Ok, my latest Walter Mitty moment driving back from Denver.
How cheaply can you do one of the classic American races? What would a GRM like try at Indy, or Daytona, or Sebring look like?
I've been reading a bunch of welding, chassis design, and race car building books. I started thinking about how cool it would be to do one of these classic races on the cheap. Build or prep a car, gather it all together with a bunch of like minded fools, and go out and have the time and memory of a lifetime.
Could you do one of these for $50K? Would you need $100K, or maybe double that? How cheap could you do Indy for? I mean, that's a lot of money, but not an insurmountable amount.
So help me flesh this out for the fun of it. Oh, and by the way, who wants to pit crew?
Does this fanciful effort have to actually make the field, or is it enough to just show up and practice, then pack up and go home after you run 50 MPH off the pole pace in qualifying?
Even the latter scenario is going to be pricy, just because the requirements of the competition license mean that you're not going to be able to get away with just entering this race alone. Or, you hire a licensed (pro) driver to pilot, so you are immediately adding some salary there. Then again, I hear Jeremy Mayfield will race for food.
About 15 years ago we ran the Busch race at Daytona. We spent about $50k for the week, started next to last and finshed last blowing an engine on the first lap. I would imagine it would be quite a bit more now, especially a race like Sebring where you will need 12 hours worth of tires assumng you don't blow up right away.
Well Indy will cost you just as much as the next guy! 
buy two Dallara chassis, and sign a one month lease with Honda for an engine agreement.
Daytona might be a bit cheaper, but you would need alot of spares.
our old race team spent 50k on tires alone for the 24 hour race weekend at Daytona, and that was with us double stinting tires...
I'm positive that the 12 Hours of Summit could be done for far less.
And it's a more realistic goal than the real pro races.
~12 Hours Summit~
Ditto the ~25 Hours of Thunderhill~
Also, ~The Longest Day~
Note that I have covered east, west and center of USA.
The summit 12 is limited to stock classes right? Could be done pretty cheaply. Maybe.
Yeah, I thought Indy would be way to much, can't just get an old chassis and stick any old motor in there, has to be the chosen one
What I think I want doesn't exist anymore, build a prototype car, grab a big fat low tech v8, and run it in a classic race. The old Can Am would be almost exactly what I was looking for, or maybe the IMSA prototype stuff from the 80's.
On a more realistic note, the above races look more doable. Maybe a more Trans Am type of car?
Still, the day dream had me building an Indy car from scratch and finishing on the podium (3rd) for less than the cost of one of Penske's trailors
You could also just rent a seat. No, you wouldn't own the car, but you'd probably get to use better equipment. Interesting debate.
DWNSHFT
New Reader
7/14/09 1:46 p.m.
You could run the 25 Hours of Thunderhill for well under $10,000. Maybe $5,000? Basically build a LeMons car without the silliness and get volunteer drivers and crew. Live cheap at the track and I bet you could do it for under $5,000 including the car. Not including driver's safety wear and licensing.
David
And Thunderhill or one of the other endurance races is a more likely scenario for me.
But there would be something so cool and so satisfying in running a truly classic race. Yeah, probably won't happen. But man, what if it did?
David, renting a ride may be exactly the way to go. Buy a seat in the Daytona 24, that would be a hoot 
