Ocala Speedway Looks to the Future With New Ownership
By Jack Smith
As most Florida race fans have heard by now, Ocala Speedway has been sold. Again.
Over the last decade, Ocala Speedway leads all of Florida's short tracks in ownership changes, and oddly each one has done something to improve the speedway property, but none have had stellar success with the a racing program. Michael Peters and Angie Clifton of Ocala hope to change that.
"We are really excited about it, Angie, my partner, and I have been coming out to this track for probably the last three years, and I kept telling her I would love to do this, I always wanted to do this", Peters said today. "She finally said to me 'quit talking about it and do it'. So together the two of us build my first car, for the rookie class last year. I ended up champion for the division", Peters stated.
Mike Peters and his partner have been bitten by the racing bug in a big way. He told us, "the two of us had talked about owning the track if it became available and at the end of the season we found out it was available and we jumped on it. And then it all came together within a very short period of time, a couple of weeks. And we are off and running".
Peters indicated he is committed to making a decision by the end of the week on returning to Friday night racing. "We are still getting feedback all week and drivers have been contacting us with their opinions."
The new ownership is looking to further enhance the speedway's appearance ,with repainting, landscaping and in general repairing things as they prepare for their first season.
One key move already made by Peters and Clifton was in bringing Lou Trembley back as General Manager. This was the position Trembley left late in the 2005 season due to disagreements with the previous ownership. Trembley was a very popular GM for the speedway and should be a big asset as the new ownership begins the 2006 season. He has already been working with the new ownership on the 2006 rules and the schedule.
The track will be running Open Wheel Modifieds, Sportsmans, Street Stocks and a V-8 Strickly Stock class along with the V-8 Rookies division. Peters said he would like to bring back Figure Eight racing to Ocala Speedway. "Inverness (Citrus County) runs a bi-weekly figure series and I thought about running a figure eight series on alternating weeks with them", he said.
Experienced racing people all know about the pitfalls of owners running cars at their own track, and Peters alluded to that: "Our main objective is to make Ocala a fair place to race. We want every driver who comes in here to feel like they have a chance to win".
We asked Mike Peters the burning question, Are you going to continue to race? He gave the following explanation, " I'd like to, but in all honesty one of the problems historically with Ocala has been, track owners having cars in multiple divisions with untouchable cars. That's one of the things I have to overcome. It's not really going to sit well with people if I show up the first night with a car ready to go. so I am not going to do that."
The 36 year old Peters, who has been an airline pilot for 12 years, does not want to give up racing indefinitely. "I love it, it's addicting", he said, adding the disclaimer, "I do not want to give up racing, so I am going to give everybody the opportunity to get to know me, to know I'm fair. "
Peters said the Ocala Speedway schedule for next year will be out shortly. He also told us that the new ownership will honor the Speedway's year end banquet will be honored and will be held January 6.
Ocala Speedway will be returning to racing in February and plans are under way for a Blue Grey type big modified show to kick things off.
Ocala Speedway is one of the most modern short track facilities in Florida. The 3/8 mile "D" shaped oval sports Musco lighting, new aluminum grandstands, and spacious concession ares. The track is one of the toughest due to its shape and is great venue for big Super Late Model and Modified events.
Mike Peters certainly comes across as a very sincere businessman who is going to give Ocala Speedway every chance to finally have a big winner, and it just may be that the fans and drivers from North Central Florida have found a good one here.
For more information n Ocala Speedway visit their website at www.ocalaspeedway.com
