SWAG75 Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 THIS IS FROM THE WICHITA SPEEDWAY WEBSITE: Regularly scheduled oval track racing at Wichita Speedway is canceled for the remainder of the 2007 season. Low car turnout and objections to the way the track was being run led to the decision to close the track. I bought the track because I had some spare time, it was a challenge, and it looked like fun. After listening to the car owners and drivers, I decided it was a challenge I couldn’t meet, it required more time than I anticipated, and it was not fun. I offer my sincere thanks to all who helped in this endeavor and I wish you all well. Barry. We bought this track just 3 weeks before races were to start, and this put us behind from the beginning. We needed a new website, clean concession and all of the plumbing in the bathrooms replaced, just to name a few of the many things that had to be done. We were unable to get some of them to what we wanted them to be. It is hard to spend time on the website when the health department will not pass the concession because of leaks in the roof. We ground the track and applied traction compound to get more than one lane to add to the excitement of the race. This was a good thing for the drivers and the fans. We reduced ticket prices. We had plans to resurface the track and buy more land to make a paved pit area so that we could divorce our track from the drag strip and run anytime we wanted. Our idea was to make the track better, make the fan facilities nicer and cleaner, get enough cars to have a great show, then do a lot of advertising to get the crowd it takes for a really successful track. We wanted to have Wichita Speedway to be the place that a race fan would want to be on race night. I believe we would be able to stand the losses long enough to get the car count to a place where the show was acceptable and we could turn our attention to filling the stands. We were in this for the long haul. I appreciate the racers that have supported the track. I have made some new friends. Racers told me that they wanted to be treated fair, honest, and consistent. And, coincidentally, that was our objective as well, because when everyone plays by the same rules then the results have to be fair honest and consistent. Unfortunately, for some of the drivers, “fair” was only what is good for their car. There were many suggestions and complaints. A lot of the assumptions driving these complaints were incorrect. Some people thought that we were not listening, when we simply disagreed with their “good idea”. Many of the racers and some of our employees could not seem to get past the “us against them” attitude, and this is where the poison began to spread. Anything that is good for the owners and not the racers is not good for the track. The same goes for something that is good for the racers but not the owners. If it is not good for everyone, then in the long run, it is not good for anyone. When things are not working well, it is human nature to look somewhere else, to blame someone else. I even heard that things were not as they should be because I am a drag racer. If you have heard that, try to remember who said it and feel sorry for that person, for it is sad that a person can stoop so low or believe something so far out there. We know that we made some mistakes and could have done better in some areas. I believe that in the long run we would have fixed most of the mistakes we were making. The problem is, the “griper group” think they are blameless victims, and I do not believe that they could get past the blame game to promote the track. As Barry and I looked at what we put into the track for the rewards we have received (not monetary), we decided that it is not worth our efforts to continue with the races. We had racers that think that they can demand the changes they want. We had potential racers that wanted to “wait and see” if it would be different. We had employees that could not, or would not, see things from a management point of view. We even had racers that were organizing a strike. Think how destructive that would be, and this was a major consideration in the closing of the races. There should be a lesson here, but I doubt that the ones that really closed this track will step up and shoulder the burden they put on the rest of us. If they ever get to race at this track again, watch them to see if they can look past their ego to find success for all. The unpleasant thing is that some can spoil it for all, and that is what has happened here. I deeply regret this closure for the ones that just wanted to race and the fans that wanted to spend an evening watching one of the most exciting sports in the world. For those drivers and employees who tried so hard to help us make this thing a “go” we thank you. We knew going into this that it would take a team effort… All of those people who attempted to force their will on the rest of us need to ask themselves, “Is it better now?” Stan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke63 Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 Just a thought to Barry I think he is a good guy and has real good intensions for the track, but if it was not for STAN not knowing what to do, STAN was the one who closed the track. And Barry is the only owner of Wichita Speedway not STAN. And STAN had all intensions of closing the track from the beginning. If STAN was not the track manager and somebody else was they would still be racing every Friday night. So now STAN you can go drag race all you want now being as you shut the track down. Maybe Barry will find a different track manager and will reopen the track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc200mph Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 Yep, it's obvious who is to blame for the track closing! ME! LOL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Pinson Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 To fill some people in on this. Stan was not the owner, more of an advisor. He stated to be in this for the long run, but he cut employee's pay second week, drivers pay fourth week, changed the rules to were the last place car did not get paid and you had to finish all 20 feature laps to get paid somewhere in between. He states at the end "Is it better now" well i guess it's better for you because you didn't buy the track with your money and didn't spend 15,000 dollars on a race car. So enjoy being on the island by yourself Stan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc200mph Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 What, Stan not the owner? That's not what I was told? Well, can't believe everything you hear these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Nettles Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 well we had a meeting on how to better the race track at Randy holdens house me being bobby nettles and jr and hank barry showed but apparently stan thomas had better things to do then come show his support for the race track Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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