2005 was a huge year for me in terms of work load.
Jeff Balla decided that he was getting out of sportbikes and Nick DeVink had moved back to France. Over the winter I made an agreement to bring WERA National racer and all around good guy Nathan Dressman on as Lead Instructor while Frank took over track management for me. Tim Whitaker from the Toledo Sportbike riders joined me to assit the race team and marketing and we added TSBR rider Mike Keene to the instructional staff.
At the end of 2004 I thought the work load I was carrying had begun to wear on me a little and I had hoped to smooth that outin 2005.
Problem was that 2005 became another story all together with the number of things I had on my plate. As it turned out I had a very overloaded schedule before the year started. I was working full time as a PC Technician, Network Administrator and Web Designer, as well as running Trackoholics and Trackoholics Racing, both of which we had really expanded on. I was also flying back and forth to California and working with the Aaron and Matt to get Take it 2 the Track trackdays off the ground. I had also began to explore my future in karting by sampling a few karts and kart tracks while I was on the road.
My plate was overflowing and I was pretty much living on the road when I wasn't working my real job. Karoline and I had made the decision over the summer that if we were going to continue on with Trackoholics that we would add venues for 2006. By mid summer we were talking with six or seven track owners about track rental and we had all but agreed to dates and tracks for 2006. However by the end of the year I was just burnt out on motorcycling and travel and I decided that it was time for me to cut back a little. My riding had began to suffer as did my fitness and I really felt like I needed a break and so in december Karoline and I decided that the time to shut down Trackoholics had come. We decided to sell off the trackday and race team assets and concentrate on Take it 2 the Track which was still in it's initial growth stages..
The flip side of this was that I was really enjoying the west coast and my work with Matt, Aaron and Ti2TT and so decided to head in that direction. This course would allow me to do some riding and I would have more karting opportunities. That was the deciding factor to shut Trackoholics down in the Mid West.
Racing wise Trackoholics Racing had a pretty good year. The team of Bojan Miljkovic, Dave Theil, Jonas McCluskey did a good job throughout the year with Jonas winning the WERA 750 Superbike title. Nathan Dressman along with the Arnchu/Trackoholics boys finished second in the WERA National Endurance series which was a bonus.
Bojan had thrown in the towel after a major bike destroying crash at Mid Ohio and Dave who was running top three and challenging for wins by years end suffered a huge crash when he was taken out by another rider at the last race weekend of the year.
During his hospital trip and stay it was discovered that Dave had a big tumor growing within his brain and around his ear. After successful surgey he decided to run a limited 2006 schedule. At that point we disbanded the team and sold off the assets.
I think overall what Karoline and I set out to do with Trackoholics was a huge success. Our running of Limited rider trackdays was very successful and we had built a nice client base of riders who became our friends and family who showed their support for us at every event.
We were able to keep prices down, offer a really good lunch program and give riders a whole lot of room on the racetrack while making a profit. This idea was something that lager vendors poo pooed, said was not possible. We did however use some of the profits from Trackoholics to help and support a few racers who in turn won some races for us and met a hell of a lot of really good people along the way.
In the end some folks hated me and some folks liked me. The bottom line was that Karoline and I stepped up, put our asses on the line financially, not to mention the liability issues and did what we said we would do. Ran limited rider events with sucess. Running trackday events when you are running more than one or two events, and when you have a staff of more than two or three people is not as easy as some people make it out to be. There is no question that I respect thosemega vendors who run trackday events, and that includes STT, Nesba or any other for "maximum profit" vendor. I just want to clarify my thoughts on why we started our company "Trackoholics" and it was not to become rich. We ran it to have fun and to try and keep the number of riders on the track to a minimum while still having fun. From a money stand point that is completely the opposite of a STT or a Nesba as examples. A good majority of trackday vendors are in it for "maximum profit" and to make a living and thats fine by both Karoline and I. We set out to do just the opposite of them and I think we achieved that without going broke, in fact closing down the company with $30,000 dollars profit in the bank.
I'd be remiss if I did not thank those people/riders who were a big part of Trackoholics and worked for us as track staff and the racers on our race team. So here it is.
Thank you to in no particular order. Matt and Caroline Blom, Jeff and Candy Balla, Patrick Hurley, Nick DeVink, Dave Solo, Kris Killen, Matt Pawluk, Matt Willis, Jen Ramey, Nathan Dressman, Bojan Miljkovic, Don Proctor, Dave and Chris Theil, Mike Keene, Jonas McCluskey, Linus Caballa, Frank Fisher, Jimmy Skrinner, Matt McGinnis, TSBR, Chuck Piotrowski, Dave Lang and my wife Karoline who is simply awesome with money, her love and her time! Thank you all.
Thanks also to some of the really cool sponsors we had. Chris Jensen at SBS/Ohlins, Steve Turner at Bridgestone, Chris Van Andel at Motion Pro, RK Chain, Brad Reese, June Kushitani at Kushitani, Don Proctor atDP Powersports, Chuck Ramas at Motorex, Everyone at Vortex, Tom Beagle at Honda East, and all of the folks at Braking USA
Jim and Karoline
