“Dirt-Track Decisions Making Dirty History”

By Bryan Molt

As the summer gets closer we find ourselves working on our racecars, buying new parts and preparing ourselves for a battle on dirt. We also have to ask ourselves, “What track are we going to be competing at this summer,” something we haven’t had to discuss for a long time.

For the past fifteen years Boone County Raceway, located in Albion, NE has been running their nights of dirt track racing on Friday nights every summer. Boone County Raceway is the biggest track in northeast Nebraska. It attracts fans, spectators and drivers from all over the state. With its high-banked turns and long straight-aways, cars can reach speeds of up to 95 mph on any given Friday, giving the spectators in the crowd a great show to watch.

Another track in the area, just a little farther northeast of Albion, Riviera Raceway located in Norfolk, NE, has decided to run their show of racing on Fridays this summer in 2010 as well. Riviera Raceway has been running their shows for the past 15 years every Saturday night of the summers. Now, that two tracks within 50 miles of each other are running on the same night, the drivers of each area have to make a critical decision in order to race where they want to, while also racing against the right amount of cars to be accredited wins and starts that go towards sanctioned series.

With Riviera Raceway changing their nights to Fridays, the same as Boone County Raceway, it could create huge problems for both tracks. When Boone Count Raceway ran Fridays the area drivers from around Norfolk would come to Albion. Then when Riviera Raceway ran Saturdays, that allowed the Albion area drivers to travel to Norfolk to race there. In the summer of 2010 this won’t be at all possible. Drivers are no longer going to be able to go to each of those tracks. Drivers would be “fools” to drive past their own local track, in order to go race somewhere else. Due to the cost of fuel for our haulers, racing fuel and other expenses drivers wouldn’t be able to afford it. “Period!”

Riviera Raceway in Norfolk has put local dirt track drivers in a tough position. Everything in this sport is about having fun and racing against some of the best competition around. But now how can that competition race against each other when the two tracks in the area are running on the same night. The fun might have just been spoiled by this decision. The fun is what the crowd in the stands wants to have while watching the best competitors battle it out on the track. And the competition is what the drivers want while putting on that show for the crowd. Great nights of racing at both of these tracks might have just become extinct. If this happens in 2010 we know whom to thank for changing history at both these tracks. It’s not the kind history that fans or drivers want to see change.