Here is my opinion and I have been racing for a long time. Do not offer or do some sort of buy in to the car. It never works out in the long run. Look for a partner that can help cover part of the race expenses, Knows how to prep and can commit to prepping the car, bring knowledgeable crew members, has a pre-runner they can bring to the team, owns pit equipment ect...
My race team is owned by me and a good friend. To insure our friendship is never ruined by racing we made it where he owns the race car, I own the pre-runner and we both own the spares or pit equipment. All sponsor money/product, contingency and prize money goes directly back into the team, not someones pocket. Now lets say I want out of the team. I do have possession of the pre-runner and some of the equipment/spares purchased together. But the cars are still left intact. He can still race the car and I can still drive a pre-runner. Nothing is being parted out.
If I was part owner of the race car and wanted out. My partner would either have to buy me out or part the car out, as I would want my parts back. At that point no one wins. He has a set of shocks, seats, motor ect... You have a chassis, trans ect... Most all partnerships have a beginning and a end. The biggest problem is most of the time both dont agree when is the end, and who gets what.
Also make part of you partnership agreement known that any broken parts or damage are split 50/50. I know this might sounds strange, but it works. You cant blame a guy if the motor blows. That stuff happens and it could have been anyone driving. Heck it could have been damaged when you were driving and it finally let go when he was driving. Flat tires and bent wheels are part of the sport. Get over the small broken parts and just figure it is going to cost both parties. Now if the guy is constantly wreaking or wadding the car up, then maybe you need to consider your driver/partner line up and cut the guy loose. Thus why 1 guy should own the car.
Her is an example I had. I rolled our 5/1600 at the 500. Even though we are partners and split the cost, I stepped up and paid for the fab to put a new roof on the car. But we both took time to go out and find / buy a new roof. We split the cost of paint and so on. But the actual fab I paid as I did the damage. Our relationship is strong enough to know when to own up to your mistake and when we know it is a teams deal and as a team we fix it together. Another example is we had shock issues on the prerunner. We were able to take one of our spare shocks and rebuilt / revalve it and put it on the pre-runner. As a team we cover the expenses on both vehicles as both are a vital part of the team.
But like I said I have been doing this for a long time and have learned this seems to be the best situation for most.
