[QUOTE=scottgarrity07;161468]I’ve had some light shed on this deal to me by someone. It’s true that Gary has made some mistakes up at Citrus but there is a lynch mob style group that is trying to shove him out and it has been made pretty clear that it ain’t gonna happen. Like him or not Gary holds the lease and has had no problems making the payments and with the current climate it is more advantageous for him to not race than to lose even more money because people “boycotting” him has made the prospect of profitability non existant. What’s the solution? Take a deep breath and hit the reset button.
I’m sure Gary has learned from his mistakes. But keeping the track closed 2 years to wait him out is not just bad for racing. It’s bad for the community up in Inverness. What about the people who make a living at the gas station down the road? Nobody coming up 41 on a Saturday night is hurting him, for sure. How about the people who supplement their income by working at the track? Those of you railing against him need to think about what the ramifications of there being no racing there for two years will do. It’s not just about the racers. This hurts the entire COMMUNITY. I’m thinking there has been no announcement because Gary simply doesn’t know how to fix this with the anger he is up against.
We all know who is against Gary. They even have a facebook page they are injecting their venom from. How about who is FOR RACING AND PRESERVING CITRUS COUNTY SPEEDWAY? Speak up and voice out on here if you’d be willing, for the sake of racing and the community to give Gary another chance to make things right. I don’t think he was ever evil, just misguided. I think anyone can change and see the error of their ways and atone for past “sins”. I think the silent majority wants to see racing at Citrus.
Gary, if you were to get some fresh blood helping you, try to iron out tech fairness and give it another go I’d be more than happy to tow the 07 Sportsman to Inverness and race. Whattaya say people? Give the guy another chance or shutter the place for two years and possibly lose the track forever. That’s the options we are all facing. The track has been there 60 years. I’d love to see it go at least as long as I’m around. How about it? The choice is really up to all of us.[/QUOTE]
Scotty, you know me… I want to see every single track in FL survive… Hell, I’d even love to see some of the long dormant skeletons rise from the dead somehow. I have always believed an owner/promoter is as good as those he is surrounded by. Owners become the “fall guy” because they are the voice and the head of the beast. Maybe Gary can take a good long talk and listen to you Scott. You, like me, have been part of extremely successful racing communities. You have been embedded in FL racing as well for quite some time and have a greater grasp on concepts that may work well to help bring CCS back to the top. One thing I will personally suggest to Gary… Reach out to the other tracks and start an alliance wherever you can. Work with them, find ways to work with the tracks, maybe alternating divisional schedules so guys can run back and fourth between two tracks without missing big events at the other that they might want to run. Stuff like that will only help FL. The way NSS is rotating their divisions in the schedule is a great model. If they had another track they worked with that did a mirror opposite of the rotation they are doing, both tracks could prosper. Just my .02…
I have reached out to other owners to talks Rex will not talk to me or work with me at all last year his word to me was I will run you of and talk ove Citrus. Yoho said the same thing. I tryed to talk to Cope and Cretter they said no also when they were at Desoto we dont need to work together now ther gone. . Tallked to Mr Meyers at Desoto two weeks ago it went well at Bronson this past Saturday went very well there.
My true thoughts are rule sound be the same at all tracks. we run the same tire for our classes at each track and etc. Even payout should be very fair and the same also at all tracks. . Florida Short Track racing Is way out of hand with rules and etc. JUst My thoughts.
It really is a big shame all track owner will not sit down and talk even if we dont like each other at all for one hour a month to save money. Beacuse as a group of owners we can have buying power form our vendors
(Tires,fuel,food,paper product, etc) if we can save moeny as a full team we could pass it onto the drivers and ther families.
I enjoy racing and want to save Citrus County Speedway If I did not care about the track along with my great fans and drivers and saving it i would have walked off months ago.
