Brendan Butterball Queen

[ron.brown11]

What a race for the rookie, at N Wilkesboro!! He had to pass nearly the entire field twice, to get a 4th at the end. He sure didn't drive like a rookie at all. That was a great place for him to do that. There were a lot of eyes watching that race, and his run sure didn't disappoint. Twenty-six of the starting 36 finished on the lead lap, so he didn't luck into that finish. Hopefully he'll get some more race dates in the trucks. 

[ron.brown11]

The CARS Tour 125 at Dominion Raceway is complete. Brendan "Butterbean" Queen set a new track record in qualifying. As fast as he is at a lot of race tracks, today was a first for him, as he set a new track record, and said that he had never had a track record at any track (dirt or asphalt). He started on the pole, and lead every lap. I'm not sure if that will give him the points lead, as Connor Hall finished 2nd. Hall started 15th, and it took him about 75 laps to finally get there. There were 3 restarts with him in 2nd, but he didn't have anything for Queen. Dominion is a track that doesn't wear tires out quickly, and Connor Hall said he felt like he had just completed 125 qualifying laps. 

The race had a bad crash before turn 1 at the green flag. There were 7-8 cars involved, five of which were done for the night. Somewhere about row 3, there was a stack up, and it wasn't pretty. Some good cars were done, 100' past the green flag. A few laps latter, Peyton Sellers (2 time national late model champion), and Isabela Robusto got together down the front stretch. She pinched him into the wall, hard enough to get both of his front tires airborne. Amazingly that didn't put him out of the race. But a cut right front tire, and a trip into the turn 4 outside wall a few laps later did. Probably due to the prior incident. Of the 30 cars that took the green flag, only 19 finished. Man, there was a lot of rubbing, and bumper tag going on all race long. So having 19 finish was amazing. 

Dominion is a beautiful facility. They have outstanding seating, that goes 3/4 of the way around the track. The tower has several suites across the top, the spotter's stand on top of the building, and has a huge video screen to see the race & replays of incidents. I don't know what their seating capacity is, but it looked pretty close to a sellout. When North Wilkesboro was repaved, they used the same company and asphalt compound that Dominion put down, when they built that track a couple of years ago. It's bad fast, and has been from the start, with no curing needed. That's why they used to same compound at N. Wilkes. The next race for the CARS Tour in on Wed July 3rd. So 24nomo & I will be vary happy with another mid-week race. In August, The Battle of Berlin will also be run on a Wed, and it pays 30K. I can't wait!!

[24nomo]

That is one heck of a facility and the Cars Tour never disappoints

[ron.brown11]

The CARS Tour is killing it. As I've said on here before, if those two can work together, or at least not against each other, really good things could happen for asphalt racing around the country. The SRL's main car is a super late model. The CARS Tour used to have a super division before, and restarting it is a possibility. The SRL's Pro late model's rules, are very close to the CARS Tour rules. It wouldn't be a big stretch to sync them up. With the 2 races that the SRL sanctions at Berlin Raceway, they're getting SLMs from across the country, and they're paying good purses ($15K & $30K). The CARS Tour purses run from $7K to $30K.

I'm more excited for asphalt racing's future now then I have been for the last 20+ years. And the reason I think that they won't fight each other is because of 1 name. Kevin Harvick. For the last decade, he's been quietly financially helping west coast racers and Kern County Raceway. I mean Kevin Harvick's Kern County Raceway. Who I think that will get them working together, is Justin Marks. He has shown the racing world that he is a big thinker, and not afraid to take chances.

[texasprd]

Ahhh, if we only had a track here in the San Antonio area for them to come to.  I remember when the All Pro tour would come here, and when they had the "one time" OctoberFast race (ten-ish years ago?), it was standing room only and I think there was one late Model from as far as California plus others from outside the region.

I'd be there for that race.  Who can convince Justin marks to build a track here and extend the reach of these tours?

