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| PROGRESS OF THE CHARLOTTE COUNTY SPEEDWAY REBUILDING AND REOPENING | -By Donna Gilbert CCS Operations Manager
Many of you have been asking for an update on the clean up efforts at the speedway and when we will return to racing. I hope the following will answer all of your questions.
On Saturdays, volunteers are needed to help us in our clean up efforts. The first hurtle is to repair the fences and cables around the speedway and then to clean up the remaining debris. With this being accomplished, we will hold open practice on October 23 and 30, 2004 from 4:00 p.m. until dark.
Please send an e-mail as soon as possible if you can help with this effort to info2004@charlottecountyspeedway.net
Next we move on to the lights and light poles. From there we can have a "Standing Room Only" race as we do not have bleachers installed as of yet.
Many have questioned the time it has taken to get this far in the recovery efforts.
As many of you are aware, insurance companies are overwhelmed, and funds are not coming through as quick as we would all like.
With this being said, imagine what it has cost you to simply take care of minor repairs to your home that were caused by Hurricane Charley.
Now, take the size of your house repairs and the costs and compare them to the size of the speedway. Get the picture? The cost of new wood bleachers is $130,000.00 and aluminum bleachers is $150,000.00. Not counting the bleachers, there are still fences, concession stand roof, pit concession trailer, scoring tower, lights, light poles, scoreboard, and equipment to consider.
If we had the insurance funds, the rebuilding would be much further along as this point in time. But along with hundreds of other businesses and are thousands of individual home owners in the Punta Gorda-Port Charlotte area, as well as many other cities and towns across Florida, "getting back to normal" is going to take quite a while to accomplish.
Lets move on to the good part.
Myself and owner LeRoy Davidson have met with officials from the Charlotte County Airport and have made great strides in the creation of a major extension of our lease with the governing board of the airport. Board member Pam Seay and airport manager Gary Quill have been extremely positive and helpful in getting the speedway back on track.
LeRoy Davidson has contracted with Frank and Bonnie Hill, owners of Sunshine Speedway, to buy their bleachers, scoring tower, admission booths, and much more. Frank and Bonnie have helped LeRoy and Charlotte County Speedway tremendously to put the speedway back on the path to racing.
Without Frank and Bonnie and their generosity, it would have taken us much longer.
Sunshine Speedway will run their last race on Saturday, November 20, 2004. In appreciation for the years of entertainment and the many people they touched along the way, the administration of Charlotte County Speedway is encouraging you to help make their last night of racing bigger than ever.
If you have a race car that can race in one of their classes, then take it and race it at Sunshine on November 20. Not all of us are fortunate enough to have race cars, but we must get our racing fix no matter what. If this is the category you fall in, by all means, we can fill their grandstands on November 20, 2004. It will be a great night of racing that will include Corteco Gulfcoast Modifieds, School Bus Figure 8's, Outlaw Late Models, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, and Enduro cars.
After November 20, 2004 (Sunshine Speedways final race night), we will begin to disassemble the b leachers,andpreparethescoringtower,admissionbooths,andallotherequipmentfortransporttoCharlotteCountySpeedway.
Once the equipment is delivered to CCS, as it is taken off of the transport vehicles, it is our desire to immediately begin to reassemble the bleachers an dputallequipmentinplace.Inordertoaccomplishthedisassemblingandreassemblingprocesses,itwilltakevolunteersatbothSunshineSpeedwayandCharlotteCountySpeedway.
Furthermore, we will be in need of flatbed trailers, haulers, cranes, and heavy equipment to accomplish this enormous task. If you are interested in helping us accomplish this move, please e-mail the speedway at info2004@charlottecountyspeedway.net, or contact the speedway at (941)575-7223 or (941)575-7767.
The "need for speed" and urgency for the relocation of equipment is so we can FINALLY get back to the business of racing.
Once the move is accomplished, and all equipment is reassembled and the buildings are in place, LeRoy Davidson has suggested that Charlotte County Speedway should be able to reopen its doors with a two day event on December 11 and 12, 2004.
This two day event will include visiting classes to Charlotte County Speedway, as well as our own classes that support their home track all year through. Details of the event will be published shortly.
Finally, we will finish the year on December 31, 2004 with the always spectacular Eve of Destruction, and celebrate the New Year on January 1, 2005 with the Hangover Over 250 Enduro.
Added to the card on January 1, 2005, is the ever popular School Bus Figure 8.
Come join the fun as Charlotte County Speedway is about to race again!
Use the link below to our message board for more information: http://www.charlottecountyspeedway.net/cgi-bin/teemz/teemz.cgi?board=_master&forum=CHARLOTTE_COUNTY_SPEEDWAY
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