First it was Sunset Speedway, the Omaha track that the Kosiski family "owned" at least when it came to performance. It was actually the Kelley family that held out as long as possible before the ever growing city swallowed it up. Now it is I-80 Speedway, the track that is owned by Joe Kosiski that will run its final season in 2022. The salvage yard next door covets the property enough that it just makes too much business sense for Kosiski to hold out any longer as he made the announcement during Friday night's awards banquet. Some are mad, most are sad, but it is hard to find any fault with a man, and a family that has done so much for our sport over the past several decades. And it is my understanding that Joe is not finished yet as he intends to continue on with the SLMR series in 2023 and beyond knowing that while there is still a great deal of effort involved with operating a regional racing series, it pales in comparison to the daily grind that comes with operating a weekly race track.
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| From the I-80 Speedway website |
So like me, I hope that all of you will take a look at the 2022 racing schedule at the I-80 Speedway and pick out at least one date. It might be the first time that you have ever taken in a race at the storied facility, and that will make it even more special because you don't want to pass up your chance to take in your last race there either.
It will be interesting to see what happens in that area in 2023 and beyond as the absence of I-80 Speedway on Friday nights will leave a big void. Don't forget that Eagle Raceway is literally twelve and a half miles straight south of what will soon be an even bigger salvage yard so it is not like racing will be ripped from the souls of the residents of eastern Nebraska, but while Eagle boasts one of the best weekly shows in the nation on Saturday nights it is a completely different type of racing. Eagle is a high-banked short track while I-80 is a high speed track that likely measures a half-mile around the top side. Fans of that type of racing will definitely feel the loss.
Will one of the tracks in the area make the move to Friday nights? The Crawford County Speedway in Denison hopes not because after years of racing in the shadow of I-80, despite being 100 miles up the road, they could see a significant jump in their car counts in 2023. That is unless current Saturday tracks in Beatrice or McCool Junction, or even the traditional Thursday night show at U.S. 30 in Columbus believe that they can improve their own programs by moving to Friday in 2023.
And what will become of the drivers that have called I-80 their home track? Will the Super Late Models be fine with hitting the road regularly with the SLMR, the Tri-State Late Model Series or even the MLRA? Will the Bragging Rights Late Models spread out to the IMCA sanctioned Late Model tracks in the area? You may not have noticed, but there were nights in 2021 where the Modified car count at I-80 hovered around the ten mark so perhaps drivers in that division were already identifying different places to race and the other support class drivers have plenty of options, including that short track just down the road.
And what about I-80's and Joe K's signature event, the Silver Dollar Nationals? Personally I think the Davenport Speedway would be a great new host if they wanted it to continue. But then again, Davenport now has its own signature events!
So get on out and enjoy I-80 Speedway in 2022, but take it easy on the "gloom and doom" talk that always comes about when a track fades into the past. This great facility will be missed, but there is still plenty of racing to be found. Fans in that area will just have to drive a few more miles to enjoy it, just as they did when Sunset slid below the horizon.
Changing directions I see that the Benton Speedway in Benton, Missouri, will be coming back to life this year with six nights of auto racing to be scheduled including a stop by the UMP Summer Nationals on Wednesday June 29th. My one and only visit to this facility in southeast Missouri was also for a UMP Summer Nationals race and the only thing I remember from that night is Dan Schlieper bicycling and then flipping in turn three during qualifying. Oh yes, and the fact that the grandstands face the west and it was a hot sun that evening.
Paducah International Raceway is also coming back to life in 2022 with twelve events on the schedule including a UMP Summer Nationals show on Friday July 1st.
The track in Butler, Missouri, that came back to life late in 2020 is now called the Electric City Raceway and will continue to operate in 2022 while they are building a dirt track inside of the half-mile paved track in Bolivar, Missouri, with racing plans for that facility still to be announced.
The New Tulsa Speedway in Oklahoma is set for its second season of rebirth and the track that will now be called Arrowhead Speedway in Colcord, Oklahoma, already has eight special events on the 2022 schedule. I will believe it when I see it though as they had a couple shows on the schedule for 2021 that were later removed when the track did not open as planned.
