ALTAMAHAW, NC :: Ace Speedway had a wild offseason where questions lingered about whether the track would reopen and who would be running it. In the end, popular general manager Brad Allen, who revived the track from almost certain demise, would return as the general manager of the speedway. Now, Allen’s looking ahead to Late Model Stock Car racing returning to the track on Friday night and hoping everything else remains in the past.
“We’re expecting about 15 Late Models this weekend,” Allen said. “We’ll know more after practice. We’ve been reaching out to those who typically race there. I think everybody’s excited about getting back. The Limited Late Model field will be strong. I feel good about that. I hope my decision to push the season back gave them extra time to get ready. There’s a lot of excitement surrounding the track. I’d be glad to have an offseason where we’re not talking about whether the track’s opening or not.”
Allen said the offseason turmoil is a reminder of what Ace Speedway means to the region.
“Every racetrack has a different story in how it relates to the community,” Allen remarked. “That’s one of the things we have done over the past few years. When it’s announced it won’t be there, it causes grief and people form those opinions. It almost had to happen to tell people that we’ll do things the way they need to. You have to go through thought time for the lights to come back on. To get the response we’ve had, I’m cautiously optimistic we’ll get back to where we were. I’m concerned about our status as an ‘outlaw track’ though. I don’t like that term. We don’t have ASA or NASCAR but, done the right way, we can get where we need to be. Hopefully we’ll be successful and get that respect and credibility back. We’ll stick with our program and treat it the way we’ve treated it the past three years. That’ll be enough for our guys. Obviously, the next step remains the next step.”
Allen hopes to be at Ace Speedway in the long term and feels he may have convinced Abraham Woidislawsky to keep him around.
“I don’t think Abraham has the best interests of the track at heart,” Allen commented. “Once things played out, (returning to Ace) became an option. I think there’s a way for our group to run this track and not change anything dramatically. Once we got this thing setup, it’s a different feel. The way things are now, I don’t have to argue with him over things we’re thinking about doing and the direction we need to go. It’s our canvas and it’s up to us to paint the picture of what we want here. The exciting part is knowing the guy isn’t going to come in here and spill our paint everywhere.
“That’s what we fought for more than anything is trying to explain to him how this area operates and that this isn’t Daytona or Talladega or Charlotte. That’s what he thought he bought. What they do is what he thought we should do. That doesn’t work at a short track. Now, I can start over again and now I have experience and that’s what the last three years have been, gaining experience. Understanding how this business works in relation to other businesses. It’s a dynamic business. I enjoy doing it. I like being a part of it. Southern National isn’t home; it’s a foreign land for me. While I enjoy the staff and racers, getting connected in that community is really hard and they need somebody just like Ace needs somebody local. When I weighed the options, here’s my opportunity to do things the way I want it to. The feeling I have right now, we did the right thing. Southern National has more resources than we have. They have a staff and have some good people in place. We don’t have that luxury at Ace. We have four people at Southern National. Here, it requires more attention to detail. I won’t let this track or Southern National suffer. We’ve made some adjustments down there, delegated some duties that will strengthen the people at SNMP. The approach is still the same. Let’s take care of the racers and teams and make sure it’s fair and take care of the racers and teams. There’s no comparison between the two tracks.”
Brad Allen reiterated that he is committed to both Southern National and Ace. However, Ace is Allen’s home track and he is part of the community. He feels a track needs to tell the fans that they’re important.
“These are race fans here. There are race fans all over the region. They want a quality product at a good price. When you do certain promotions that tell your fans you care about them and want them there, they buy in to what you’re doing. It’s taken a while for that to grab hold at Southern National. It took us three years to build what we’ve got at Ace whereas Southern National’s only been open for a little over a year. Once you do it, you tell people it’s not your track, it’s their track. They support it a little more passionately and get more involved. You get cars, you get fans, you get fans, you get sponsors and you get more cars. It’s a circle. These people are the lifeblood of any racetrack out there. When I left here, it was circulated Ace would close down and it bothered me and other people.”
Ace Speedway will work to raise funds for Rodney Cook, who is battling cancer. The track will also bring back the Mischa Sell Memorial race during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Allen feels that the way racing gives back to the community and participates in charity separates it from other sports and that motorsports must be invested in good causes.
“We’re very thankful we’re not doing a Rodney Cook Memorial,” Allen explained. “Raising funds for Rodney Cook will be a centerpiece of what we do at the start of the year. We always try to do things. We do things for the Boy Scouts and stuff. As you get in to the season and through the summer, you look at football season and we’ll have our meltdown on Labor Day. Trying to do five races with that last year wasn’t beneficial for us to take on that challenge without support. The David Sell thing will be a staple as long as I’m involved here because it’s a meaningful race just from the Mischa Sell Memorial standpoint as well as people who battle with Breast Cancer. That’s going to be a punctuation mark on our season every year. There are people who race for the right reason and David is one of those guys and, for him to show up in her legacy and for the Jack and Jill Foundation, we get to help somebody.”
Allen says he gets a good feeling when he gives back to the community and feels that he is in the sport for all the right reasons.
“When you do things to help people and get that good feeling inside, it reminds you why you’re doing this. Everyone wants to look at the bottom line and they should but this sport means so much more than just the bottom line. We’re here to make memories. When you do that, you get rich in other ways and that’s what it’s all about. You have to make enough to keep the lights on but if you’re missing the boat of creating a special time for people to come to the racetrack, you’re not doing your job. I’m proud to say we’ve made a lot of good memories here and there are more memories to come in years to come.”
Ace Speedway’s season opener for the Late Model Stock Car division will be on Friday night, April 12th. RACE22.com will have live coverage of the race.
