Story by: Corey Latham ~ [email protected]

Altamahaw, NC(March 31, 2009) ~ Ace Speedway has always been one of the most beautiful facilities in the country. From the neon lights and VIP suites, to the overall cleanliness of the grounds, it is a great place to come race for fans and racers alike.

It has been like that for years, but it seemed the little track in Altamahaw, NC could and should be so much more, it seemed to spin it’s wheels so to say. Well, Ace Speedway has a new outlook in 2009, new faces in the front office with big ideas, and plans for what could become one of the biggest Late-Model Stock Car/Festival events in the entire region. Last week I had the pleasure of talking with new President/General Manger, and former racer himself, Greg Davis, and he gave me the lowdown on whats going on. And it’s a whole new ballgame at the 4/10’s mile bullring.

First and foremost, the management is all new so to say. There are still some familiar faces around, but many of those have been moved around to new positions. Mr. Davis came to the track owner, Mr. Abraham Woidislawsky, about a business proposition for his own company, and that meeting impressed Mr Woidislawsky, he offered Davis the job.

Davis also brings in Kathy Thompson, who has a wealth of experience to boot also, as she assumes the role of the Director of Marketing and Public Relations. Together with the rest of the staff, they are bringing lots of fresh ideas to the future of Ace.  The biggest thing to begin with was getting the right people in the right places.

“The first thing I noticed even before I took the position, was that there was a lack of communication at the track, the right hand not knowing what the left is doing, and that needed to be addressed immediately” said Mr. Davis. “Some people were offered different jobs where we thought they would be an ongoing contribution to our progress, and some declined the offer, so we adjusted to where we needed to be.”

“We have a new man up top named Mackie McBroom, and he’s going to be our race director for 2009. He has been around racing all his life, mostly with the SCCA type stuff and brings a freshness into what we are trying to do. We wanted somone capable of running the show, but really didn’t have experience.  The reason that we went that route, was we have our own philosophy on how we want things ran, and if we get somebody with a ton of experience, they are going to do it the way they have always done it. We want it to be done the way WE want it done, so Mackie will be just fine, we’ll coach him and mold him to the way ACE Speedway wants it program ran.”

Mr. McBroom is employed in the racing industry and builds jacks for teams in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and has been around racing all his life, the track believes in him and that is one of the most important elements. Mr. Davis stressed to me, “Morale is key between all of us, first and foremost, we won’t always agree, but we will handle it professionally”.

The management isn’t the only big news at the track, the things and directions they are going in could be something that all tracks will soon have to put in place. In todays tough economic times, and with so many different luxuries and social events to do, it’s hard for tracks to get the fans in the stands like they used to. I’ve been saying for some time that “what worked 20 years ago isn’t working today”, and the people at ACE have the same feelings. Mr. Davis and his staff are more on the marketing side than any track we’ve heard about in some time, and some of the ideas are very exciting.

The fans will be treated this year with special guest announcers such as Randy Pemberton from the Speed Channel, and the voices you’ve heard for years on NASCAR radio broadcast such as Doug Rice and Steve Post for example. Lots of television, streaming internet broadcasts for the races, a big gospel concert along with various other concerts are other things to expect. A mud pit has been built out behind the backstrectch, and the track will host it’s own series called Pro Mud Racing Series putting on many events throughout the year.

Guest appearances will be sprinkled in throughout the year, Ernie Irvan, Randy Lajoie, and the man himself, Humpy Wheeler will be around the Ace Speedway in 2009. And, Humpy has been involved with some of the ideas at the track, and we all know his ideas are highly entertaining.

The big thing that caught my ear was Mr. Davis telling about CamoJam. It’s going to be a festival with vendors from various types of outdoor activities such as hunting, fishing, boating, ATV’s, mountain climbing, camping, pretty much anything the outdoors has to offer. It will be a 3 day event, and various demonstrations and concerts will be held throughout the day, and camping available. An ATV demo course will be built for fans to check out the new ATV’s, and ride-a-longs will be available at the speedway in specially made 2-seater Late-Model.

As if all that wasn’t good enough, there will be racing for 2 straight nights concluding with a televised 200 lap, $10,000 to win Late-Model race on Saturday night. Friday night will be qualifying and heat races along with some regular divisions, then the big race after a day of fun on Saturday. After the race there will be a fireworks display, a giant party, and a concert to end the evening. This is shaping up to be one of the premiere events in the entire region, and the Ace staff wants it to be an annual event. Sounds like fun to me.

Mr. Davis and his staff seem to have Ace Speedway going in the right direction, and it looks like the marketing skill they are bringing in will help in all facets of the growth of the facility from what it is today. The things we don’t see such as media and sponsor relations are going to make the track grow behind the scenes, but what about the on-track product, what the people in the stands will see? Mr. Davis assured me the divisions will be full and competitive, and he said something that let me know he’s a racer at heart.

Davis said, “If a guy gets hit during the race, and doesn’t like it and comes up and bumps that guy after the race, we aren’t going to throw him out. Granted, we aren’t going to let anybody get hurt, but these guys are racers and are passionate about what they do. We just want the racers to be happy, and the fans be happy with the experience of being there, from the racing, all the way down to the food we’re selling, we want to be the best. If we can do half the things we are wanting to do this year, I think we’re hitting a home run”.

It looks like Ace will be the place to be this year, and for years to come.