(July 27, 2016) The long holiday weekend is coming right up and everyone at 660 is taking a break before our stretch run. Perhaps its a good time to reflect on why we love this sport so much. Everything costs lots of money these days. A trip to the dentist, a visit to your neighborhood auto repair shop, a new roof on your house and a thousand and one other things could easily cost you a thousand and one dollars! Can you imagine what it costs to run a race team or operate a race track? 

As fans we come to the races every week to see a great show. And that’s what we get week in, week out at Speedway 660. A few weeks ago the Martins Home Heating 125 delivered exciting racing entertainment to everyone in attendance. Dave O’Blenis won the big race and pocketed the two thousand dollar first place prize money. Last Saturday night he also won the Clark Chevrolet Firecracker 150.

But what would it cost O’Blenis Motorsports to trailer three and sometimes four race cars from Boundary Creek, near Moncton, to the Geary Woods? What would it cost if you only have one car and come from Arthurette, like Robert Thomlinson or New Denmark like Ian Rasmussen or Springhill, Nova Scotia like Brandon Skidmore or Eastport, Maine like Drew Greenlaw? Even if you don’t have a three or four hour haul, at eight maybe ten miles to the gallon, it costs a lot in fuel just to drag a car to the race track and back home.Winning a big race can help a team pay the bills, but you can’t count on a trip to victory lane every time you hit the track. When Richard Martin presented Dave O’Blenis with a $2000 cheque back in June for winning the Martins Home Heating 125, you can bet every cent went right back into O’Blenis Motorsports.

Then there’s tires, racing fuel, parts, safety equipment and lots of other necessities required to put a competitive car on the track. Not long ago I interviewed Richard Martin and he thanked all of the drivers and fans for attending the races. He also mentioned the economic downturn and how it impacts our sport. Richard has been involved in this sport for a long time and he knows full well what it costs to operate a race team.It would probably scare the daylights out of most of us if we really knew how much it cost to bring a competitive car to the track every week. Without sponsors like Pub’s, even the most successful drivers couldn’t put on a show for us!   

How much does it cost to operate a race track? Staff, electricity, the purse, insurance and a bunch of other stuff all adds up. If the weather is nice and you get a big crowd that’s a bonus, but if there is a threat of rain the crowd will be down, but track owners still have to pay the bills.

My point is that people are involved in racing because they love the sport. No one is getting rich. As a matter of fact, truth be known, race teams are damn lucky to even come close to breaking even. They can only do that if they have really supportive sponsors. And track owners hope for good weather, especially when they host events like the Cat 250, IWK 250 and SpeedWeekend. Those big events probably subsidize weekly racing throughout the short Maritime season.Thank goodness big events like SpeedWeekend attract large crowds. That allows tracks like Speedway 660 to run weekly championship point racing events.

Speedway marketing partners and race team sponsors are crucial.  Many folks, like Richard and Anne Martin, love our sport and put a portion of their company’s advertising budget in racing. MacLaughlin Roof Trusses, Riverview Ford, Pubs Drive thru Bottle Exchange, Dana’s Collision Center, Enkel Trucking and hundreds of other businesses, both large and small, make it possible for us to enjoy racing every week. Their contribution to either a race track or an individual team makes our sport go around in circles.Marketing partners and sponsors like Richard and Anne Martin are the people who make it possible for race teams and tracks to put a show on for us every week. Now we need to make sure that when we require goods and services to call the people who support our favourite sport. 

That’s why drivers have sponsors names on their cars and publicly thank those sponsors when they get a podium finish. That’s why you see marketing partner signage around the track and that’s why the races are called the Martins Home Heating 125 or the Clark Chevrolet Firecracker 150.

And it all comes back to us, the fans. If we love racing, which we do, and require goods and services, which we also do, then we should be prepared to do business with the folks who support racing. And when we do that, we should let them know we are race fans and appreciate what they do for our sport. It’s just that simple.There’s nothing like a night at the Speedway, with a great crowd and awesome action out on the track

And there’s one more thing that we could be doing. That’s letting folks know how good short track racing is in our local area and region. Tracks issue media releases, operate web sites, use social media and buy advertising to promote racing. But nothing beats an endorsement from a dedicated fan.

It surprises me every time I meet someone and they tell me that they’ve never been to the races, or they used to go back in the nineties but haven’t been out in ten or fifteen years! We’ve got to encourage those folks to come out to the race track or come back to see the races again. If you come to the races every week and have an empty seat or two in your vehicle why not invite someone you know to come with you. And you can give them the low down on who’s who and what’s what. One new fan at a time, it’s just that simple.Earlier this season Speedway 660 decided to do something to make it more affordable for families to come to the races. Now all youngsters 12 and under are admitted free to every race in the Geary Woods.   That’s bound to put a smile on the face of a brand new race fan!

I want to thank all of the race teams who put on a show for us every week. Thank-you to the marketing partners and sponsors too. A big thanks goes out to the track owners and their staff and volunteers. And to the fans, thank you for opening up your wallets at the ticket booth every week for the love of our sport.

Have a great holiday weekend. Drive carefully. We’ll be back in action on Saturday, August 6th with a weekly championship point racing event.

We’ll see you at the races!