Not new to racing, and have done it fairly seriously over the years.
I have one of the most stocked enclosed trailers for spares, tools and equipment in our region and somewhat on the West Coast for my type of racing (Auto-x, track day) and have considerable amount of time in planning, aquisition and preparedness with respect to my own cars and my tools and spares I carry. ie: 3 types of welders, 2 generators, compressors, nitrogen, tools and a LOT of spare race fluids, race spares, and supplies aka wires, fittings, AN supplies, oil/water lines and fittings etc. etc. For me the racing was mainly a hobby/lifestyle, but my main business ended up being car related, so yes I would assist customers at the track "gratis".
My question which has been kind of nagging me for some time now is:
At what point do you draw the line on spending your limited downtime at the track to help and repair people's cars ?? I know there's the "good guy" concept in helping others out that are in need, (trust me - been volunteering my time, money and equipment and skills for over 30 years )...... - but at what point do you draw the line when YOU have spent COUNTLESS hours in building your race program to ensure you have as much success and ability to repair and succeed in case stuff breaks, hundreds of thousands in spares and tools and equipment, and you need your downtime to check, prep, prepare and get yourself and your car(s) ready for the race. When you work in the industry as a skilled mechanic and fabricator and charge accordingly during the week - at what point do you draw the line at the track for your know-how, skills, equipment and inventory of parts needed by people who break-down ??
I mean in the real world, if someone doesn't have the skills or tools, or equipment, they hire someone to repair and replace parts that break - so why is it at the track it would be any different ?
Likewise with borrowing of tools - why is it that you spend tens of thousands on your equipment only for others to ask to borrow and sometimes "abuse" your stuff, return it broken or damaged without informing you and NEVER asking to compensate or for literally saving their bacon so that they can continue to race ??
For those that are in the business of "racing", how do you approach this at the track ?
At one point, I was getting so upset at my crew and or people just helping themselves to my tools that I started asking for driver's licenses or Visa cards to guarantee I was getting my stuff back. (I've had bnib angle grinders, and expensive pliers and more walk away, and just recently had to spend several hundred dollars on drill bits, easy outs and other miscellaneous missing tools out of my race tool box. (I have 4 different boxes at my shop and my trailer, so each is fully stocked with it's own assortment of needed tools, so it's not like I need to go into my trailer box to work on a car in my shop. But when you pay for very expensive argon, and nitrogen and carry a large assortment of synthetic race oils - how hard is it for people asking for supplies to understand that it's not Bank-of-Don and that I had to pay for the stuff including taxes out of my own pocket.
Am I out of line in my line of thought ?
Am I getting old and cranky ?
Am I just being the dink for saying things out loud that have festered for years....
I can see good customers that frequent your shop and purchase goods off you to help feed your kids and pay your mortgage you don't mind being there to see that their weekend is smooth, but when complete strangers that do not support your business are asking for supplies without paying for them........ am I not allowed to say no ?
I have a saying that is true, but will often piss people off.
"Since when does your lack of planning constitute an emergency on MY part ??
.........comments...... thoughts..........flame away.....
don
