PUNTA GORDA, FL :: Three Palms Speedway will emerge in 2014 under new management. Jamie Haase and his two sons, Aaron and Andy, have taken over the lease to the track formerly known as Charlotte County Speedway. The Haase trio hopes to reopen the track by February but here is still work to be done.
“A couple years, we started shopping around looking for a track. We were looking for a track to purchase. We were trying to purchase DeSoto and that fell through because the people here went there,” Jamie Haase said about how they came about getting the track. “We looked at a number of tracks. Up in Indiana, we looked at a track. There’s one in North Carolina (Mooresville). We looked at a dirt track by Ocala. We made some inquiries on a few others. In doing our research, we scouted out the tracks down here such as Auburndale and Citrus to see what they were doing well. We scouted out Punta Gorda and we thought they had a great fan base so when they decided to leave, we thought it would be a great opportunity for us to come in.”
The track has to construct new grandstands and replace the catch fence at the track after the previous tenant removed the grandstands and catch fence.
“When we first came in we didn’t know we would be looking at damage as well,” Haase remarked. “The grandstands, catch fence and concession stands – anything he felt was his, he took. We haven’t gotten in to what was his and wasn’t because that’s between him and the Airport Board.”
Haase says winter temperatures in Southwest Florida are optimal for racing and they do plan to run year round at Three Palms Speedway – something that’s tradition for the track.
“We’re going to run as much as we can year round,” Haase explained. “It’s a problem in the summer months with rainy season as they call it down here. We’ll see how that goes. We’re going to run through the winter months. Hopefully we can start in February. There’s no reason you couldn’t run in January with the weather here. We might start earlier on Saturdays than what they’ve been doing in the past when it gets colder in the evenings. We’ve also considered afternoon racing.”
Haase couldn’t speak too much about what touring division would come to Three Palms but said the track has already established a relationship with the Florida United Promoters Late Model Series and the Tampa Bay Area Racing Association. He said they have already signed for a couple dates with TBARA. He also said the backbone classes will remain the same while they seek to also add new classes to generate interest from younger people.
“For our backbone classes, it’s going to be what they’ve had in the past with Road Warriors, Street Stocks, Thunder Trucks and a couple different classes such as Front Wheel Drive and a kid’s class,” Haase stated. “We’re also going to carry that down further and run go karts down here on Sunday afternoons. We’re going to let them have Friday night races where they can get out under the lights. We’ve talked with TB midgets and they want to make us their home track and they’re excited about racing on Friday nights. We’ll do different stuff to generate more interest from a bigger fan base.
“We are working with Rex Guy (Owner/Promoter, Auburndale Speedway) with the touring series. We’re not going to schedule the same classes on the same nights. We’re working on a lot of stuff and there’s stuff I can’t put out because it’s not solidified.
Haase also spoke about how the Three Palms name came about.
“We’re good size guys and we’ve been called trees before,” Haase commented. “That’s part of why we call it Three Palms. My favorite driver was Dale Earnhardt so that’s also how the three got in there. We love palm trees, that’s just Florida. We came from up north. Palm trees are foreign to us.”
Three Palms Speedway, originally named Charlotte County Speedway, is located adjacent to the Punta Gorda Airport and opened in 1990. The track closed in 2004 after sustaining significant damage from Hurricane Charley which made landfall near Punta Gorda as a category four hurricane on August 13, 2004. The track reopened later that year after facilities were repaired and rebuilt at a price tag of near $500,000. The track has also operated under the names Charlotte County Motorsports Park and Punta Gorda Speedway. Three Palms was closed for the entire 2013 racing season.
Jamie Haase is the President and CEO of the track. His son, Aaron, is a Vice President and is in charge of IT and Facility Management. His other son, Andy, is also a Vice President and is in charge of Marketing and Corporate Sales. Three Palms Speedway is online at ThreePalmsSpeedway.com and on Facebook.
