Forum: Racing From The Past (go)
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West Siloam Springs Speedway on the Ark./Okla. border shut down yesterday, that goes along with Enid,Clinton,Creek Co.,Ardmore,I-44 Mini Sprint track in OKC.

Several other tracks from what I hear having lots of issues keeping their gates open, signs of the tough economic times I guess and other things that contribute to it as well. Poor Promotion of the facilities ,plus lots of competition for the entertainment dollar these days.

Something interesting I thought is that in Okla. only one MAJOR Metropolitan City has a dirt oval facility and that would be Lawton,Okla. , Tulsa and OKC do not have one, that seems to play a factor to me in car counts at other tracks in the area around those two cities.

Sad thing is that it's probably gonna get worse before it gets better.

J.D.

Ardmore reopens July 23rd. The deal there was it had sold, and is now getting a few changes before it opens .

Hope he can make a go of it, we shall see on the 30th with OCRS show there, be a make or break deal on that night I would think , something like 5/6 classes plus the Sprints, better get some butts in the stands to pay the loot for the purses and then they better run a quick program and get done at a decent hour and that'll make folks want to come back again.

Otherwise he'll be like the former promoter at I-44 Speedway in OKC earlier this year, have a bunch of cars and pretty good amount of fans but not start till 9:30 and keep folks there till 2:30 am and prolly why he is no longer the promoter at the place.

Ya know folks there are 2 jobs I would not want to do right now because someone and almost everyone is mad at ya most all the time and those are be the President of the United States and a Dirt Track Promoter.

J.D.

The presidentS are part of the problem along with greedy corporations and politicians. The Ford built in Mexico sells for the same as the one built in Georgia. If that Ford plant in Georgia is still in Operation? They have drove all the good paying factory type jobs to pennies on the dollar wage countries. Less income taxes coming in less sales taxes coming to local and state etc. People have lived on debt and cannot take it no more, there broke. Just off the top of my head you all down there in OKC lost a car plant and tire plant that I know of. Now where are some of those folks working, I know of a couple I run into when I trucked. One is at a Home Depot and the other is at Lowes. We cannot survive on a service economy. We need to quit voting for the same ole same ole. Ron Paul 2012 is the answer. The banksters hate him. The corporation hate him. Even the republican party hates him that is why they ran another republican against him in regular election, not a primary. That is why we need someone like Ron if is not to late. My guess it is to late. All great nations have fallen.

Warren Vincent
Cans 4 Kansas Heroes

Ford had a glass plant in Tulsa and it shut down for good last week.At its peak it had over 1100 employees, but Ford spun it of into another branch that were just suppliers, then sold and took it back over then tried to sell it to the Chinese, it did not go trough so they closed it.

Ray

Ray you probably know, Only people in the Tulsa area know about this story. It is not national news. It has happen in every city in the US over the last 30 years. It just can't keep going on. They make you feel guilty cause your making a living wage. They say now I can get a new windshield cheaper cause it is made with slave wages. The problem is it goes into the greedy corporation accounts to pay these CEO's millon dollar wages. Closing plant makes them look good for cutting costs and improving profits. There was one CEO that his nickname was Chain Saw or Hack Saw somthing. He would buy up companies and then cut to the bone to improve cost. I think the last big company he was associated with was Sunbeam. I'm thinking they got rid of him after a few low down deals. Remember when Sunbeam appliance were made here in several plants. Just try and find a coffeemaker etc. made here. Fat chance!

Out of 1100 glass workers how many will find jobs making even close to the wages they lost. 10% if were lucky. Some will be close enough to retire. Hopefully there is a pension left. Most pensions are flat broke just like the employee.

I use to keep a scrap book of articles of plant closings and consolidations etc. in the 90's. It was scary when you would see how many jobs were eliminated. I subscribed to the WSJ just for the articles. Everypaper had them. This was before the internet was in alot of homes.

One of hundreds that got my attention was ERTL of Dyersville, IA a small farming town. ERTL closed there plastic model plant and moved it to Mexico. If I remember right 275 (it could have been more) jobs for a town of 4,000 were lost. Then there was support businesses in the area. My guess is the price of models didn't go down when they moved it to Mexico. The small towns have a hard time recovering and most never recover.

Warren Vincent
Cans 4 Kansas Heroes

It's really a bad deal in the US right now, tough and cruel world out there, poverity line creeps closer and closer for more folks everyday, one thing I have learned never discuss Politics or Religion , creates a tough environment , seen it many times before whether it be on a message board or in a break room at work, highly volatile subjects , I guess you vote how you feel you need to and go with what you believe in , guess that still what makes this country great ,now whether it will down the road remains to be seen.

