Anders Bringing Great Racing Back to Historic Greenville Pickens

There was a time when Greenville Pickens Speedway was at the top of any list of short tracks in the country. The racing was great. The drivers who raced were legendary. And the man running the track was one of the great short track operators.

Time and technology took its toll on Greenville Pickens Speedway. Over the years the track fell behind other tracks in many categories including facilities, car counts, competition and promotion. The once revered track was just another facility operating on Saturday nights with less than stellar car count and less than enthusiastic racing.

In 2015 Anthony Anders shocked the racing world when he put away his drivers suit and leased the track that he won the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Championship in 2014. It was a surprising move for a driver that had been ridiculed for his pursuit of the National title the previous season.

Many people questioned whether Anders could leave the drivers seat behind and not run the track with bias to people who helped him or work against drivers who he’s had rivalries with over the years. Fans at Greenville Pickens, many of whom hated his domination of the track the previous couple of seasons, were in disbelief that he’d be running the track and vowed not to go back.

Anders however went to work while his critics were questioning his leadership of the track. Anders began cleaning up and improving the facilities at the track including renovating the restrooms. Anders worked the racers one by one and made his presence known right away. He vowed to improve the technical inspection process at the track and improve the racing for the fans in the process.

Opening night 2015 was all the proof that Anders needed to know that he could turn the track around and get it back to where it should be as one of the top race tracks in the southeast region.

“Opening night was packed,” said Anders. “It was a big stepping stone for us. People really wanted to see what I was going to do. They only knew Anthony Anders the racer and not me as a business man. I think they were all surprised at how much effort we put into the track.”

Anthony Anders the business man was about to change Greenville Pickens Speedway. Along with all the renovations and cleaning, Anders purchased a scoring system to get the track up to speed on technology. He also installed LED lighting all over the track to light the place up. Greenville Pickens wasn’t the same place when fans arrived for the first race of the season.

The new Greenville Pickens Speedway was focused on giving the racers a fair shake and giving the fans the racing that they’ve been wanting to see back on the half mile speed plant for years.

“We just wanted to give the racers a good tech shed and the fans deserved to see great racing,” continued Anders. “We added more officials and put together a great set of rules and followed them all the way through. It improved the on-track racing product.”

Anders also said he learned a lot about how to handle racers coming from being a racer as recently as the previous season.

“I had to learn to have a lot more patience,” continued Anders. “I was used to being a driver and showing up and trying to get my own way, just like these guys do. I had to learn not to just react but to think about what we needed to do when a question came up. I have a lot of respect for the racers having come from that side too. I know what they’re up against and what they need.”

Anders 2015 season however wasn’t perfect. The new Greenville Pickens Speedway had its share of growing pains. Some racers who didn’t like Anders never came to the track and wouldn’t give him a chance as promoter. Car counts were like a roller coaster all season with a high of 18 in Late Models and a low of just nine cars. The average car count was around 11-12 cars with many nights featuring 13 Late Models, the premier division at the track.

Car counts however were down at tracks all over the country last year as promoters faced problems beyond the race track stemming from a terrible economy. Anders started the season with around 60 cars on opening night in all divisions combined and grew that to over 70 cars by seasons end.

One of the biggest signs of how much different Greenville Pickens is today versus when Anders took over was the pre-season open test session. According to Anders less than 60 people came to the open test in 2015 while almost 300 people bought pit passes for this past weekend’s open test.

“We had around 65-70 cars this past weekend. That’s a big number for a pre-season test especially after having around 15-20 cars last year and maybe 50-60 people last year and around 300 this year. It blew me away.  I think that shows we’re headed in the right direction.”

Anders learned a lot during his rookie season as operator of Greenville Pickens Speedway. After running the track weekly last year with the same program and Late Model Stock Cars as the feature division in almost every race, Anders has broken his program down this year to have multiple feature divisions and some time off for each division.

The Late Model Stock Cars will run as the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Division 1 but will only run every third week throughout the season. The Late Model Stock Cars will run twin 75-lap races every time they take to the track. A change from the every weekend racing of 2015.

“We ran for like 22 straight weekends last year,” commented Anders. “We just wore those guys down by racing them too much. We think that running the Late Models every three weeks and running twin races will help our car count to grow and give people from outside the region the chance to pick a weekend or two to come run with us.”

Late Model Stock Cars will also be met with a new higher purse for the twin races which features a $2,000 to win purse for each race giving a driver a chance to win $4,000 on any given night. It’s also backed up with a strong payout throughout the field and boasting a $300 to start purse for each race as well.

“A guy can win $4,000 every weekend with the twin races this year. It also pays $600 to start between the two races and the drivers only have to purchase one set of tires. We’re trying hard to keep the expenses down and give the racers more in return so they can keep racing with us all year.”

Anders has also added a Limited Late Model division for this season. The Limited Late Model division will run on one of the weeks off in between races for the Late Model Stock Cars. The other weekend will be occupied by one of the many touring series including the Southeast Super Truck Series, Southeast Limited Late Models, NASCAR K&N East Series, PASS South Series and the CARS Tour among others.

The new Limited Late Model division looks to have a strong car count this season as well.

“I think we’ll have 14-16 Limiteds for this first race and I think it can only grow from there. We had a strong group of local Limiteds at the Southeast Limited Late Model race in February, so I think we have a base to grow the new division.”

Anders says it over and over when he’s talking about Greenville Pickens. He wants the track to have great racing. He’s passionate about the track and is looking to grow the fan base by giving them something to get excited about.

“The racing here used to be great,” explained Anders. “That’s what we’re working to get it back to. We’ve done a lot of upgrades to the track but our biggest upgrade comes when the fans are treated to a great race.”

Greenville Pickens Speedway officially kicks off their season this Saturday evening at 4pm with a strong field of cars ready to compete in twin 75-lap Late Model Stock Cars. The day will also feature the first race for the Limited Late Models as well as features in Street Stock, Renegades, 4-cylinders and Pure Stocks.