Pinecrest- To answer your questions....
I do not know if I have been lucky when it comes to rentals, but so far we have had a great record.
Honestly, I have rented CASCAR/NASCAR cars for 5 years, and the biggest bill I ever had to give for damage was maybey $3500.00, but the average is around $1000.00, and that included paint, decals, parts and labour.
The biggest part of any bill is what you wore out, and in my case that will run you another $600.00 average because we replace the bearings, the braking system where needed, and the suspension componets that need attention. Its based on when you jump in the car it has to be ready to go.
Motors we do every 3rd race at an average rebuild cost of $15,000.00 to $30,000.00 and I have never charged for a Motor- but the first kid that destroys a motor due to neglect is going to pay the bill.
Even when I raced in the IRL, The rental rides were great, and I mean great !!
We had struggled in the IRL in '99 and the spring of 2000, but once I made the decision to run other drivers, the whole thing turned around.
Lazier, Hamilton and Harrington were all real race car drivers and when they came on with me, we just seamed to gel. Lazier's ride with us showed the world that you can go from the back to the front as many times as you want, and that is just what Jacques did, 3 times, all in a rental ride program.
Lazier went onto drive for Menard's- his first time being paid as a race car driver job !!, and today he still races as one of the very best Indy Car drivers I have ever seen.
My point is, I came back to Canada to enjoy racing, bring out nice equipment, and give drivers a shot at proving to themselves what they were made of.
If a driver comes to me for a ride he must have #1- past pr oven experience, #2-no hero attitude,
#3- money to do the deal that is either your own, or coming from a sponsor.
Any driver that comes to me and says he's wiling to Mortgage his house, or, I am borrowing the money from my Grandmother, or the best one of all time.... Do you take VISA ???
Answer to #1 through #3 will get you no where with me.
I rent rides at cost, or a loss, because somewhere out there is the next Jeff Gordon or Danica Patrick and I want to be a part of that because racing is racing, someone wins- and someone losses, but all in all at the end of the day you can always look back and say we gave it our best.
David:
Glad to see things are going well up in the Great White North. People, I worked on David's IRL team from its inception in 1999. You WILL NOT find a guy more committed to racing and the people he works with than Dave Didero. This guy is the real deal. His puts his heart and soul into every event, and to date was the best owner I ever worked for. Even though it has been 7 years, I still consider David one of the best guys I ever met while racing and wish he had never stopped his Indy Car pursuits and headed back up north.
Take care Dave, give me a call at the shop when you get a chance.
Ricky ( Your favorite Rightrear tire changer from Chicago !! )
Midamerica. Just a question after paying out $25000 dollars to rent one of your cars, you still expect to get paid for wear and tear on the car? I wouldn't call that damage I would call it part of the deal, What does the inital 25K cover.
First off, I would like to say thanks to Rightrear for all of the compliments and friendship.
Racing to me is a way of life, and having someone of your talent on my team made racing that much better. For those that do not know Rick I will tell you this.
Besides being one of the greatest guys I have ever known, he was by far the very best Tire Changer I ever had in Indy Car Racing. Imagine an Indy Car coming down pit road and as soon as it hits the entry line of the pit stall you have this crazy guy who jumps in the air- catches the rear wing on the way by that turns him into the right rear, doing all this at the same time holding onto his air gun, and folks were talking air gun- not the little 1/2 guns we use in NASCAR, but a 3/4 impact gun which is used in the IRL.
Rick was a key element to making a 12 second pit stop- 4 tires, fuel, and a wing adjustment.
Try and do that on a Stock Car. Again, Rick Clement was, and is a true professional.
Second point is for Platterman:
The rental deal at $25,000 includes your basic wear and tear- Brakes, Clutch, Bearings, Rotors, Motor, Tires, Rad, and Gear Set. The only other charge is if you wreck and that usually is Tubing, Suspension parts, Body, Paint and what ever else you wad up. There is no hidden cost as you get copy's of the bills if you think your being ripped. I don't believe in ripping people off, and at $25,000 I would expect the very best equipment available, and that is what we offer.
Both Rick and I have seen some pretty shady deals in our time where car owners would rent you an IRL car knowing it would crash, blowup, or just not make the show.
Hey Rick... Can you say McCormick !!! That wasn't fair or was it !!
P.S. Rightrear- We were close on a deal for this years Indy but ran out of time. I am working on 2008 for the Indy 500, and maybey the whole season in the IRL. I will keep you posted and if it happens you know where you will be without a doubt.
One more thing I want to point out to you people. When you go to Indy it is by far the glamor race everyone thinks it is. Its 16 hour days- 7 days a week for the month of May. I remember one time we had started at 4:00AM, the day before qualifying and at 7:PM I sent everyone back to the hotel to get some rest, but we still had allot to do to the car, so I decided I would stay and work right through the night.
Although Rick was as tired as me he insisted that he stay and work along side me. When the Team showed up in the morning, we had everything done and I know if Rick wouldn't have stayed we would have never made it. That my friends is DEDICATION at its best.