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June 21, 2013, 7:39 a.m.
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6/24/2013
By Mike Garrison
LiveRC.com
There are those people in life who work well with others, and then there are those who do not. Lately I have been hearing more and more stories, nationwide, of those who do NOT work well with others. Specifically I am referring to SOME (not all) track owners.
In the United States of America there are 50 states with 2-3 major cities in most. From a business standpoint it only makes sense to do business as close to these major cities as possible, as a higher population most often means higher profits and growth. Like any growing industry, we are beginning to see more and more R/C tracks opening up within or around the same city or area. While this should be a positive thing for our sport, it unfortunately has become a negative in more than one case.
Two track owners are business owners and "competitors" just like two gas station owners. The difference is that the fuel industry is big enough, and there is enough demand, that WITHOUT working together two separate gas stations can survive across the street from one another.
The R/C industry, on the other hand, is a small industry that is continuing to grow. When two track owners treat their business as gas station owners, and do not work together, it separates the racers in the community. This in turn draws less of a turnout for both tracks, and often leads to both tracks closing their doors due to lack of business.
As a former business owner in the R/C industry I fully understand that you have to make money, however, I also see that in this unique industry it takes even the fiercest competitors working together to make it successful and continue to grow.
By no means am I saying that as a track owner you need to be best friends, do dinner once a week, and send Christmas cards to the other track owner across town. What I AM saying is that in order to grow the sport of R/C, try your best to work together. Don't schedule a major race on top of a neighboring track's major race, if possible work together to club race on separate days, work together to offer your racers (and theirs) a series or joint-event between the two tracks, and most of all remember that we want R/C racing to GROW!
Adam Drake and Ryan Maifield are competitors from two different teams, BUT they still turn marshall each others car. Not necessarily by choice, but because working together is part of R/C (and they will lose a lap off their best qualifier if they don't).
The point I am trying to make is that if each major city was limited to one R/C track, there would be roughly 150 tracks total in America. Currently the state of California has 45 alone. As a track owner I understand the need and want for more business and making money, but in my opinion the only way to do so is working together with neighboring tracks. Working together will not only grow the industry as a whole, but grow the R/C community in your area, and in turn grow your business as well.
What are your opinions on multiple tracks in one area? Do more tracks need to work together, and if so, what are some other ways they can do so?
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