5 replies to this topic

[JtownRacer]

Roller Coaster Racing Season For Awtey; Roller Coaster Night For Brink

 

Although the 2017 racing season at the Jennerstown Speedway Complex is only three weeks old, two drivers have experienced extreme highs and lows in competitive spirit.

 

Former Jennerstown Champion Barry Awtey won the opening night race for the top level of competition, the Late Model division, sponsored by Martella’s Pharmacies. Awtey has won at three different asphalt oval tracks in his career, but his victory on May 13, 2017 tied him for the most wins in Jennerstown Speedway history. As the point standings Champion of 2016, Awtey won his preliminary heat race and his 46th career feature race to start the season on top. But in the two races that followed, Awtey was involved in crashes on consecutive Saturday nights, derailing the quest to stand alone as the only 47-time winner. It seems more a matter of WHEN he will break the record, rather than IF… however “luck” has stepped in, and played a role in both round two and round three of 2017 action. Currently, Awtey is tied with four time Jennerstown Champion Steve Peles at 46 career victories. Awtey, now a five time Champion, won the “Limited Late Model” division Championship title two times – both during years that Peles was crowned Late Model Champ (1987 and 1988). Just like Hall of Famer Peles, Awtey has also claimed Late Model division Championships at Clearfield Speedway and Motordrome Speedway, in addition to Jennerstown. But, residing in nearby Jenners, PA, Awtey relishes the success at his home track. Awtey fans are eager to be in attendance for the veteran’s next checkered flag – which will be a historic moment at the venerable Jennerstown oval - whenever it may come.

 

Chris Brink, a popular veteran in the Modified division of racing has now won two-straight races in the division sponsored by Stoystown Auto Wreckers. However, it has not been a smooth 2017 season, in spite of the statistics which show a second place finish and two wins, in three events. Last Saturday night, while battling for the lead during a preliminary heat race, Brink made contact with the outside wall, vaulted airborne with the right side of his car, then slammed back to the pavement, and into the wall a second time, at the end of the backstretch. While fans assumed that his machine was rendered out-of-action, Brink’s crew diligently worked at a lightning pace, to restore the car to “functional.” Not only was their work completed just in time to start the feature race, but the car proved to be far more than functional. Brink passed seven competitors to win the 20-lap event, whipping thousands of spectators into a frenzy of approval. Along the way to victory lane, Brink passed the other driver involved in the aggressive battle that took place in the heat race, and the duel remained “clean” and free of any aggressive retaliation. Last week’s race was a study in perseverance by Chris Brink and his pit crew.

 

This Saturday night, June 10, Somerset Trust Company honors the police, fire personnel, EMTs, and paramedics that serve and protect our communities, offering these men and women FREE admission to Jennerstown Speedway Complex. SALUTE TO “FIRST RESPONDERS NIGHT” will highlight Five Division Racing starting at 6:00pm. Gates open at 4:00pm, as does Racer’s Pub – plus live music, clowns, face painting, and more on the Jennerstown Midway.

 

[Wolfie29]

Ya know I don't know how why anyone wants to brag about how good the racing is at Jennerstown?... It's all a bunch of BS....With 9 or 10 late models that show up weekly and the car counts not very good either in any of the other weekly classes it's a Saturday night of yawning watching a handful of cars play bumper tag on that big 5/8 mile track !...The 4 cyls. for some reason can't even get 20 cars a night this year from what I've been reading....Asphalt racing is dead in Western,PA people !...But as long as these owners keep giving away hundreds of free tickets every week and people wanna come out and be bored watching the racing there more power to them !...The place will never be like it was before ever again...I don't know how the place is ever going to make any money by giving away free tickets all the time?....If they make any profit at all or even break even it's because of the crappy expensive food they sell and don't pay any decent money out to the drivers?....This place has to go to just bi-weekly specials through out the year and pay good purses in my opinion to put a good brand of racing on the track?....And I'm not talking about just getting touring groups in, I'm talking getting like a big late model special in once a mth. maybe paying $5,000 to win and not breaking the rest of the purse down to just peanuts !...Have at least one big late model show paying maybe $7,000 or $8,000 to win....If they try this they might pull in some late models from nearby states but as long as they keep doing what they're doing the Vicky Emig Rush Late Model deal will continue to produce no cars.....Also if the place continues to favor the local people like Barry Awtey and a few others it's gonna piss people off and they won't even get fans in even if they can get free tickets every week !....Sorry folks,but it's the truth !

Edited by Wolfie29, 10 June 2017 - 04:36 AM.

[Walt Wimer]

Check the Late Model counts at the area's dirt tracks!!  they are bad as well.  With the exception of Stateline, no track got over 11 last week!!  It is a circuit wide problem, just not the one remaining asphalt track.  Like them or not, the crate engine cars are doing a bit better. Last week Raceway 7 20,Dog Hollow 16 and Pittsburgh 15.  But these counts are nothing to brag about!!   Weekly racing just about everywhere in the western PA area is having serious car count problems and that is bound to hurt fan attendance in the long run.  Overall, I would say only four area tracks are doing decent car count wise, Stateline, Lernerville, Sharon and Eriez, but Eriez has only gotten one race in, so hard to judge there.  We have some serious problems here and we all need to work together to solve them. Bitching won't get the job done!!

 

GOOD RACING TO ALL!!

