By Grace Jones | posted on May 23, 2019
RACEWARS organisers have revealed the motorsport event’s fate hinges on receiving third party financial support after suffering a loss of more than $70,000 from this year’s meet.
On day two of the event in March this year, Albany-raised Brody Ford, 26, fatally crashed a 2010 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 at the Albany Regional Airport during Racewars (‘Racewars fatality under investigation’, 7 March).
On a Facebook post that has garnered support from petrol heads across the state, a Racewars spokesperson said they had suffered a “record loss” after being forced to close on that Sunday, their biggest day of trade.
“That loss is not insurable, we also do not wish to pursue recovery action to recoup that loss,” they said.
“We’re not that kind of event, we’re firmly community minded and we’ve got a heart.
“This means Racewars has outstanding financial commitments it cannot currently meet in spite of emergency loans from members of the event team.
“Racewars remains in negotiations with its creditors to resolve all outstanding invoices and is seeking support both from the council and commercial partners to stay solvent.”
The Racewars spokesperson said the event’s survival depended on the outcome of negotiations and without assistance “will be wound up”.
“We’ve now laid out our position and put everything out on the table, so now we lay out what the vision is to go forward,” they said.
“Our belief is that we can obtain the support from both State and local government and commercial partners and [that] we cannot just save the event, we can grow the event.
“The only way forward for us is to keep working and keep doing all we can to support the motorsport community and our host community.”
Minister for Sport and Recreation Mick Murray said the State Government had recently signed a financial agreement to commit $5.75 million for the development of a motorsport facility in Albany.
Minister Murray said the State Government would be unlikely to fund a race meet not sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) and the Australian National Drag Racing Association (ANDRA), such as Racewars.
“CAMS and ANDRA are two key regulatory bodies in Australia with responsibility for the development, regulation and administration of motorsport,” he said.
“Although it is not compulsory to gain CAMS or ANDRA sanctioning for a race meet to occur, I would encourage organisers of motorsport events to make safety their highest priority.
“It is unlikely the State Government would fund a race meet not sanctioned by the internationally recognised regulatory bodies.”
Minister Murray said the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries nor himself had received a formal request for funding or sponsorship from Racewars this year.
City of Albany Mayor Dennis Wellington said Racewars organisers would not receive assistance from the City until they are able to provide assurances and evidence that they are able to remain financially viable into the future.
“The City of Albany is aware of Racewars’ financial situation and remains open to considering support for future events, but it is not Council’s role to underwrite debt owed to creditors for third-party events,” he said.
“There is a lot of support in the motorsport community for the Racewars event, and we hope they are able to resolve their current financial issues and continue to run successful events in the years ahead.
“We’ve been very supportive of Racewars and provided significant support since it came to Albany to provide a venue of resources, and complete infrastructure upgrades to make it a success.”
Racewars event director Jon Murray said their current financial position had them owing approximately $50,000 to external parties and approximately $20,000 to event staff who had lent money to cover some invoices.
“It’s clear that Racewars is socially sustainable,” he said.
“The response to our posts and your ongoing support indicates that socially the event is viable and has a bright future.
“Put simply, without long term funding arrangements from both commercial and government sources Racewars is not financially viable.”
Mr Murray said they accepted to run Racewars with low cost and high value.
“We knew there was risk with that but the trade off in having a larger audience was deemed worth the risk,” he said.
“What is clear is that this model works for you, and works for the community but does not work for us unless we have significant third party support to supplement the event’s revenues.
“We’re all happy to commit our time, our efforts and our variety of skills to the cause.
“What we’ve unanimously agreed on is we no longer wish to do so and then have to pick up the tab for it afterwards.”
Racewars will table a proposal to the City of Albany at their next council meeting on May 28 for a three-year deal to secure the event’s future.
“All we can ask for is the vote on the 28th to be favourable and then we can get down to work our plan to deliver on our vision for 2020, 2021 and 2022 and hopefully beyond,” Mr Murray said.