm just waiting for you to open up a shop just for mr2 tuning, as there isnt that much available that im aware of that specializes in mr2s.

There's actually quite a few sprinkled around the country ... most of them are my sponsors

Originally Posted by BLU CIVIC

how much would it cost to get my business name on your car?

That would depend on a few things ... what's the business? What's the name? And then it would depend on what location on the car you would like and what is available. If you are serious, please feel free to shoot me an e-mail as to what you are interested in.