Anyway just gotta worry about my situation with tracks closing down with what seems right now about one a month deal and sure some will reopen but with how much success???. Kind of be like Meeker now Brill Motor Speedway use to be and Creek Co. now is the penalty box race track, meaning new guy/promoter after new guy/promoter and over and over, both places got potential but no one can seem to get it to reach it's potential. Although Mark Brill has got Meeker back on it's feet and moving foward now by being able to buy the track out right with NO payments and then being able to gut it out and go through tough times to now start showing signs of progress. Gotta give the fella an atta boy in my opinion as he has done a nice job restoring a facility that was in pretty bad shape facilities wise as well as not so great reputation either.

J.D.

Ford spun the plant off into its Visteon supplier group, then Visteon went bankrupt and the plant was sold to a man whose backer was Ford and he could not handle it and finally Ford took it back over. The employees that had been there for several years made out ok but the new hires,ones that had been there less that 5 years were not treated very good. I worked ther for 11 years and they came out and told me that I could not work until my knees got better. Well that did not happen and I was given a medical retirement. With a medical retirement from them you are not allowed to make any money from another job. They caught several people doing that and their retirement was cancelled. I am sure they tried to catch me making money but that did not happen. I became a house spouse and my wife went back to work. I am glad that I still have my benefits and retirement. They keep the glass plant in Mexico and Knoxville Tennessee open

Ray

I never thought Tulsa and OKC tracks would be shut down. Thank God the Devil's Bowl is still running. Kennedale and Cowtown too.

Rusty

What I wonder if the weekly racing at the majority of race tracks in this area will cease to exist, I know I talked to Mark Brill promoter of BMS in Meeker this past week and he is pretty tired of running a weekly show and having low car count and low crowd count and losing $$$. Not many tracks doing well in either counts fans or cars at weekly shows.

J.D.

JD, I've heard they are tearing down the grandstands at OKC. Is that true? Have they done it yet. I have such fond memories of that place. I remember going through the tunnel from the grandstand to the stage in the infield, with cars going overhead. What's the world coming to? No track at Tulsa or OKC.

Rusty

Oh but JD...If i were President. One of the first things I would do would try to enact some legislation in the form of insurance reform. Make it easier for promoters to get insurance and run the big tracks like they had at Tulsa and OKC. It can be done. The Devil's Bowl still runs weekly shows on the 1/2 mile. I want old facilities re-opened or new ones to be opened and be successful. This endless closing of track after track has got to stop. I feel sorry for the teens and younger children who will never have the chance to enjoy dirt track racing like you and I did growing up. I started going to Lawton Speedway in 1959. I was 4.

Rusty

Last I heard T-Bird is going to 3/8 mile next year and just going to use the 1/2 mile for specials 3 or 4 times a year.

Bruce

Red Racer 9
37 Chevy Vintage Mod
Member: OVSCRA & RRVO

Rusty,

I remember when your Dad and I built models together a long time ago. In fact I still have some of the models he built. He made a deal with me that he would build two models one for him and one for me if I would letter them. One is a Oklahoma Highway Patrol car and the other is of AJ Foyt's race car hauler. I have others too but I remember he built the first model of Singing 5 in 1964. I remember that model very well. I built Singing 5 too and used the old Lindberg White Lightning kit for the frame and cut down an AMT '32 ford coupe for the body and a '61 Ford Falcon front fenders for the hood. Wish I still had that car. Your Dad was not just a model maker he was a craftsman.I sure do miss him. I remember going to the races with my Mom and Dad at the old LO Ranch and then going to the new Lawton Speedway, we even went to Whichita Falls lots of Friday nights to watch the coupes run too. It is sad that there seems to an element that wants to eliminate dirt track racing. They have been successful in getting rid of lots of the fairgrounds tracks around the country and I don't know why they want to do that.

Mike

Rusty, Good to hear from you, sorry did not see this thread till now, yes they did tear down The Fairgrounds track, did it in Spring of 2010, it has really changed the face of Dirt Racing in this state and area as well, the economy is not helping out right now , just seems to be speeding up the progress of the downturn of local racing, racing has always had issues with the economy throughout the years, remember back in the 80's it suffered but now race tracks are closing and NOT reopening and well that really kills it so to speak, The Fairgrounds was a feeder type system to Sat. night tracks around the central Okla. area and now with it gone and guys who had good sponsors in OKC no longer have them and so they get out of the sport and that means they do not go and race on a Sat. night somewhere in the state and that means low car counts and so on the vicious cycle rolls on. Car counts at Sat. night Reg. shows , if your get 15 or more car count , you need to consider yourself VERY lucky.

Red Racer was at T Bird Sat. night for OCRS Sprint show and yes they are going to a 3/8 next year and only run 1/2 mile for Specials, be a good move for them , 1/2 mile is fast and speedy but for weekly racers VERY COSTLY week in and week out.

Also how bad is it right now ,Devil's Bowl Speedway in Dallas ,Tx. , first track to EVER run the WoO show in 78 and have ALWAYS run a weekly sprint car class up until this year , dropped them for lack of car counts , that'll tell you something there , lot's of tracks really struggling now, here in Okla. and as well in Texas around the Metorplex from a PR guy down that way that tells me so. Tough go right now for racing and it is just a shame to see it be this way.

J.D.