(June 20, 2016) Speedway 660 is making real nice change to its ticket price structure that will take effect this Saturday night. From now on all kids 12 years of age and under will be admitted absolutely free to all racing events in the Geary Woods! Since the track opened back in 1994, youngsters seven and under were admitted free. 

Free racing for fans 12 and under!

This is great news for families and great news for our sport. Making racing more affordable will attract more fans to the Geary Woods. Weekly Championship Point racing events, like the one on our schedule this weekend, have an adult ticket price of $14 with youth tickets at $10. Adult tickets are for fans 16 and over, while youth tickets are now for ages 13 to 15. We have a Family Pass for $38 which includes two adults and two youth. There are always lots of kids at Speedway 660. Starting this weekend, all kids 12 and under get into all of our events free.  This initiative is designed to making attending races more affordable for families.

But now everyone 12 and under gets free admission. So Mom and Dad and two kids, say 9 and 11, will get into a weekly show for $28. If you’ve got kids, who want to bring a friend who is under 12, they can tag along and experience the races for free.

This is a great deal. Not just for families, but for the sport of racing. The more affordable it is, the more often fans will come through the turnstiles. And the more people who come to see our racing means more chances to create lifelong fans. Kids love racing and now that more of them get in free, the more apt their parents are to load up the family car and head out to Speedway 660. Our candy scramble, held early every season, attracts a huge crowd of kids. We always have lots of kids in the stands and several young drivers out on the track.

Last week, in his interview before the Martins Home Heating 125, Richard Martin mentioned that the economic times we’re dealing with right now makes it hard for race teams to operate and makes it difficult for families to come to the races. This family friendly move by the folks at Speedway 660 is going to be welcomed by everyone in our sport, especially the 12 and under crowd!

You had to feel for Drew Greenlaw last week. He led almost a hundred laps in the big sportsman race. You could see that Dave O’Blenis was saving his tires and hoping for a caution late in the race. When the caution came out at lap 100 it set the stage for the wise veteran to turn up the wick and go for the checkers.Drew Greenlaw is one of the rising young stars at 660. The recent high school graduate, from Eastport, Maine, has got a bright future in our sport.

That left Drew in a battle with Ryan Messer for second place. With just two laps to go the two youngsters were racing each other hard and as it turned out made contact coming out of turn four and spun out. I don’t think you can fault either driver, it was just one of those racin deals. But I hope young Greenlaw keeps his head up, because he’s got amazing talent and I don’t think it’ll be long before he drives his way into the Riverview Ford Victory Lane in a Martins Home Heating feature race!

Do you know what it means for a driver to finally win a feature or get a first podium finish? They work hard in the shop, hone their skills on the track and drive the wheels off their race cars. The competition at Speedway 660 is incredible. We’ve got veterans with multiple championships and young guns with fast cars and lots of talent.

I remember when John Rankin won his first Re/Max Group Four Realty Pro Stock feature last year. You could see the joy in his face and hear the emotion in his voice after he raced the Brad Silliker Motorsports car to a big 660 win. It was the same for Destiny Enkel, a little over a week ago, when she won her first ever street stock feature.Destiny Enkel won the DMR Auto Sales Street Stock feature on June 11th. That very first feature win is always a big deal for drivers and their families at 660.

On Saturday night we witnessed a few of those moments. Ryan Richard drove a wicked DMR Auto Sales Street Stock feature and came home third. It was his first podium and man was he ever excited. Then in the pro stock feature Dustin Tucker grabbed third place and he was so happy that he was almost speechless in his post race interview! His father Shawn, who has won three SpeedWeekend 250s, the IWK 250 and multiple Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Championships was as happy and proud as I have ever seen him at a race track.Dustin Tucker (center) will always remember the podium finish he got last Saturday night in the Re/Max Group Four Realty Pro Stock feature.

And sometimes it’s not a first win or first podium that makes fans and drivers happy. George Jamieson’s third in the Martins Home Heating 125 and Matt Harris’s pro stock win last week were also pretty special. Everybody loves to see someone get that first win or first podium or see someone who hasn’t had a win or a podium in a little while get one. It’s always amazing to see drivers come over to congratulate a competitor for an awesome finish.George Jamieson was pretty happy Saturday night when he captured third place in the Martins Home Heating Sportsman 125. It wasn’t the first podium for the veteran driver, but he’s been working awful hard lately and to finish on the podium in this big race was a big accomplishment.

Those are the moments we love to see at a race track. Those are the moments that keep us coming back week after week. Those are the moments that make our sport unique. And those are the moments that our youngest fans will remember for a lifetime!

We’ve got an exciting Weekly Championship Point racing event on our schedule this week. So pass the word, encourage folks to come to the race track and let them know that kids 12 and under are now admitted free of charge to every Speedway 660 event!

We’ll see you at the races!