Own your own Race Track - Mid America Motorplex is up for Auction

[XDCX]

I was surfing Proxibid.com this weekend and noticed that one of their featured auctions was for a race track near Pacific Junction, Iowa.

Here's a link to the Proxibid listing for Mid America Motorplex - click here

The current pre-bid is at $380,000 and the auction starts at 10:00 a.m on Saturday, November 23rd. (Initially I thought it was a no-reserve auction but when I read the fine-print I determined the seller retains the right to reject any and all bids.)

I have no idea if there's any money to be made owning a race track but it does seem like it would be a fun business for a "car guy" to run.

Any bets on what the top bid will be when the auction closes?

[steve_biegler]

I have driven past this many times. Nice looking place. The listing is hard to read, not sure if its 205 total or 205 plus the 110. I have to guess farmland there has to be at least 8,000.00 to 10,000.00 per acre, so the math says 1.64 million to 2.05 million just for the dirt, and I hate to say it but I think it will, or at least most of it will become crop land. If you have to add the 110 to those numbers they need to be doubled.
We have a customer that has raced bikes there and he said they plant corn in the infield of the road race portion and his son would have to look through the stalks for the action on the exit of the corner. Sounds like fun!

[jayhawk]

fun track to drive, seems prone to flooding, hate to see it go back to crops. road course seems to be rented out most weekends apr. through oct.. would assume the drag strip stays busy with local action.
the old saw on racetracks seems to be, the third or fourth owner has a good shot at making some cash. heartland park topeka rents the road course for 22k per weekend, gateway [st l.] rents its road course for 13k per weekend and people fight for dates.

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by steve_biegler

I have driven past this many times. Nice looking place. The listing is hard to read, not sure if its 205 total or 205 plus the 110. I have to guess farmland there has to be at least 8,000.00 to 10,000.00 per acre, so the math says 1.64 million to 2.05 million just for the dirt, and I hate to say it but I think it will, or at least most of it will become crop land. If you have to add the 110 to those numbers they need to be doubled.
We have a customer that has raced bikes there and he said they plant corn in the infield of the road race portion and his son would have to look through the stalks for the action on the exit of the corner. Sounds like fun!

I agree the listing is confusing. My impression is that the total acreage is 205 and only 25 acres is used by the race track.

It will be interesting to see what Mid America Motorplex sells for but I'm guessing that most of the value will be for the farming land and the race track will command a minimal premium - if any at all.

Hopefully the race track will remain open and become a viable business for the new owner.

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by jayhawk

the old saw on racetracks seems to be, the third or fourth owner has a good shot at making some cash.

That's interesting - I guess the first two or three owners burn up their time and capital getting the facility built and operational and then then sell it at a loss to the next owner who manages to make it work because he/she owns the business at a lower cost.

[57years]

How much state (taxpayer) money to build infrastructure, manage crowds, back bonds..etc. is going to be lost?

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by 57years

How much state (taxpayer) money to build infrastructure, manage crowds, back bonds..etc. is going to be lost?

Unlike General Motors and Chrysler it doesn't appear the tax payers will lose a single dime on this deal.

I was initially thinking the auction for the race track must be due to bankruptcy or foreclosure but based on a news report I just watched it appears the current owner just wants to go a different direction and decided to sell the track. For a link to the local TV News Report - click here

I'd love to see the Financial Statement for a race track. I'm betting the largest expense, by far, would be debt service and property taxes on the land/facility. Insurance would likely be expensive, but I get the impression that labor costs would be manageable because there's a pool of people who would be willing to work for cheap/free just to be part of the racing experience.

I doubt a race track owner could generate much revenue by hosting the Friday Night Drags, but as Jayhawk mentioned above I bet there is some money that could be earned by renting the track out on weekends to the Viper Club, Corvette Club, BMW group, etc.

[57years]

The reason I asked...local 2 1/2 mile speedway got two extra lanes on I-71, 4 lane access roads rebuild to parking lots, a second interchange, a two lane road rebuild from Indiana to track ( 15 miles), government bond funding from the local county (not guaranteed but interest tax exempt), and more. Sure created a 100 part time minimum wage jobs for 6 days a year. This was before the term "shovel ready" was invented.

[tnpartsguy]

The 'New" Nashville track remains closed; it's not a good time to be a track owner, in the end the Dover Speedway people will lose a ton on the Nashville Track just in property taxes and having to keep the place under guard.

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by tnpartsguy

The 'New" Nashville track remains closed; it's not a good time to be a track owner, in the end the Dover Speedway people will lose a ton on the Nashville Track just in property taxes and having to keep the place under guard.

Right at the peak of NASCAR's popularity there was a movement in Western Washington to build a major track out here. As I recall, there was even a proposition on the ballot.

I supported the idea of a major NASCAR track but it's probably best that they never built it. Between NASCAR's drop in popularity and Western Washington's non-stop crappy weather it probably would have been a money-losing venture for the community.

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by steve_biegler

I have to guess farmland there has to be at least 8,000.00 to 10,000.00 per acre, so the math says 1.64 million to 2.05 million just for the dirt, and I hate to say it but I think it will, or at least most of it will become crop land.

That was a great guess - according to the auction results the Race Track sold for $1,460,000 - that's just a little bit under the low side of your estimate.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the Race Track and whether the new owner intends to keep it operational or whether it will revert back to farm land.

It's also not 100% certain that the bid of $1,460,000 will be accepted - they seller retained the right to reject any and all bids.