[ron.brown11]

texasprd, I watched some small snippets someone posted, from about 15-20 years ago from SAS. I don't recall who was sanctioning the race, but I remember them saying that it was some sort of touring series of super late models. It was typical grainy video from the era of camcorders. But 1 name caught my attention, that wouldn't have meant anything if I'd have been there in person that night. One of the racers that night was named Derick Thorn, and he's from CA. Although he didn't have a great night there at SAS, he went on to eclipse my friend Jim Pettit II's win totals and championship totals in the SRL series. I went to 3-4 of the All Pro series races held at SAS in the late 80s. That was no easy task for me, as I was in the AF then, and lived in Del Rio. But it was great! Even if I got home at 4am or later each time.

I still think that the Austin area would be a better location for an asphalt track, But I too could be happy if there was one in the SA area. Unfortunately I think that ship has already sailed, or sank. I never saw a race at Pan Am, as they were closing up shortly after I got to DR. I also never got to Corpus, the drive was just too far my salary then. I've been to Altus, Red River, Thunderhill, TMS, SAS & HMS. To me, HMS is/was the best track layout of all of the short tracks. TMS will either be a short track or abandoned soon, if they don't figure out how to make it be more competitive.

Before I retired, we bought a home in Buda, 8 miles from Central Texas. The problem was, that I was still working in DR. I'd get to Buda about 3am most Sat mornings, if I was able to be there at all. I would take off back to DR a Monday about 8:30. So my wife wasn't too happy with me wanting to go to the track, when I was there for less than 48 hours. She'd already lived that when I was racing myself, or crew chiefing for another team in Tucson. But I went every time I could get there. Once I retired, and was in Buda full-time, they closed it. I would always try and interrupt Nick in the press box, and was always grateful he would take the time to talk with me. Even though Mr Self had made many upgrades after taking over the lease/ownership, the writing was on the wall, when Austin Wayne started racing in the truck series. Too bad that didn't work out, for him and his dad. Makes you wonder if CT would still be open, if they hadn't decided to go truck racing. Or if SAS would still be around, if that Toyota plant was never built. But one thing is for sure, spending one's life rehashing "what ifs" will make you crazy. I know, because I used to do that. I think my wife has finally taken me out of the "certified" category. At least that's what I keep telling myself..

[texasprd]

Ron,

I don't know what Late Model touring series would have been at SAS in that time frame- not TIDA, as they were gone by then.  I imagine the track forum on here would yield that info.  We were probably at one or more of the All Pro races together but didn't know it.  Your dedication to making the All Pro races was impressive considering the return times - good thing you didn't fall asleep on the way back and get hurt.  I worked as a civilian AF employee from '86-'93 and I remember from my AF buddies that rode motorcycles that the AF was not always forgiving about things that happened off-duty (like being injured while not wearing a helmet).  Nowadays, sprint cars are what will make me do a "day/night trip".

I started going to races at Pan Am around 1969 or 1970 when I was 6 or 7.  Pan Am, then Highway 16/SAS. dad and I used to sit at the top of the Highway 16 bleachers and watch the drag races next door at Alamo Dragway during breaks in the action.  I didn't expect that a few years later, I would be racing occasionally at Alamo Dragway.  When the AF moved me to Montgomery, AL, I went to the Montgomery oval track and East Alabama Motor Speedway, and raced one season at the Montgomery drag strip (made it to the finals and lost when I slept on the line).  I've been to the Orlando track and New Smyrna Beach. ThunderHill (wouldn't go to CTS - didn't like how Tim Self got the track and I wouldn't pay for parking and put extra money in his pocket after that). Now I go to I37 (closest to me) occasionally or Cotton Bowl, Texana, or STRR if they have sprint cars (the "day/night trips")

Unfortunately, it seems like reopening SAS is definitely "sunk" with the selling of the property. I never understood the rationale of building a racetrack on leased land.  Clearly, it reduces the initial expense of getting started but it's much less secure in the long run. I think it's what ultimately did the track in - Terry Dickerson (?) wouldn't put in additional money on something he didn't own after the city extended its ETJ over the track and more stringent codes were applied. Maybe there's more to that story but that's what I remember reading.  It's a shame the 7th largest city in the country can't sustain an oval track or drag strip - I guess it's gotten so gentrified.  Those 5 races that the track reopened for were good, though!  Too bad those guys couldn't keep it going.