One suggestion for any promoter in the state of Florida.Dont be so damn afraid to mention a rival track over your p.a. systems during breaks in the action.Talk a little bit about who the modified,or late model,sportsman etc winner was at other tracks the week or night before.Try to build an interest in RACING, not just racing at your own track.If you get a race fan truly hooked they will follow their favorite drivers,AND tracks.That will only be a positive for the entire racing scene in the state as a whole.
Its open practice for all but thsi week was mainly for kart the did a event for the even that was free this weekend at the track. The past free weeks we have had a few cars practice on Friday. Since I have been there as the owner its really does not have a great car count for pratice unless I am putting on a 50 lap race on that Saturday night.
But to everyone question I am putting a race together for July working on the date this week. Was thinking about closing JUly and Aug like Alburndale and Desoto beacause of the heat and rain. But I am going to try and get in One in July and many two in Aug and start a little later, then reopen full time in Sept[/QUOTE]
Thanks Gary, that helps put everything into perspective.
A couple of suggestions here.
If you can afford to pony up the money for a good purse( and i’m talking a REAL good purse) for one or two races during the summer, you might just pull a lot of cars from the tracks that are closed. Doesn’t have to headline classes, just give racers and fans the option of good races during the summer. During those races, show the racers and fans that show up that you’re serious about getting their support. Nobody knows, because these tracks have never shut down for the summer.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TRACK COOPERATION IN FLORIDA. Never really has been, certainly isn’t now. You’ve already been told by the tracks closest to you that all they’re interested in is running you off and taking over your lease. Use the same rules as other tracks if it makes sense for Citrus. But you’re on your own, trust me. Build your own classes up, and pay good money to get them out there. Bring in sponsors, or produce the purse out of your own pocket for a while if you can. You’ve got to give the racers a reason to come to Citrus. And nothing attracts racers like a good purse that pays all the way back to last place.
Consider talking to the two guys that Denny Myers was too dumb to keep around. They might be willing to help.
Look At Sprints last Year Yoho Put a race on top of my with a 5000.00 to win I had 1000.00 to win he had 8 cars I had 21. A couple of months ago Desoto had a 100 lap Late model race 5000.00 to win they had 18 cars. Same Night I had a 25 Late model race and had 14 car with 800.00 to win. BUt I fully undersand what your saying it all depends on the timing of the racers on where there wanting to race at. But I do know a lot of changes has to me made to get Florida SHort Track racing back where it should be.
I think we should have never got rid of all the traveling series they helped the local tracks.
One thing that complicates cooperation among tracks and owners is the tire and fuel companies getting tracks to align with their product to the exclusion of others by supporting the point funds. If tires from every manufacturer were legal at all tracks then with the number of classes and cars, it would make it much easier to align classes within the geographical areas. As it is competitors without deep pockets choose a track and brand and rarely go elsewhere. By the way most of your weekly racers don’t have deep pockets.
100% correct. The tire and gas companies love to buy up race tracks and race series to keep their competitors out. There’s nothing wrong with having wide open rules as far as brands go. But you’ll always hear from self serving racers that open rules will just cost the racer more money. I don’t know how many tire companies there are, but there’s no reason to exclude any of them. Same with the gas companies. Desoto lets every gas run as far as i know, and the world hasn’t come to an end yet. I also see more tracks eliminating the tire impound nonsense. They’re coming around.
Look At Sprints last Year Yoho Put a race on top of my with a 5000.00 to win I had 1000.00 to win he had 8 cars I had 21. A couple of months ago Desoto had a 100 lap Late model race 5000.00 to win they had 18 cars. Same Night I had a 25 Late model race and had 14 car with 800.00 to win. BUt I fully undersand what your saying it all depends on the timing of the racers on where there wanting to race at. But I do know a lot of changes has to me made to get Florida SHort Track racing back where it should be.
I think we should have never got rid of all the traveling series they helped the local tracks.
