I had to go to Lake City today and decided to ride by All Tech and see how many cars were coming to the free practice and BBQ. I was surprised to see the parking lot 3/4 full with fans EVERYWHERE and there must have been 50 cars in the pits! Maybe Sunday racing wouldn’t be a bad idea. And throw in a free BBQ sammitch! Great job to Wendall and his staff!
Have they announced an opening day yet?
Tons of people and old friends there today. Track was fast, but needed a little more water before practice to keep the dust down. It did black up quickly. ALL TECH has something going here for sure. Great job…
-JIM-
Heard mid August from people there today…
I had originally heard Aug 8th… but I have plans that day (benefit party for a sick friend ), but ANY other day, I’ll make the 3 hour ride to part of this.
I’ve said it a million times. Racing on an alternate day when no one else is racing will do wonders if you have a promotional staff that knows how to work the right angles on it and make it worth peoples time. Even though it was just a practice, props to All-Tech for taking this approach and chance and succeeding. Had a couple friends there who texted me some pictures and the place looks great. Nice to see new life given to a track on the brink of extinction.
It’s dirt, right?
I am not far from VSP, and yet I have not been there in years on a Saturday night.
The dirt faithful seem to be pretty enthusiastic about dirt racing whenever it is, though, and more power to them and All-tech Raceway.
Sunday is for rain out dates, IMO.
Everybody forgot that except, of course…Mr. Yoho.
Left to right, that’s Matt Albee and Phil Jacques and you know it!
Is that a pirate or Christmas hat Matt is sporting?
It’s 6 hours for me but I’m gonna try to make it for opening day. I was at Needmore’s grand opening a few years ago and it was amazing, pretty much the Dirt version of the Snowball Derby crammed into one 24 hour period…300 cars…insanity…and I’m more of a pavement guy.
I think this has kind of buzz and it’s one I wanna be at. Uncle Bert meant a lot to me and mine and I wanna support the rebirth of the place he gave so much to.
As soon as anyone has a firm date I’d appreciate if you’d post it in case I miss it on FB so I can make a reservation at a hotel.
Their F/B page says August 8th for the first race…
-JIM-
Not to sound stupid, but is All-Tech the track that used to be known as North Florida Speedway that was (always?) dirt? Or is this the former Columbia Motorsports Park that used to be paved? I don’t want to show up to the wrong place on the 8th!
It’s the former Columbia track that used to be paved.
All Tech has been operated under many names in the past and started originally as a dirt track before being paved and is now dirt once again… Has run as Lake City Speedway, Columbia County Speedway and Columbia Motorsports Park and maybe a couple of others… Go to my website - www.floridastockcars.com - and see some old pictures from when it was dirt before… some big names have raced there over the years… just click on the Lake City Area Tracks album…
Here are a few photos from the earlier dirt days… there are a bunch more on my site plus photos from the now North Florida Speedway that has also operated under several names but during most of its existence has been called Lake City Speedway…
- 1982 shot of Rance Phillips (Lee Gammel Photo)
- Tommy Riggins from Jacksonville…
- Aubrey Holley with a “winged” Chevelle…
- Skeeter Modified of Sputter Ragans coming off turn four…
- My old buddy John “Sugar Bear” Berg getting set to race…
My first trip thete, it was named Gateway Int’l
Actually “Gateway National”…
Gateway National raceway park! My dad still has the old sign in the shop.
Dang, I hope that races as good as it looks. It will be great to have this track back in the rotation. Used to be one of my favorite places to see late models when it was paved. Looks like a really first-rate job getting it ready.