[ron.brown11]

7 hours ago, texasprd said:

Ron,

I don't know what Late Model touring series would have been at SAS in that time frame- not TIDA, as they were gone by then.  I imagine the track forum on here would yield that info.  We were probably at one or more of the All Pro races together but didn't know it.  Your dedication to making the All Pro races was impressive considering the return times - good thing you didn't fall asleep on the way back and get hurt.  I worked as a civilian AF employee from '86-'93 and I remember from my AF buddies that rode motorcycles that the AF was not always forgiving about things that happened off-duty (like being injured while not wearing a helmet).  Nowadays, sprint cars are what will make me do a "day/night trip".

I started going to races at Pan Am around 1969 or 1970 when I was 6 or 7.  Pan Am, then Highway 16/SAS. dad and I used to sit at the top of the Highway 16 bleachers and watch the drag races next door at Alamo Dragway during breaks in the action.  I didn't expect that a few years later, I would be racing occasionally at Alamo Dragway.  When the AF moved me to Montgomery, AL, I went to the Montgomery oval track and East Alabama Motor Speedway, and raced one season at the Montgomery drag strip (made it to the finals and lost when I slept on the line).  I've been to the Orlando track and New Smyrna Beach. ThunderHill (wouldn't go to CTS - didn't like how Tim Self got the track and I wouldn't pay for parking and put extra money in his pocket after that). Now I go to I37 (closest to me) occasionally or Cotton Bowl, Texana, or STRR if they have sprint cars (the "day/night trips")

Unfortunately, it seems like reopening SAS is definitely "sunk" with the selling of the property. I never understood the rationale of building a racetrack on leased land.  Clearly, it reduces the initial expense of getting started but it's much less secure in the long run. I think it's what ultimately did the track in - Terry Dickerson (?) wouldn't put in additional money on something he didn't own after the city extended its ETJ over the track and more stringent codes were applied. Maybe there's more to that story but that's what I remember reading.  It's a shame the 7th largest city in the country can't sustain an oval track or drag strip - I guess it's gotten so gentrified.  Those 5 races that the track reopened for were good, though!  Too bad those guys couldn't keep it going.

No, TIDA was gone already. I didn't recognize the series name that the announcers were saying, so I had no idea where they usually ran. Back in the mid-late 90s, when the Winter Heat series was being run in Tucson, the TIDA had some cars come out there. Unfortunately I don't recall any of them making it out of the B main. Even the local hot shoes at TRP struggled at there for WH. The way the rules were written for the supers, you could run a stock front subframe or a built one. The TIDA guys and most of the locals were at a disadvantage, because all of the west coast cars were built front clips. The old AZ living legend Carl Trimmer, won a couple. Trimmer was elected into the AZ racing Hall of Fame 20 years before he even retired from driving. Carlos Serrano did decent, but had a couple of mechanical issues in some, as was taken out is some others. The rest of the locals were a hit or miss proposition. 

Yeah, I spent quite a few nights at SAS, watching racing at Smokin Alamo Dragway too. But hears the thing, I first went to the drag strip, and that's how I found out about SAS. I did some drag racing in high school, but circle track was my love. 

