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.
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Eric@Helix New MemberMotoring Alliance Founding Sponsor
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I'm sorry to see any track have to close but Miller just never did it for me.
Way, way too flat. -
mrntd Well-Known MemberSupporting Member
- Sep 30, 2011
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It may have been flat but it was big and had a lot of good turns.
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N2MINI MINI of the Month
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..
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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. -
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. -
N2MINI MINI of the Month
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..