COEBURN, VA :: Harold Crook felt humbled when he was named the 2012 ASA Southeast Promoter of the Year.  Now, he’s looking to lead 2013 to even bigger things for the Southwest Virginia racetrack.

“I’ve been here off and on since 1990 with a break here and a break there,” Crook said about his time at Lonesome Pine Raceway.  “I felt humbled to win the Southeast Promoter of the Year title.  You do this all your life and you see people and the great promoters, some still out there, it’s a good feeling.  We’ve done everything here over the years.  We’ve done Enduros, Sprint Cars and Monster Truck and all kinds of stunt shows.”

The track will open its gates for the 2013 season on April 6th.

“We start off Saturday night with six divisions.  We will also do a kid’s night this season where we ride the kids on the track.  The first three weeks we race and then we come back in June with the UARA.  We also have a monster truck show in May.  On June 22nd, we have the Sprint Cars.  We’ve also got the SouthEast Super Trucks coming.  We have a Modified Madness and we do the Freedom Bash on the Fourth of July.”

Lonesome Pine has had a long relationship with the United Auto Racing Association and hopes to build a long-term relationship with the SouthEast Super Trucks.

“UARA’s been racing here for a long time,” Crook explained.  “They came in the early 2000s and we’ve been racing with them ever since.  I’m partial to those guys.  I worked for that tour for eight years.  It’s a real good series.  The SouthEast Super Trucks, we just ran those last year one time and they put on a great show.  We were tickled to death to have them and look forward to them coming back.”

Crook doesn’t feel the track is disadvantaged by having ASA sanctioning instead of NASCAR sanctioning.

“ASA sanctioning doesn’t hurt us at all.  I think NASCAR’s a great series and it gives you prestige but ASA has prestige as well.  Several tours and 30 something tracks.  They’re well recognized.  We feel real good with it.  I think a true racer doesn’t matter to them, if you’ve got a lot of competition and you treat them fair, they could care less.”

Crook says there have been improvements made during the offseason and praised Chase Brashears for his implementation of electronic scoring and his utilization of social media.

“We’ve done some work to the track on the offseason.  We’ve patched it here and there, started a new Young Guns class, we’ve done some painting and we’ve worked on our sponsors.  That’s the biggest key to it all.  Chase has been working on our electronic scoring.  He brings a lot to the table on the social media front as well.  You almost have to have social media now.  If you don’t have it now, I mean, back in the day, if you built it they would come.  Now, people have so much other stuff to do.  You’ve got to let them know.  You have to fight for the advertising dollar.”

Lonesome Pine’s general admission pricing is in line with other track with tickets at $10, special events tickets at $15, seniors $8, children under six and under free and children ages 6-12 at half price.  Crook, like other promoters, explained that the cost of a race ticket and concessions makes racing more affordable for families to watch than going to a movie.

“I can tell you this, I went to a movie the other night and, for three people, the cost of a large Diet Coke and a large bag of popcorn for everyone was over $50 total.  You can come here with four people and still have change.”

Crook also feels a limited schedule helps racers and teams.

“We don’t race at the end of the month, the first of the month and 15th is when people get paid.  That’s when your straight.  The last weekend of the month, they don’t have any money.”

Crook feels the track should stick with the basics and maintain the track as it is.

“If we can maintain, we’re in good shape, the track and facilities are in good shape.  If we do what we’re doing, we’ll be fine. We’re going to stay with the basics and that’s what got us here and the local Saturday night guy, he’d love to be racing ARCA but he knows he can’t afford it so he’ll come here.”

Lonesome Pine Raceway opens on April 6th with a seven feature show.