A Decision To Be Made In Quincy

Racing friend Gary Lee this week called to my attention a story written by “Stevie Dirt” in regard to the possibility that the Quincy Raceways may drop the IMCA sanctioning for Late Models in 2012. One of the reasons for considering the possibility is the uncertainty of the situation at the two IMCA Late Model tracks to the north of Quincy as both 34 Raceway and the racing operations of the Lee County Speedway are currently up for sale. As the southern most sanctioned track, Quincy could find itself completely separated from the rest of the IMCA tracks if neither Burlington or Donnellson run late models on a regular basis in 2012. Alternate sanctioning bodies being considered at Quincy are the UMP and the ULMA with the ULMA currently being thought of as the front-runner if a change is to be made. The ULMA Late Models are very similar to the IMCA rules package and the track could potentially then draw in cars that compete weekly on Friday nights at Callaway Raceway in Fulton, Missouri.

A message from the promoters of 34 Raceway on the track’s website indicates that if the track is not sold by December that they plan to see everybody once again in the spring of 2012. And as potentially one of the very few weekly shows in the area next year given the uncertainties in Donnellson, Columbus Junction, Eldon, Bloomfield, Memphis and even Oskaloosa, the prospects would look pretty good there, except in the Late Model division if a change is made in Quincy. Seven of the top fifteen in the 2011 Late Model point standings at 34 Raceway would consider Quincy as there home track, so if those drivers convert to another sanction they would likely be no shows at 34 on Saturday nights making a significant dent in a car count that started out at 22 on the opening night of points this season and faded to as low as 11 on a Saturday night in July.

I completely understand why Quincy is considering their options as despite a combination points package with 34 this past season, they saw little if any support from the drivers based to the north so they cannot assume that those drivers will decide to race at Quincy in 2012 if their options are further limited. If they think that there will not be weekly IMCA Late Model racing at 34 in 2012, then a switch to the ULMA would appear to be the most reasonable choice, however Quincy will not know that piece of the puzzle until at least December.

So let’s take this to the next step and assume that Quincy announces the change to the ULMA. Does 34 Raceway, whomever runs the track in 2012, consider the same move in order to keep nearly 50% of their car count from this past season? If so this combination of events would be a very significant blow to the IMCA Late Model division as it would lose several licensed drivers as well as two of its premier events on the Summer Series schedule with the Slocum 50 and the Pepsi USA Nationals.

This will definitely be a story to watch over the next couple of months.