Langley and Kimberly Austin will begin managing Ace Speedway for the remainder of the 2016 season as Mike Dailey steps away from the asphalt track.
The Austin’s currently manage Franklin County Speedway in Callaway, VA and will continue to run a full schedule of races there. They also own and operate RACE22.com which is the leading news and information website for Late Model Stock Car racing in the Southeast region.
Dailey is stepping away for health reasons and looks forward to seeing what the Austin’s can do with the facility.
“The only people I would trust this place to is Langley and Kimberly,” said Dailey. “My family has poured hours into this place. It kills me to do this but I honestly think this is what is best for the track and my health. I’d like to thank everyone who supported the track the last few months and helped us along the way. I think Langley and Kimberly will do a great job of getting the track where it needs to be.”
They’re poised to bring back the fire that kept the candles burning over the last few seasons after a slow start to the season with Dailey at the helm.
“I’m looking forward to this opportunity given to me by Mike (Dailey),” said Promoter Langley Austin. “Mike and I are good friends and I support him and what he wants to do 100%. He wants to see Ace Speedway be a success and after his attempts haven’t produced the results he expected, he knew that I would come in and try to get things where they need to be.”
Austin has a laundry list of changes but a short time to work with as the schedule hits it’s next event on Friday June 24th.
“The next race is 10 days away. That leaves little time for the things we want to get done but we know where we want to go with it and we’re going to make some serious changes to take Ace Speedway where everyone wants it to be.”
The first of those changes will be to go back to single features for all divisions with a full purse being paid for each race. Austin feels that while the twin features give the racers more on track time it also puts more laps on their cars and engines and wear and tear on parts.
“Twins are great but they’re not great every week,” commented Austin. “We’re going to run all the divisions single features and go back to qualifying them even if it is by european or group qualifying. That has worked well for us at Franklin County and we’re going to make our programs similar because it’s something we know works for a tight schedule.”
Austin says they’ll continue to run the same core divisions that they’ve been running but want to add a “true” Late Model Stock Car class back to the schedule.
“The drivers who haven’t been racing there this season have been clammering for a Late Model division by NASCAR rules. I think that’s something we can give them. I’m going to try and get in touch with all the guys who raced there the last couple of years the best I can and see what they want to do as far as tires and purse and laps and everything and we’ll go from there.”
Austin is evaluating the rulebooks in all divisions and make any changes needed to make them better for everyone involved.
“We’re also going to look at the rules in all the divisions there and see where we can make a change to make sure that we can get all the old drivers who still have cars back and keep the ones who have been faithful this year. There’s a million reasons people haven’t been coming and we’re going to try and close all those loopholes and get them back there to put on a show for the fans. If we get the drivers coming back the fans will come and they’ll keep coming because they won’t want to miss what’s next.”
Ace Speedway is a special place to Austin and his wife and they want to do everything they can to make the track the place to be for drivers and fans.
“A lot of the people who race at Ace are my friends,” continued Austin. “We have covered races there for RACE22.com for 10 years and we’ve promoted a couple of races there back in 2014. I know pretty much everyone over there in some capacity, so I want to give this my all and make this season memorable for the right reasons. Ace used to be the place to be and it will be again.”
Austin is going to keep the next event on the schedule on Friday June 24th at 8pm but fans and drivers and teams will notice some huge differences right away. Austin will honor all sponsorship agreements, season passes and pit licenses from Dailey’s operation of the track. Additional announcements will be made over the next few days on the events using the tracks Facebook page. If you need to contact Langley Austin please call or text 276.613.4208 or email [email protected].
