ALTAMAHAW, NC :: Bill Catania and his company, Short Track Management, have acquired a lease to operate Ace Speedway in 2015 with an option to potentially buy the racetrack from Abraham Woidislawky down the road.
The deal was finalized over the weekend which will keep the track open in 2015 after Brad Allen’s departure. Allen had run the track for several seasons. Catania says he doesn’t plan to change much and hopes to announce his season schedule in early-to-mid January.
“We’re sort of in the business right now of acquiring the right type of tracks and building a company to rent, renovate and operate tracks for full seasons or special events,” Catania said. “We’ve kept our eyes on Ace Speedway. We knew they were looking for a promoter. It wasn’t something that we had planned to do as we reached the fall because we were going a different direction with another track but we changed direction and that opened this up.”
Many of the tracks that Catania operates are up north around Pennylvania and New York, such as Stateline Speedway which is in Jamestown, New York. Catania says he likes the location of Ace Speedway because it is in his backyard.
“The thing I like is that it’s here and in my backyard while the other venues are up north,” Catania explained. “I’m not able to be there all the time. The potential for Ace to come in to the fold with us was pretty good. I contacted Abraham and things worked out with al ease and an option to buy. Short Track Management has the first right to buy Ace which is what our intention is. It moved quickly. He knew what he wanted, I knew what I wanted and we were able to work through it quickly and easily.”
Catania hasn’t put a schedule together yet but he says the track will continue to race on Friday nights. He’s currently talking with drivers and fans about what to do for next season and will have a meeting with the drivers in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on January 10th to discuss what to do for the 2015 season and beyond.
“We literally got things wrapped up a few days ago,” Catania remarked. “The process I’m going through right now is focusing on the next five to 10 days at special events and when we want to run them and look at our neighboring tracks as well as local and regional events going on that would have an impact on attendance. We’ve got to be careful with how we schedule. What I’m doing now, I go to the drawing board and analyze to figure things out.
“I’ve been talking to drivers and fans every day. Right now, I’m going through data collection and trying to figure it out. We’re having a driver’s meeting on the 10th of January at the Winston Tower. I don’t foresee many changes. I don’t believe in change for the sake of change. If the product isn’t broken, there’s nothing to fix. I’ll listen to the drivers and what they need and put something together that makes sense for them and for us. I’d like to announce the schedule on the 10th. It doesn’t leave us a whole lot of time but it leaves us time.”
Catania’s main goal is to get more fans and more drivers to Ace Speedway, which is located in Altamahaw, North Carolina – just north of Burlington and Elon.
“My job, and I’ve explained this to some of the folks that reached out to me, when I stepped in to the role of promoter, it was because I was excited to run the business, grow it, get fans in the stands and get the driver count up. That’s what I’m focused on… The big thing was to secure the facility. Now I can invest the time in it. I care about what’s in the best interest of the drivers.”
Along with operating various short tracks through Short Track Management, Catania is also a competitor in the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) and has made starts in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards.
