[Michael Beard]

I towed roughly the same amount of miles in 2007 as I did in 2004, over 17,000 miles. My fuel cost was about $2,800 then versus $4,500 now. Look at what you have in your whole race operation... $1,700/year is not going to make me stay home.

One big difference is that in 2004, I lived in Ohio. I spent close to $2K in hotels that season. I now live in North Carolina, where I can sleep in my own bed for many races, and spent less than $1K on hotels. How much more would I have to spend on a truck & trailer or a motorhome (and cut my gas mileage in half)? There's no way to justify that except, "I want to." I also run almost twice as many races each year since I moved.

I suspect most people on this board (unless retired) make more money than I do. We're spoiled. We don't have it as bad as we think we do. I'm certainly not saying that I wish it would get worse, but we should take a look at *what* we are doing and *how* we are doing it, and make the most of it. If I can do it, you can too.

The Nat'l/Div'l event circuit is a lot of fun. There's a high cost involved, but the rewards can be great as well. When I wasn't on the road last year running those or big-money bracket races, I loved running at Pageland Dragway in South Carolina, 79 miles from the house. They "only" paid $600 to win, but they ran a quick program, and didn't have two rounds of buybacks that just cost you more money in the long run. They had a reasonable entry fee, and they started paying round money to 2nd round winners. You couldn't *make* a lot of money there, but you couldn't *spend* a lot either! It cost me about $1,000 total to run 13 races at Pageland... and I won more than that by my 2nd trip there.

So, all types of racing are fun. You have to decide what's right for you.

$.02,