JUst My thoughts.[/QUOTE]
I was thinking more along the lines of Modified Mini Stock, or Street Stock, or Thunderstock type cars. Huge purses, huge car counts. You give those guys a race that pays 500 to start, and you’ll have the place packed. Those classes are the majority of the cars that race at Yohos’. And there’s plenty of them in Central Florida. Then you retain as many of those cars as possible with smaller but still good weekly payouts. Build your classes using rules that make sense. The racers will show up.
Bring in a SLM show or OWMs, or Sportsman, or Sprints from time to time, but get lower classes built up to be a rock solid 60 cars per week.
Traveling series were the thing alright, but they died a while back. Too expensive to bring them in, and not enough cars to get the fans interested. Oh, and forget the truck thing too. Most race fans wouldn’t walk across the street to watch street stocks with pick up truck bodies and automatic transmissions. Lump them into the Sportsman class.
If four track joined hand to have buying power to buy everything for there track and we all have our own account. Then we have the power to got to every vendor there is and say we are going to go with the best price and product you have for us so give us your best cost. Joining hand make all the since in the world to save money as a group bigger discount and better advertisement from vendors in the long run. Then the saving can come on done to the drivers also.
If a track owner can save 2 cents on everthing we sell at the track to join hand that can lead up to some big saving at the end of the year.
If four track joined hand to have buying power to buy everything for there track and we all have our own account. Then we have the power to got to every vendor there is and say we are going to go with the best price and product you have for us so give us your best cost. Joining hand make all the since in the world to save money as a group bigger discount and better advertisement from vendors in the long run. Then the saving can come on done to the drivers also.
If a track owner can save 2 cents on everthing we sell at the track to join hand that can lead up to some big saving at the end of the year.
Just my thoughts[/QUOTE]
Maybe, but if the other 3 tracks aren’t going to work with you ( and they’re not ) then i don’t see where it’s worth it. Do your own thing, you don’t really have much choice. I know Desoto brought in Renegade, Showtime has VP. There’s plenty of choices out there.
One last piece of free advice. Build an import class. Call it Mini Stock and open it up to ALL imports. Or start a Tuner class that’s open to ALL imports and accept most modifications within reason. You can be a racing pioneer here Gary.
Gary, here’s a solid piece of advice. Get out of the lease at citrus and find something else to do. Don’t get involved with another track. Don’t look back, be done with racing. There’s other things to do. This was free advice, next appointment will be our regular fees.
>For whatever reason, the other track operators are not interested in joint efforts.
>For whatever reason, some competitors feel slighted and will not currently race at Citrus, as is their prerogative.
>Fans have watched Citrus go from a large field of cars, to…waiting for the lights to come back on. Many have found other venues or other activities, and, like changing brands of beer, we tend to be creatures of habit.
>So, IF the race(s) in July and August are not barnburners with lots of before hand advertising, I am fearful that Citrus will be relegated to the same status as Speed World, a non-relevant facility.
The racing business is cutthroat, at every level. Always has been.
I would suggest assessing your entire deal–which at this point, “fair” or not, lies solely on your shoulders, and decide how best to move forward. Many Cup owners (Roush, Waltrip, Petty) have found partners with deep pockets. Many (McClure, Donlevy in '06, Johnson) have moved on to literally greener pastures.
I am always all for giving people a chance, but let’s not forget the definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over and expecting a different result… As I said before, it’s all who you surround yourself with and sure the owner or promoter becomes the fall guy, in this case it’s Gary. But how many times has it happened. Is it truly worth another try? But then again, FL seems to enjoy the insanity…
I’ve been saddened by what has happened at Citrus County because I’ve enjoyed it for ten plus years or so, so I’d like to think stepping back and regrouping can help turn things around. I do think there is something to the schedule New Smyrna has going and I think rotating headlining classes with a couple nice payoff late model and modified shows is the way to go. Last year I took in the non-wing sprint shows and I think the tire soaking fiasco might have killed that class of unfortunately. Maybe they should just let Stan Butler run the non-wing sprint deal for them?
I’m trying to stay positive because I’d like to start going back there on a regular basis in the fall.