I have no idea about how any of the CTS/Thunderhill deal went down. I just know that I was pissed. After all of those trips from Del Rio to Kyle and back, it felt like some kind of vendetta that was keeping from attending circle track racing. When I crew chiefed for Greg Baber's mod, I would get off work about midnight on Fridays. Leave my house about 6:30am, drive to Uvalde and hook up with him, then leave the track about midnight (usually later), then make the trip back to DR. I'd usually get there about 4am. Those are not always fun 24 hours of being awake, after being in the sun all day to boot. Amazingly, the driving part was always the easiest for me. I used to own and operate my own trucking business. I've done many 1000 mile days (using 3 log books). When we were moving back to TX from Tucson, I'd be at my office at 6:30 am on Friday mornings. I'd run our business all day, then go home, eat a bite, then takeoff in my dually and my enclosed trailer, that I sent all week loading. I'd leave about 7pm and drive the 750 miles to DR. I'd usually get there about 9am Sat. Before I'd go get some sleep, I'd empty the trailer. Then I'd takeoff back to Tucson about 5am on Sunday. I'd be back in my office at 6:30 on Monday. 

I don't get the land lease either. Plus there was nothing there in the area except the drag ship and farm land, when SAS was built. And who wants to live next to a drag strip, or circle track? I don't blame Terry for balking at dumping a lot of money into the place, and not being able to get a long term lease. That's the kind of thing that only fools and stupid rich people do. I never met Terry, but he didn't get to be wealthy by being either of those. 

When I would go to SAS, I'd usually be one of the first in the grand stands. At one point they had a track announcer named Rick (I can't remember his last name, but I think it was Benjamin), that also did sports casting I believe for KSAT. He later went on to broadcasting NASCAR, and ASA races for TNN. Nice guy! He'd come out of the press box and sit a talk, when hot laps or a lull before the races would start. Usually right before the races would start, I'd go get a couple of their Jalapeño Chicken sandwiches. Man I loved this things!!

[NickHolt]

On 6/27/2024 at 6:03 PM, ron.brown11 said:

I don't blame Terry for balking at dumping a lot of money into the place, and not being able to get a long term lease. That's the kind of thing that only fools and stupid rich people do. I never met Terry, but he didn't get to be wealthy by being either of those. 

I was the one who actually wrote several proposals to the Reeh family for Terry to outright purchase the property the track and parking areas sat on. The first one was an offer for $1 million.  The subsequent offers went up a few hundred thousand each time, but no dice.  Lillian wanted the power of that lease and was perfectly content to sit outside the main gate and figure out her cut of the gate. Finally, Terry stopped making cash offers and the rest is history.

I honestly believe that if Terry had been able to purchase the place, he would have invested whatever it took to bring the place up to city code once the ETJ came into effect. 

[ron.brown11]

3 hours ago, NickHolt said:

I was the one who actually wrote several proposals to the Reeh family for Terry to outright purchase the property the track and parking areas sat on. The first one was an offer for $1 million.  The subsequent offers went up a few hundred thousand each time, but no dice.  Lillian wanted the power of that lease and was perfectly content to sit outside the main gate and figure out her cut of the gate. Finally, Terry stopped making cash offers and the rest is history.

I honestly believe that if Terry had been able to purchase the place, he would have invested whatever it took to bring the place up to city code once the ETJ came into effect. 

Greed, what a sin it is. I'll never know the things that you know Nick, But I believe he would have spent the money too. I have no idea what kind of money the track was bringing in monthly, and what her cut may have been. But my question is, how many years of her getting her cut, it would have taken to see her getting that million+ that he offered to pay her? I don't have any idea how old she is/was, but I doubt that her cut wouldn't reached $1mil. I hope that it was worth it for her, because it sure wasn't for TX racing. What a shame.  

[NickHolt]

9 hours ago, ron.brown11 said:

Greed, what a sin it is. I'll never know the things that you know Nick, But I believe he would have spent the money too. I have no idea what kind of money the track was bringing in monthly, and what her cut may have been. But my question is, how many years of her getting her cut, it would have taken to see her getting that million+ that he offered to pay her? I don't have any idea how old she is/was, but I doubt that her cut wouldn't reached $1mil. I hope that it was worth it for her, because it sure wasn't for TX racing. What a shame.  

Disclaimer: The following is my take on things and others may have a different take. Although I did have an inside seat during much of Terry's tenure at SAS, my estimation of folks' motives is simply my best guess. 

