A decline in gas prices and an improving economy has Dillon Motor Speedway track owner and promoter Ron Barfield excited about the 2015 season.

Barfield, 43, is a former racer himself.  He has owned Dillon Motor Speedway, located off Interstate 95 in Dillon, South Carolina, since reopening the track in 2007.  This season, he is putting Dillon Motor Speedway on a two tire program to help reduce costs.  That, along with an improving economic situation, has Barfield believing 2015 will be a strong year for short track racing in general.

“If our New Year’s race is any indication, it should be a really good year,” Barfield said.  “It was the biggest crowd we’ve had for that race in years.  With gas prices being down, it’s going to help local Saturday night racers.  I’m looking forward to it. I think it should be very good this year.  I think it’s going to be a good year for local racing.”

Dillon’s regular season will start on March 21st but, before that race goes green, Dillon will host the season opener for the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Super Late Model tour on March 7th.

“I think it’s a good way to kick the season off.  It gets my local racers in the stands watching and gets them thinking about the upcoming season,” Barfield stated.  “We’ve always had a good turnout, 20-25 cars, for that race.  I think it will be a good race and I’m looking forward to it.  It also gets my local racers ready for the year.”

Along with PASS, Dillon will host races for the KOMA Unwind Modified Madness Series on August 29th as well as the Mid-Atlantic Street Stock Championship series on March 21st, July 11th and October 25th.  Barfield says promotions at the track this season will include a fan appreciation night where general admission is free for fans as well as a carload deal one night.

Being a former racer, Barfield knows what it takes to make the racers happy when running a racetrack but he also realizes the challenges in trying to please both the racers and the fans – a challenge many promoters in racing struggle with.  He says he has to strike a balance to keep costs low for the racers while also putting on an exciting race for the fans.

“When you’re a racer, you go on the other side of the fence and it makes you see things from a racer’s side from their perspective, such as keeping the costs down so you can come every week.  But, when you swap sides of the fence, a lot of racers that turned in to promoters have a hard time letting go of the racing parts.”

“For the promoter, you have to do things from the outside that may not be in the best interest of the racers to keep the track making money.   A racer would want free tires, start on the pole, lead every lap, no racing door-to-door.  From a promoter’s side, a promoter needs good racing on the racetrack and needs to create enough revenue to keep the gates open.  We all do it because we love to do it.  From the racers who race at my track to me, I do the track because I thoroughly enjoy racing and always have.”

DILLON MOTOR SPEEDWAY: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Dillon Motor Speedway 2015 Schedule

March 8th: PASS South
March 21st: Late Model Stock Cars/Mid-Atlantic Street Stock Championship
April 26th: Late Model Stock Cars
May 9th: Late Model Stock Cars
May 23rd: Late Model Stock Cars
June 13th: Late Model Stock Cars
[Summer-Fall Schedule to be announced at a later date]
July 11th: Mid-Atlantic Street Stock Championship
August 29th: KOMA Unwind Modified Madness Series
October 25th: Mid-Atlantic Street Stock Championship