 

Walt  

[TCM29]

Ya know I don't know how why anyone wants to brag about how good the racing is at Jennerstown?... It's all a bunch of BS....With 9 or 10 late models that show up weekly and the car counts not very good either in any of the other weekly classes it's a Saturday night of yawning watching a handful of cars play bumper tag on that big 5/8 mile track !...The 4 cyls. for some reason can't even get 20 cars a night this year from what I've been reading....Asphalt racing is dead in Western,PA people !...But as long as these owners keep giving away hundreds of free tickets every week and people wanna come out and be bored watching the racing there more power to them !...The place will never be like it was before ever again...I don't know how the place is ever going to make any money by giving away free tickets all the time?....If they make any profit at all or even break even it's because of the crappy expensive food they sell and don't pay any decent money out to the drivers?....This place has to go to just bi-weekly specials through out the year and pay good purses in my opinion to put a good brand of racing on the track?....And I'm not talking about just getting touring groups in, I'm talking getting like a big late model special in once a mth. maybe paying $5,000 to win and not breaking the rest of the purse down to just peanuts !...Have at least one big late model show paying maybe $7,000 or $8,000 to win....If they try this they might pull in some late models from nearby states but as long as they keep doing what they're doing the Vicky Emig Rush Late Model deal will continue to produce no cars.....Also if the place continues to favor the local people like Barry Awtey and a few others it's gonna piss people off and they won't even get fans in even if they can get free tickets every week !....Sorry folks,but it's the truth !

I'm glad someone stepped up and kept the track open, as it was sad to see it in disrepair. Car counts are down everywhere, especially on pavement. Take a look at former pavement strongholds like Hickory, OCR, (NC), and places throughout OH and MI. My theory is that if anyone has enough money to race these days, they put their 16 year old in a top series like ARCA or Nascar and skip everything else!

[tombeck91]

Haven't posted on here for a long time but figured I weigh in on this issue.  The issues with what happened to local pavement racing, and what's going on with local dirt track racing are very different.  I love pavement racing and was fortunate/unfortunate enough to go through the upswing, witness the decline, and to get out before it was too late! The biggest difference I noticed with pavement racing was within the fan base.  During the days of three thriving pavement facilities in our area and 20 car b-mains on a regular show in the mid to late 90's/early 2000's the atmosphere was great.  You had die hard fans who were into the racing, would stop and talk about the race, how the cars handled and key moments in the race. Then a change happened, the fan base slowly turned to casual fans who attended as a novelty, wanted a place to drink beer with their buddies, take their kids somewhere once a year, and had no real interest in the on-track racing. As this happened, the promoters started to cater to these fans and lost focus on the racing and the love of the sport, for the love of money. At this point, the places were still thriving, packed house every night, lots of corporate billboards, etc. all as the car counts and on-track racing declined. The key die-hards found somewhere else to go watch races because they had no interest in gimmicks or pre-race giveaways, stunt shows, etc.

 

Over that period, the die hard pavement fan was lost.  The fans who would maintain a standard revenue week-in and week-out for the track, and then at big shows get a boost from casual fans, and then fall back down to the standard run rate after. Promoters/owners got greedy. They weren't in it anymore for the love of the sport, covering operating costs, and maybe making a few extra dollars.  They saw all the NASCAR crowds on TV and thought of dollar signs.

 

When the novelty wore off for the casual fan, they moved on to the next random trend.  Get rich quick promoters/owners moved out and some attempts were made to get back to good racing, but it was too late.  Over the ten year period they lost the generation of young die hards, who fell in love with racing and decided to build cars and try it out. There was no one left except who was there before and, the people that dropped out, did so because they retired/moved-on etc.

 

Nascar/Pavement's rise created a generation of fans who thought the only purpose of local short track racing was to prepare for NASCAR.  So, with the younger generation, once that was no longer an option, whether well funded or not, they moved on to some other path. Racers who got in their late 20's, and realized they couldn't make a career of it, quit.  They didn't continue because they loved the sport, so local car counts declined as there was no continuation for them.  To many of them and their parents, local racing was viewed as an investment in their future, sadly enough the same way some think of going to college.

 

Dirt racing is different.

 

Fans are still die hard and want good racing. I have yet, to visit a dirt track anywhere, except for the occasional girlfriend/boyfriend who is just tagging along, where the fans have no knowledge of the sport or interest in the on-track action. The problem is giving the fans what they want, and that is the best drivers at the best tracks, in the best cars.  What's the issue with dirt racing now? Nothing. But I see a trend popping up that started right before the pavement decline. 

 

While the issues are different, the motivation is still the same.  Tracks want to put the onus on the racers and fans. Why does car count matter for anyone except the track and people who make money from the track?  Some of the best races I've seen have been between a few cars.  So it is a capitalist approach, best track(s) will win.  The error pavement made was applying the capitalist approach to the casual fans and advertisers, when they should have looked at developing the racers and die hard fans instead.

 

Some observations I've read in plenty of racing magazine articles "Car costs are out of controls"; "We can't increase purses because there aren't enough fans", "Good cars and drivers won't come to our tracks because they're all following touring series", "We need to put in more non-racing activities/events to attract new fans", "there is no one track loyalty anymore"  Please dirt tracks! Focus on the cars and drivers and die hard fans! Die hard fans WANT to see the fastest cars with the newest technology and exciting racing.  If you work hard so will all of us! Can I afford a $100K late model. Hell no, but I still worked hard, saved and bought one because I love the sport! Take a lesson from central PA sprint cars! If the purse is high enough, the best cars and drivers will stay local and you can attract die hard fans without touring series!

 

Always start with Why.  Die Hard fans see an issue because they aren't seeing the best racing, Racers see an issue because they aren't compensated enough to justify supporting a specific track, Promotors/Owners see an issue because they may go out of business.  The only one of these concerns that isn't about money is related the Die hard fans.  Maybe that should be the focus; because if not, we're just worried about making money.  This is what killed local pavement.

[Wolfie29]

Well said Tommy !!!....I hope the bigwigs at Jennerstown read your article and take some notes .....

Edited by Wolfie29, 13 June 2017 - 04:32 PM.