I'm not sure that greed motivated Lillian not to sell. Lillian's cut of the front gate was tiny - I believe it was a buck per front gate admission, or less.  And she seemed to enjoy her time at the front gate on race nights counting ticket-buyers and greeting regulars. Terry tried to play up her front-gate role and would honor her at the end-of-season awards banquets. He purposefully cultivated a warm personal relationship with her and referred to her as "Miss Lillian." Always the salesman, I believe that Terry sensed that by buttering her up and assuring her that she would always have a special role at the track with him as the owner, he stood a better chance of buying the place.  I suspect, though, that she felt an uneasy need to protect the track from any new owner. Not to mention any names, but a few of the previous leaseholders may have given her reason to doubt their sincerity. I could be way off here.

When San Antonio declared the area around the track an ETJ it meant the City would now inspect the facility rather than the very lenient Bexar County inspectors. Terry knew he was in a bad spot and that it was only a matter of time. Sure enough, the entourage of city inspectors soon presented him with a list of violations - the septic system was non-existent or 100% inadequate, the electrical system was patched together in wonderfully creative ways and needed to be entirely replaced, and the water system was condemned. In reality, the entire infrastructure was condemned except the metal structure of the grandstands. 

When Terry put numbers to the cost of replacing everything without owning anything except a dubious lease,  it was clear that the place was doomed. 

Terry was also aware that there were other liabilities on the property that were potentially awaiting discovery:

- the leaking underground gas tank that apparently had left a plume all the way to the Median River.

- the many truckloads of Alamo Iron Works toxic gravel dumped outside the track.

- the mud drag strip that had been converted into a catch-all dump.

- the un-remediated mom-and-pop oil field decaying on the property. 

 

 

[ron.brown11]

On 6/30/2024 at 8:17 AM, NickHolt said:

Disclaimer: The following is my take on things and others may have a different take. Although I did have an inside seat during much of Terry's tenure at SAS, my estimation of folks' motives is simply my best guess. 

I'm not sure that greed motivated Lillian not to sell. Lillian's cut of the front gate was tiny - I believe it was a buck per front gate admission, or less.  And she seemed to enjoy her time at the front gate on race nights counting ticket-buyers and greeting regulars. Terry tried to play up her front-gate role and would honor her at the end-of-season awards banquets. He purposefully cultivated a warm personal relationship with her and referred to her as "Miss Lillian." Always the salesman, I believe that Terry sensed that by buttering her up and assuring her that she would always have a special role at the track with him as the owner, he stood a better chance of buying the place.  I suspect, though, that she felt an uneasy need to protect the track from any new owner. Not to mention any names, but a few of the previous leaseholders may have given her reason to doubt their sincerity. I could be way off here.

When San Antonio declared the area around the track an ETJ it meant the City would now inspect the facility rather than the very lenient Bexar County inspectors. Terry knew he was in a bad spot and that it was only a matter of time. Sure enough, the entourage of city inspectors soon presented him with a list of violations - the septic system was non-existent or 100% inadequate, the electrical system was patched together in wonderfully creative ways and needed to be entirely replaced, and the water system was condemned. In reality, the entire infrastructure was condemned except the metal structure of the grandstands. 

When Terry put numbers to the cost of replacing everything without owning anything except a dubious lease,  it was clear that the place was doomed. 

Terry was also aware that there were other liabilities on the property that were potentially awaiting discovery:

- the leaking underground gas tank that apparently had left a plume all the way to the Median River.

- the many truckloads of Alamo Iron Works toxic gravel dumped outside the track.

- the mud drag strip that had been converted into a catch-all dump.

- the un-remediated mom-and-pop oil field decaying on the property. 

 

 

As I have said before, I'll never have the info on that, that you have concerning this. For some reason I have it in my mind, that there was guy that held the lease, and Terry was sub-leasing it from him. I do not recall who said it, so I may be completely out to lunch on that. 

