The owner of the track and the roadracing series are one and the same person (not normally the case - normally the track ownership is separate from the ownership of the racing series), and that person is an accountant who only appears to look at minimizing expenses/costs while seemingly putting no effective effort into attracting more customers (racers).
There have been no effective improvements to the track surface for years. They cut the expense of giving out trophies a couple years ago (you get a piece of paper). They arbitrarily cut the pay of their employees at round one last year, which resulted in some of them quitting on the spot - the rest of the year was pretty much operating on skeleton staff. They cut payouts to pro classes (result; they don't show up unless it is needed as a practice session for a national). For all the people who have been defecting to SOAR (includes myself) there has been not a hint of any sort of "we want you back" incentive. Result has been entry numbers on the decline. And for all the barbs that were thrown in the direction of SOAR with regards to the qualifications of the track marshals and their organization (yes, if a certain person is reading this, I remember), they have had problems getting enough corner workers to show up. What good are the historical record and qualifications of the track marshal organization if they are not there?
I saw no particular reason for renewing my RACE license this year, so I didn't.
By the way, Chris (who is the actual man on the ground making the race weekends happen) is very good and is not the one responsible for this mess. But he is being dealt a crap hand of cards to work with.
I cannot foresee any improvement until, for whatever reason and however it happens, the man at the top is no longer the man at the top. I know that offers to purchase/take over have been made by others and have been turned down. Perhaps it is an indication that with the amount of work that the facility requires to bring it back to what it once was, it isn't actually worth anywhere near what someone thinks it's worth on the books ...
FWIW the land that the track is built on, is leased from an Indian reservation ... There may be some financial implications that the rest of us don't know about ...
John Nelson (the man who originally built the track in the 1970's) must be turning in his grave. I still remember him, seemingly always on the tractor doing something. Fixing things, cleaning things. Good guy. But nobody's on that tractor any more.
