It’s hard to believe but there are only three weekends remaining in the 2014 racing season. On Saturday night Speedway 660 will roll out the red carpet for you, our loyal fans. There will be an on-track autograph session, lots of prizes and some incredible racing too!
Fans drive this sport. You really do, because without a strong fan base our sport just wouldn’t exist. Speedway 660’s marketing partners and individual car and driver sponsors wouldn’t be interested in putting their advertising and promotional dollars into this sport if we didn’t have lots of you folks coming out to watch the races.
Speedway 660 owners, staff and volunteers have worked hard to make our facility “fan-friendly”. Drivers, race teams, sponsors and marketing partners also play key roles in our success.
Running a race track is not an easy task, especially a track that runs a weekly show. In recent years, we have seen some race tracks close or scale back their operations to a half a dozen races a year. But Speedway 660 has been able to maintain and sustain a weekly show, including a regular Pro Stock division, for over two decades.
We’ve been able to do that because of you. We’ve got the strongest fan support in the Maritimes. And you keep coming out because of the awesome caliber of racing. And the marketing partners and sponsors stay involved because of you the fans.
Richard & Anne Martin are Speedway 660 marketing partners. They support racing and many of our fans have called on them to provide air conditioning, heating and ventilation products and services. That loyalty is an important and unique component of our sport.
Drivers love to come to the Geary Woods because they know they’ll be racing in front of lots of fans. Not just a couple of hundred, but several thousand. On SpeedWeekend we’ll likely see over 8,000 of you in the stands for the Pro Stock 250! Even guys like Johnny Clark, who travels all over eastern North America, acknowledge Speedway 660’s crowd as one of the biggest he races in front of all season.
Ben Rowe, an American short-track racing legend, has made frequent visits to Speedway 660. Ben always tells us how lucky we are to have great crowds and he enjoys meeting you and racing hard for you.
And that’s pretty amazing. Summer is short in Canada and there are lots of things to compete for your leisure or recreational time. Some folks have cottages, camps or trailers set up at the lake. Others are on the road for extended vacations. There’s family reunions, weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and lots of other personal stuff to keep you busy.
There are music concerts, county fairs and all kinds of other festivals. All of these things compete for your time. And from the time school gets out in June until classes resume in September, you’ve got about ten weekends – if that. So no wonder it’s a challenge to attract fans to regularly scheduled sporting events.
There are lots of things to do during the summer. Its a short season and everyone wants to pack as much fun into it as they can!
But racing fans, particularly those of you who call Speedway 660 your home track, are loyal. You love the rivalries, the personalities, the fast cars and everything else about our sport. You enjoy coming to the Geary Woods to hang-out with your friends and watch the races. There’s something about fast cars, a tight little race track and drivers giving it their all.
This Saturday night its Fan Appreciation Night at Speedway 660. The New Hot 92.3 – Fredericton’s #1 Hit Music Station is proud to present your special night at your home track. We’ve got a ton of prizes, an on-track autograph session and an action-packed night of racing ready to be served up to our loyal fans.
Don’t miss Saturday’s autograph session between 5:30 & 6:15PM. Fan Appreciation Night is your night and we look forward to entertaining you, your family and friends at Speedway 660.
In the past, we’ve combined Fan Appreciation and the Night of Champions together in one show. Speedway 660’s new owners have decided that these two events should stand on their own. And I’m glad they switched things up this year. This Saturday it’s your night and next Saturday the night belongs to the drivers who are gunning for championships and rookie of the year awards.
So we hope to see you for Fan Appreciation Night this Saturday. It’s gonna be a lot of fun. Come early because we’ve got an on-track autograph session from 5:30 until 6:15PM. We’ll start our heat races at 6:30.
Jack Lane used to love signing autographs for youngsters during Fan Appreciation Night. Sadly, almost a year ago, Jack passed away but his spirit lives on at Speedway 660!
One more thing, invite a friend out to the Geary Woods. I am always amazed to find out there are folks who have heard about what we do down at Speedway 660, but have never gotten out to see the races. Nine out of ten people who come for the first time are blown away by the caliber of racing and the professionalism exhibited by Speedway 660’s volunteers and staff. And if they come once, chances are they’ll come back for more!
Remember fans drive this sport. We all know how important it is to see new drivers put rookie stripes on the back bumpers of their cars. And watching those Bando kids move up through the ranks is pretty special too. It’s even more important to get new fans out to the track to get a taste of the Speedway 660 racing scene! So this week do the sport and everyone involved in it a favour by inviting a friend, a co-worker, a neighbour or someone else out to the races.
We get great fan support at Speedway 660. Our crowds come to the Geary Woods because they know they’ll see exciting racing at a professionally run track.
Fan Appreciation Night is this Saturday. It’s your night, so grab some friends and head down to the Geary Woods.
We’ll see you at the races!
