Frequently Asked Questions
How can we start Arena Racing USA in my town?
A) First, you need to make sure you can get dates in the local arena. It seems that many arenas have lost anchor tenants with teams and leagues in other sports shutting down and concert tours slowing down. This creates a great time to negotiate a great lease or even potential partnerships with those buildings. In some cases the arena owner may be an individual or group that could invest in your venture so you will both be aligned with the same goal, being profitable.
B) You will need to fill out a license application to qualify your financial status. This requires a non-refundable fee that will be applied to your license fee when approved. This license fee will be growing as time moves forward so those that get in early will benefit the most.
How do I become a driver in this series? I am looking to get involved with racing and this seems to be a good place to start.
A) There are several ways to become a driver. The most used path is to buy a team and own your own car.
B) Work the pit area to try to get in the driver’s seat of an existing team.
C) Seek out an individual or company that wished to own a team to use it for marketing opportunities. This person or group could also fall under the sponsor category but there are times when they step up and buy the team.
How much does it cost to start racing?
We generally use the amount of approximately $17,500.00 to start your own ARENACAR race team. That should cover the car and medallion, radios, firesuit, helmet, 2-way radios, paint and graphics, initial race wheels and tires and a few other initial items. In virtually all other forms of racing, the largest cost of racing is getting to the next race. This means all the costs involved with buying parts that you “think” will make your team faster because you saw them on another car that may have beat you last week. Since we are a “spec” series, this unnecessary spending cannot occur in our series so the largest expense you have when racing in Arena Racing USA is the start up costs. And since we are limited to only 56 teams or less in a city, the value of your team is held or may even increase as the attendance builds in your city since the only way the 57th team owner must buy an existing team to start racing.
That seems pretty expensive, isn’t it?
If you think that $17,500.00 is too expensive to start a race team, you are correct in your situation. We are looking for people that see the value in this investment opportunity. When looking at the big picture of Arena Racing USA and getting to participate in the program that was built for racers, you will then see the outstanding value this opportunity contains. We are not selling a race car for someone to come race, we are looking for racers that understand the ground floor opportunity that Arena Racing USA is and it is only available to the first 56 in each city. The Karters that come into our series are usually our best sales people. When they first look at the cost for the car AND slot (Medallion) and compare it to a new kart then they assume it is too expensive. When they take the leap and get an ARENACAR and Arena Medallion and then get sponsors to cover the costs of racing, they race in front of 4000 screaming fans and get interviewed in front of these fans inside a climate controlled $50million arena and sign more autographs on their first night than they signed in their entire career then they understand that Arena Racing USA is the best deal available.
Can I buy a used car?
Yes you can buy a used ARENACAR™ if and when one becomes available. It will be your responsibility to make sure the car you buy will pass inspection on race day.
Can I buy a car from another city?
That answer is NO. Each car is designated to the city it was purchased in. In the unlikely event that a car is allowed to be transferred to another city, the National Race Director must give that approval after getting the mutual consent from the licensees involved.
Do I have to use a certain type car?
Yes! Only approved cars originally purchased from Arena Racing USA are allowed. This not only controls the money you cannot spend to compete but also makes Arena Racing USA a skill based racing series.
How do I get sponsors?
This is always a popular question without a short answer. But if there needs to be a short answer; Ask EVERYONE and DON’T STOP until you get one or more. There are many companies that would love to brand their business with the #1 Brand Loyal Fan in the world, the race fan. There are companies on the web with programs to aid you in the search for sponsors along with ideas and directions to take when you start out. ASK! ASK! ASK! They are out there.
One simple method used by some existing teams was to find some companies that will give you $100.00 per race for the entire season. Many teams have used this method and some have as many as 7 of these for a season I have been told. Arena Racing USA is built in a way that the sponsor can give a team $100 per event and bring up to 20 people to that event to watch “their” team and meet “their” driver for less than one 4-some round of golf and do it at the time of year that they cannot play golf because of the weather.
What are the facility requirements for a new licensee?
The facility must have 15 dates available between June 1st and March 31st of the following year to conduct the season. The playoffs will take place in April and May as the league grows. They must also have some room for a pit area as well as a hockey size footprint on the Arena floor (200 X 85).
If I own a minor league sports team now, what advantages would it be for me to also own an Arena Racing license?
By adding a racing operations person and potentially one other sales person, the existing staff of receptionist, ticket agent, marketing/advertising staff could handle these duties since Arena Racing USA is only 15 dates per season and some sports operate in opposite times of the year so this could level the cash flow graph in a positive way. Some of the existing sales staff would just have more inventory to sell. Several hockey team owners have mentioned that when they make calls to sponsors and potential fans to get them involved in an event that they are told no for the reason that they are not hockey fans and this will allow them to ask if they like racing and feel that this could be a huge positive when connecting with those that they have never done business with. Also, by having local racers and team sponsors in Arena Racing USA, they feel that they will have the ability to up sell some of them to both sports.
Aren't these cars mini-cup cars? If so, why do they cost so much?
I guess you could call these a mini-cup car but we call them an ARENACAR. They are our version of a mini-cup built exclusively for Arena Racing USA. Some of the parts are the same but as a whole they are different and to uphold our “spec racing” rules and strategy we can only allow ARENACARs to race in our series.
To answer the question about costing so much you need to understand our program. Each city that opens around the globe will sell up to 56 cars AND the 56 Medallions that go with them. These Medallions are the value and security each team has in Arena Racing USA. As the fans fill up the seats and the Medallions are sold out the value should increase as the only way the 57th owner can get into our sport will be to go thru the pits and buy someone’s team OR a team can be permanently “kicked out” of Arena Racing USA for certain rule violations and an opening could be created that way too. This should increase the value of these teams/Medallions dramatically.
So to simply put it, when you buy into the “Arena Racing USA Program”, you will own something that should increase in value as this sport and league grow.
This series was created by a person that witnessed many friends go broke in the sport of Auto Racing. Arena Racing USA was designed with that in mind and with the desire for this to “Work for the Racer”! And it does!! We are willing to challenge any racing series of any kind as being the “Best Value” available.
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