By now, everyone has heard the many stories, complaints and rumblings of what many will call the season opener at Dominion Raceway a total bust. A little bit of everything from the way the tech shed conducted post race inspections right down to the prices on the food. I mean, if you had talked to some, you might hear such words as lies, sabotage and cheating of all things.
How rare is that huh? But outside of the norm so to speak of the things you might here on a weekly basis, Dominion Raceway sure did make the news last week. Since the 2014 closing of Old Dominion Speedway, you could imagine how important it was to many to see the all new Dominion Raceway open for the 2016 race season. Featuring a three story building which supports all the office space, officials tower, media center, luxury suites and food court, there is nothing like it anywhere at any other local short track in the Mid Atlantic. There’s also centered in the middle of the track, a Jumbotron TV which will support track sponsorship and scoreboard directed straight at its fans.
Clearly, track owner Steve Britt wanted to make an impression and the fan experience a premium. But unfortunately, there’s not much said about any of the many and exciting amenities you’ll find at Dominion Raceway.
As many know during the Late Model race, the power to the entire facility, track and all went completely dark during the race. Not helping matters none was the Jumbotron did not keep fans informed of driver position and lap count. Then the race which was scheduled for one hundred laps was reduced to seventy five laps citing curfew as the reason which is a county ordnance the track must abide. But what really hurt the season opener at Dominion Raceway was the controversial finish of the Late Model race in which racer Nick Smith had to give up the trophy because of a scoring error and communication error.
As reported in the coverage from RACE22.com, during the final caution, we were told through the tracks PA system that the race would have a lap seventy two restart and that there would be a GWC finish to the event. Here’s when things got really weird, when the field was shown the green to restart the race and they completed that lap, the white flag should have been displayed. However that was not so, the white flag wasn’t displayed until the very next completed lap after which the checkered flag ended the race. The scoring issue left one race team (Nick Smith) celebrating in Victory Lane while another team (Tyler Hughes) who was under the impression of a GWC fuming over the results.
On the tracks Facebook page, Race Director Chris Stefi offered a complete explanation to the ruling. But questions of the letter soon arose about the lap count which is explained to be at lap seventy two and wondering to many, how could there be a GWC on lap seventy two. While speculation and interpretation are subject in every word, there was a major mess with the ending to the race in what was a very exciting finish. But in moving forward, mistakes must be learned from and corrective action taken. There must be a viable concern and to find out more we turned to track General Manger Edwin Pardue who was very receptive to Race22.com and goes in depth about the concerns of the season opener at Dominion Raceway.
Race22: Nothing can be taken away of the racing on opening night, but gauging from the miscues, surely there’s got to be some disappointment?
Edwin Pardue: “Were not disappointed at all, if your looking at the racing on the track it was fantastic, the response from social media was overwhelmingly positive but there were a few negatives as well’, shared the tracks General Manager. “If you take out the fact about the power situation and you look at the other situation with the ending of the Late Model race which we have now rectified, consulted with NASCAR which they referred us to the NASCAR rule book and looked back on previous incidents such as the K&N series who had a very similar situation a year ago. Considering all that I think we got the call (to the ending of the race) correct and had it not been for the guy flipping the switch off I think everyone would have looked back as it being a very positive night so am I disappointed? Not at all, do I see room for improvement? Absolutely.
Race22.com: The blackout at the facility is no being looked into as a possible criminal matter. Can you elaborate and explain?
Edwin Pardue: I can elaborate a little as it is an ongoing investigation, we believe that there was someone who was a subcontractor who had worked on the project for several reasons might had been upset”, explained Pardue. “That person had access to the electrical closet which nobody else would have access to and shut down the power. It was a very very serious situation as we had a full field of Late Models on the track at that time. Hats off to our group of professional drivers who got the cars slowed down, got them stop without any incident and that is a testament to the folks who drive these cars as professionals.
Race22: Going forward, a very impressive race scheduled is scheduled for your race fans and race teams alike. April 30th is your next race date, can Dominion Raceway iron out its issues and become a premiere race track in the Mid Atlantic?
Edwin Pardue: “Quick answer to that was our biggest issue with the lights going out and I can guarantee you that the person who did that will not be on the property when we return on the 30th”, claims Edwin Pardue. “The other area that I really want to work on is our crowd control, we had some fans in areas we were not pleased with and obviously some fencing is needed which is something were going to take care of. I was back home at 4am Sunday morning that night and I don’t live to far away from the track. We addressed every issue, there was nothing that we didn’t see a clear path to resolving so we think it was a great opening night but we know there’s some areas will need to work on. But the great things were proud of was our parking team an how there was no backups to the main road and how easily the fans were able to exit to the highway at the end of the night. The on track racing, for that track on opening night on new asphalt to immediately become a two grove track was amazing and we were overjoyed. We had racing side by side lap after lap and that bodes so well for the future so I think all the positives overshadow the incident with the lights. Yeah, it was disappointing and as General Manager I was mad as a hornet”.
Race22: The ending of the Late Model race was obviously a scoring issue and unintentional, moving forward, there’s no reason to doubt something like this will never happen again?
Edwin Pardue: “We went back and looked, our Race Director Chris Steffy and talking about going through ever piece of it in making sure the final call was right. We looked at video, contacted the folks at NASCAR who directed us to the rulebook point by point and I would refer you over to our Facebook page for an official press release on the matter which goes into detail. After going through the rulebook the final call was made for the eight car winning the race which was indeed correct and similar to a race last year in the K&N series race with nearly an identical situation. Do I wish that it didn’t happen? Of course, I’ll tell you this, Nick Smith and his race team were a great group of professionals and I’m sorry it happened to them the way that it did. But we got the call right, we got the right winner. I’ll tell you what, Nick Smith came up to the tower afterwards, handled himself as a professional, lodged his complaint, made a formal protest in which we followed through to its logical conclusion”.
Race22: Is there anything you would like the race teams and the fans to know from this point on in the 2016 race season?
Edwin Pardue: “ There all going to be in for a season of unbelievable racing,” an excited Edwin Pardue says. “On thing that we didn’t have open yet was our full 118 bar and grill so the fan experience goes right through the roof. The registration process issue took a lot longer then we had hoped but we addressed the reasons why and that will be a quicker process in the future. We went through everything on Saturday and couldn’t see anything we couldn’t fix in two weeks. Our fans were just off the hook and sure, we addressed some the situations that could have been a little bit better and we just relish at making this program better in the future”.
Openly speaking with Track Manager Edwin Pardue, In my own words, there is absolutely no doubt the future and its race program at Dominion Raceway should be in question. With the lights going out and the very controversial finish to the Late Model race to some may suggest otherwise. But the issues known have not been a first in our sport by any stretch of the means and for Dominion Raceway as far as they’re concerned, it will be they’re last. For track General Manager Edwin Pardue and staff its full steam ahead with every intention of creating the best possible experience for both racer and fans alike.
In my first trip to Dominion Raceway, the issues had me a bit discouraged but instead, its real easy to notice that the full potential of this speedway is unrealized in what this place will have to offer once fully completed. Id have to say the potential is exciting to think about as the racing was as good as anywhere around. Dominion Raceway will have NWAAS Late Model race action, this Saturday April 30th for a seventy five lap event. As always friends and fans, support your local short tracks whenever you can and help make local short track racing in the Mid Atlantic great.
