By Jack Smith
Rex Guy, promoter of Auburndale Speedway, is calling for a speedway promoter’s meeting for Monday October 4th. The meeting will be held at Hooters Restaurant at I-4 and US Hwy 98 in Lakeland, Florida.
Guy feels the owners and promoters would be well served by getting together to iron out some of the conflicts that occur in scheduling events.
Anyone who pays any attention to the state of asphalt racing in Florida is aware of late model, modified, truck racing and other events often held on the same dates at several tracks. Saturday, August 28th is a perfect example of this. New Smyrna Speedway has a 75 lap Pro Truck race while Punta Gorda Speedway has a Pro Truck race also. While it is far from settled as to whether this is harmful to the sport, many fans and drivers feel it is, even as in this case, the tracks are 160 miles apart.
In any event any time the track promoters can get together it is usually helpful to the overall health of an industry that is clearly in a decline statewide. Asphalt racing has seen a significant drop in both fan attendance and driver participation in the last several years.
The blame for this decline has been directed at the economy, which in some parts of Florida has been devastating, and other areas as well. Some have blamed bad business practices by the owners for the decline, which a vocal contingent of fans and drivers say includes poor promotion, outdated facilities and other issues. Some owners have gone so far as to blame the poor attitudes of the drivers and fans.
Whatever the reasons, a get together of the asphalt track promoters can hopefully add some positive dimensions to their operations leading into the 2011 racing season.
Rex Guy feels the promoters are hurting each other by scheduling similar events on top of each other and has stated that if the tracks are to be successful, they must work together in more ways to not step on each others toes.
Of course, we have all heard this mantra before. Getting the ownerships to work together for the positive good of the sports and the industry in general been the dream of many in past years. Many have tried but few have managed to get a sustained effort in this direction over the last 15 years or so.
We applaud the effort of Rex Guy to get the ball rolling, and hope the other owners and promoters will attend.
Hope springs eternal.