Miller Motorsports Park says it will cease operations on October 31, 2015. This confirmation comes via the park's website, which posted a short statement about the sad news. "On behalf of my family, I would like to thank all of those who have supported the track over the years, both locally and worldwide, for their enthusiasm and use of the facility," Gail Miller, owner of the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies, wrote on the Miller Motorsports Park website. The 500-acre motorsports park in Tooele, UT opened in 2006, and has housed a number of races, driving schools, and private events throughout the years. Autoblog has visited the facility, about a dozen miles west of Salt Lake City, on several occasions, most recently last year, when we participated in the Ford ST Octane Academy. "This is a huge disappointment," Tooele County Commissioner Shawn Milne told The Salt Lake Tribune. "The racetrack is top notch, and we appreciate the tourism it brings in." The Tribune also reports that no one from the park or the Miller family gave Tooele County any notice that the facility would be shutting down. The facility will still hold all racing events, driving schools, karting events, and other activities planned for this summer.
My first thought was that there would be a buyer for the business, but I'm wondering if we have found saturation in the track business in the US. Like casinos, it may be that we are in a cycle of musical chairs with track openings and closings. Looking at the Millenials' interest in cars, I would be careful to invest in a track venture going forward.
Lasted just under 10 years. Wonder how many of those were profitable.. It's hard to make a go of it without a least a few BIG events a year.. and even then you need the weekly and monthly smaller events going on.. along with your members only events assuming you have a lot of members..
According to reports it was never profitable. The track was originally conceived as a novelty track for Larry H. Miller, owner of the NBA's Utah Jazz and various automobile dealerships in the area, to use as a personal playground, with a budget of about $5 million. Due to enormous local motorcycle and auto industry support the concept gradually grew into an $85 million plus project, one of a kind in the U.S.
Makes you wonder how the private tracks like Monticello and Autobahn keep in business. At least VIR and NOLA host some racing series.
Monticello is 90 min from NYC so has a very large and wealthy market to draw from. The most basic membership has a $40,000 Initiation Fee and Annual Dues of $3,800. Autobahn is only an hour from Chicago, again an area with many high net worth individuals. Membership has a $35,000 Initiation Fee and Annual Dues of $5,000. Miller is a track built for one man as a vanity project. It survived only because Larry Miller wanted it and covered the costs out of pocket. Once he passed the family didn't care.
True, but it makes you wonder if a track like Mid-Ohio could go the route of VIR and NOLA and have a lower membership fee.
I'd do the same thing if I won the $600 million lottery!!! There are plenty of tracks that have been around a long time but they mostly all have big events to help carry the lean months. I personally think if the smaller budget track could do like the "Ring" and open it once a month on the cheap to anyone and everyone it would help. BUT that is tough to do with us sue happy people in America.. It might help get some people interested in doing a more structured track day event, which in turn costs more money but makes more money for the track.. VIR has been getting more and more magazines renting the track for their road tests..