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LThe Hartford Courant
Shawn Courchesne | Auto Racing

The Backstretch

July 7, 2007

The $100k Club



July 7, 2007 on 10:45 am | In Main, Local |
Well, it wasn't earth-shattering but Lime Rock Park owner Skip Barber made some news this morning when he announced the creation of The Club at Lime Rock Park.

I won't get into a long-winded description of all the details but suffice it to say the club will cost $100,000 to join and will offer its members (300 maximum and all enthusiasts, not professional or amateur racers) "significant track time with 60 dates annually to choose from while also enjoying the company of like-minded enthusiasts."

Barber said for years he's had a standing offer from a buyer who wants to turn the gorgeous 350-acre property into an upscale golf course with condos on the hills overlooking the bowl the park is located on. A former racer and former owner of Skip Barber Racing Schools, Barber said he does not want that to happen.

"It's no problem as long as I'm around," said Barber, 70, at a news conference at the infield chalet. "But 15 years and two owners from now that offer will still be out there." The park is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, but in recent years it has not been very profitable. Barber said income from the club would provide a capital infusion for much needed improvements to the park's aging facilities.

Local residents will no doubt wonder whether the new club's activities will have an impact on a 1959 injunction against Sunday racing. No, Barber said. Will it have any affect on the 10 unmuffled weekends of racing the track is allowed? No, the club's cars will all be muffled, Barber answered. The club's first full season will be 2008, but there are four dates reserved this fall for qualified club applicants to sample the facilities. A full report will follow in Thursday's LJ print edition.

6 Comments

1. Many of the people who race at Lime Rock love the place and have the dough to ante up for this sort of club, especially since they already pay for track time. However, it will inevitably lead to larger demand for track days, more noise for the rest of us, despite the current assertion that this will not happen. When you pay $100K for a privilege, you tend to want to act on it when you feel like it; control will inevitably shift to the people paying the bills. Maybe then a golf course won't sound like such a bad idea.
   
   Tom
   
   Comment by Tom Shachtman - July 7, 2007 #
   
   
2. Tom,
   
   From the descriptions I was given it sounds more like their target market will be "enthusiasts" rather than racers - e.g. hedge fund managers in Darien, who might want to take some days off during the week and feel like racers and perhaps get some instruction. But you're right. The people paying the big bucks often tend to be the ones who start calling the shots (eventually).
   
   Comment by Terry - July 7, 2007 #



3. From the press materials, it looks to me like Terry is absolutely correct - the target market for this is NOT professional or amateur racers, but enthusiasts.
   
   Given some of the alternatives, such as a new "entrepreneurial" owner who wanted to milk the track and push us country folk around, this proposition looks like the best of all possible worlds. It looks to me like Skip has his head on absolutely straight.
   
   Comment by Geoff Brown - July 7, 2007 #



4. Seems like a sensible and even moderately priced idea compared to the kind of bank-busting that money golf clubs charge for membership.
   
   Condos around the grounds also seem sensible, and it wouldn't have to be a golf course for that to happen; in the south, race "enthusiasts" already buy condos around their favorite tracks.
   
   If such condos were built, maybe it would push up values of properties around the track, which could lead to an interesting conundrum for property owners who protest the track and say it brings down their property values: What if the condos became so desirable (look at Lion's Head!) that Lime Rock property owners found themselves with properties so valuable their tax assessments went way up?
   
   Comment by cynthia hochswender - July 8, 2007 #



5. I guess I just don't "get it" when it comes to The Track vs. The Residents. I've read reams of material in the 18 years I've lived here and the debate regarding respective interests has always seemed a no-brainer: if the noise of the track bothers you, don't live where you can hear it.
   
   When you buy or rent a residence in Lime Rock, the track comes with it. Lime Rock Park adds a great deal of aesthetic ambience and economic well-being to this town; the time to oppose a facility like this is before it is built.
   
   To wish for a golf course and even more multi-million dollar houses to replace a business which contributes to the local economy only serves to widen an already humongous economic gap bertween Salisbury's "haves" and "have nots." It's a short-sighted paean to heavy-handed self-interest.
   
   Comment by Doug Richardson - July 8, 2007 #
6. Doug, you and I not infrequently come down on opposite sides of issues, but on this one I agree wholeheartedly with you. I could not have said it better, or even as well as you have. Amen!
   
   Comment by Geoff Brown - July 8, 2007 #
   
   http://tcextra.com/terrycowgill/2007/07/07/the-100k-club/