The Outlaw Speedway just south of Muskogee appears to be gone forever though as someone has purchased the land and they do not intend to use it as a race track. That's disappointing as I have driven by it several times on my trips to Dallas to see the grandkids and I never did get to see a race there. Fortunately the track in Muskogee, plus the Salina Highbanks just a bit up the road in Pryor are there to pick up the slack. You may recall that Outlaw was the first to try the "Free Grandstand Admission" promotion.
And a bit closer to home the old Quincy Raceways will come back to life in 2022 after two years of sitting dormant as the Adams County Speedway with promoter Jimmy Lieurance making the move from the Randolph County Raceway in Moberly. There is however one MLRA Late Model show on the schedule and recent activity on the track's Facebook page suggests that there could still be some racing in Moberly in 2022.
Those of you who have read the Back Stretch over the years know that I have a "Net Zero Theory" when it comes to the opening and closings of race tracks and this review actually reveals a net gain, so again no gloom and doom for the sport, please.
If you are a Late Model racer or fan it would be hard to find any gloom and doom in the 2022 menagerie of high paying events across the country. The age of big money events driven by the Pay-Per-View crowd rather than how many might buy a ticket to be in the stands is upon us and it is going to be very interesting to see if this is sustainable. I recently saw somebody complaining that the Wild West Shootout with a finale that paid $25,000 to win "only" drew 32 cars. I got news for ya folks, 32 cars is a pretty solid count for Super Late Models and in fact unless some of these mega PPV events can get good support from local drivers who know they don't have a chance to compete for the win, you could see a $25,000-to-win program that will have less than twenty cars signed in. I hope not, but the chance is real and while I would never encourage anybody to do a start and park, it might make some good financial sense for a local Crate racer to sign in and collect more to start than what he or she normally races for to win at their weekly track.
Reminds me one of my favorite characters in the sport, Don Brewer or as we used to call him "The Melon City Madman". Don would tow in his #09, the same car that he would race for years, run a couple of laps in his heat race and then a couple of laps in the feature, collect his start pay and then head on to the next track. He was a nice guy and never got in anybody's way while he was actually on the track. And, if you think about it, if you added up his prize money compared to his expenses at the end of the year he probably made more money than most of his famous competitors!
There will be local Late Model drivers in 2022 that will use these mega events to help fund their weekly racing and that is a good thing.
Speaking of the Wild West Shootout the racing at Vado Speedway Park was fun to watch on Floracing and the announcing trio of Ben Shelton, Dustin Jarrett and Trenton Berry did a phenomenal job. For some good ol' fashion Positively Racing coverage of the event check in with our own resident Super Fan Ed Reichert who was there and with the IMCA events at Cocopah in One Fan's Travels.
This weekend's World of Outlaws Late Model opener at Volusia Speedway Park did not go well with night one running until one in the morning before the three feature events were postponed until Friday afternoon. After Dale McDowell took the win in that one the Friday night features were rained out and Saturday's show was lost to weather as well. They will make up the Friday feature during the traditional Speed Week activities on Wednesday, February 16th.
Congratulations to 34 Raceway's Brad Stevens who was an Auto Racing Promoter of the Year nominee in Region 5 along with Joe Kosiski. If Brad wins I sure hope that he makes it clear that Jessi Mynatt should have shared the billing with him! Otherwise it will be long trip home. The annual Slocum 50 at 34 Raceway was also in the running for Outstanding Event of the Year and you can catch it in 2022 on Friday and Saturday, April 15th and 16th.
Speaking of Positively Racing you may have noticed that the website has been down for a little over a week now as we are migrating to a new server. The Websmistress is working hard to rebuild the site for the move and we hope to be back up and running soon. In the meantime Like or Follow the Positively Racing Facebook page and we will keep you updated on any new content from our bloggers. Expect more soon from Ed Reichert plus Danny and I will have some coverage from Florida in February as well.
Thanks for checking in, stay warm and we hope to see you at the track again soon!