Yeah, I know all about the liabilities of properties that were once racetracks. Tri-County Speedway closed in 1986, but the man that built it, Bill Redwine, was smart about hiding it. He got fairly wealthy in the road construction business. He built it, and expanded it. Then he got elected into the Sharonville city council. After that, he built a large softball complex around it, utilizing the track's parking lot, except on Sat nights during racing season. I think that there was 5 or 6 separate ball fields. Then he rented the parking lot to a truck driving school, but they had to stop training by 4pm, so as not to interfere with the softball fields. Once the track closed, he expanded the truck driving school's footprint to include the track's infield pit area, of course at an additional fee. While still on the city council, he managed to "negotiate" the sale of all that land, to the city of Sharonville. Never letting on that it was a toxic waste dump (track and driving school). It took 21 years for the city to unload the property, to General Electric Jet Engines manufacturing. They spent several million remediating the ground, and nearly a year, before they could start construction of the facility. Yeah, Bill was no longer fairly wealthy, as he surpassed that by quite a bit. About the time that the city council figured out that they got screwed, he resigned for the council, and moved. 

When Brian France got the lease, paved Tucson Raceway Park in 1992, we had all of the recycling management (SafetyClean) that you would see at a Cup track. And if they caught you dumping stuff, you'd get fined and suspended. And the fines weren't like $25 either. Even after NASCAR sold the lease to the Deery family, they kept all those recycle programs in place. That all stemmed from what happened in Tucson from the late 1940s, to the mid 1970s. Hughes Aircraft (Howard Hughes), and the Air Force, had a major weapons & aircraft manufacturing operation a couple miles south of the city. Water in the desert is kind of hard to come by, as they only have 7 small underground aquifers. The biggest is underneath the Hughes, now Raytheon facility. That's where they build cruise missiles now. They were dumping so many carcinogens into the ground, and of course they all found that aquifer. Think of the movie Erin Brockovich type of class action lawsuits. The Tucson office for those settlements was 2 blocks for our office. We had about 60 of our clients, that were either directly affected, or had close family or friends that were. And those were only the ones that said that they were affected. The shear volume of cancers that the population in that area was staggering. We moved to Tucson in 1992, and that office was still open when we moved back to TX in 2005, and people were still dying from it. Unfortunately, many tracks and racers weren't good custodians, and that doesn't help local officials want to approve something like a race track. It's also why old closed up gas stations are so hard to sell. So many stations went away when the federal government started to recognize that those old underground tanks would start to leak after being buried for a few decades. Replacing those tanks is pretty expensive, and remediation costs can be staggering. Hughes was also the best oil well drilling bits available back in the 40s-50s era. They probably built them there in Tucson in the early years there. 

[NickHolt]

On 7/1/2024 at 7:52 PM, ron.brown11 said:

For some reason I have it in my mind, that there was guy that held the lease, and Terry was sub-leasing it from him. I do not recall who said it, so I may be completely out to lunch on that. 

The original Reeh lease was with a group of stockholders that built Highway 16 Raceway. That group was led by Don Bierschwale, but I don't know who was actually listed on the lease. That lease was a 100-year, non-transferable lease with sub-leases not allowed. I never actually saw the original lease, but several of the founding stockholders said that was the case. 

So, how did subsequent track operators manage to get around those restrictive lease provisions? If you know, let me know.

Speculation was that all parties agreed to ignore the legalities involved and jointly agreed not to push the issue as the lease passed from one track operator to the next. Apparently, no one really cared whether the lease was valid as long as races were being held, the Reeh family got their lease payments and no one from the racing community raised the issue.

Lillian Reeh passed away in 2012 and many of the original stockholders have either passed on or have no financial interest based on that original lease. But unless I'm mistaken, that 100-year lease is probably still valid unless it has been quietly dissolved at some point. I'd say that is likely since the property would need a clear title to be sold to a reputable business entity - which, apparently, has taken place.

Thanks for reminding me of the lease saga, Ron.