Antioch Speedway has new owners!!!! Your new owners arrived in town last Thursday, signed all closing documents and received their keys to the property.
I did not make any posts last week about them as they need a little privacy as moving into their new home is the first project on their list. They will be taking over this page as well as their own pages and make a public post as soon as they are somewhat settled in and ready to meet the fine people from this area.
I hope I get these facts right....
These people have been in the motor sports business for at least 14 years. They have been traveling the US, Canada, and Mexico as a multi truck Monster Jam team. Paul has driven his own trucks as well as others. He has driven Martial Law, Master of Disaster and most recently Zombie Fire just last year in some of the biggest arenas in the world. Kaila is best known for her truck Heartbreaker and I believe was the first female ever to accomplish a back flip in a Monster Jam series event. She is fearless!!!!!
They have been setting up meetings with some local people to potentially start some new business partnerships at the property. They met with some people this past weekend who have years of experience running an off road park operation, and I gave them about 6 names of people most of whom had shown some interest in buying the property over the past few months. I recommended these 6 people as people who might potentially be able and interested to partner with them on the stock car part of the operation.
The deal on the purchase included the option to purchase all 5 properties. Please give them another day or so to get settled in and they will let you know as soon as they are ready to meet the public. I know they are working hard to get their first event dates set and website up, so they have exciting news to be able to tell people.
This will probably be my final message on this page. I have enjoyed over 21 years spending my weekends with each and everyone of you. Over the weekend I was able to think back about all the exciting events that we were able to put on. We spent the first 10 years growing and sustaining the business. By year 10 we were averaging 81 race cars each week. It was very common for our Pure Stock 4 division to have 28 to 29 cars each week, our stock V8 class was averaging 18 to 22 cars each week. Our Super Stock V8 drivers, Super Stock 4 drivers and Late Model Sportsman drivers were becoming big stars in this area, and we were one of the first tracks to introduce a Young Guns division for future stars. We had the place brightly pained each year, new flags and a bright red convertible pace car greeted race fans as they entered through the ticket gates. We had installed stadium seating in our grandstands, started stainless steel in our bathrooms, and added new lighting around the property. We had a very entertaining program that included the fastest stock car racing in the state, We had our outlaw mascot, and an entertainment program each night to entertain the kids with interactive programs like simply throwing water balloons at a staff member on an ATV running in front of the grandstands and other interactive programs that brought race fans and race car drivers closer together. We were the only short track to be able to replay the action, wrecks passes and interviews on our mega tron screen. And we spent quite a bit of our budget on advertising on Cable TV stations like ESPN, CMT and others as well as radio, newspapers, posters, billboards and so many online avenues. We had a computerizes rewards program to track our customers and reach out to them, and were one of the first short tracks to offer debit card and credit card transactions at our ticket gates.
We had started hosting very popular weekend events that included all types of off road motor sports as well as weekend camping and concerts featuring up and coming artists booked out of Nashville, LA and Detroit.
That kind of all came to a screeching halt when my wife was diagnosed with cancer and went through an entire year of Chemo and radiation treatments. My father and I were also getting older and could not keep up with the place any longer.. I still had several event ideas rolling around in my head, but could just not find the fire inside me anymore to keep going. I don't know how many times I told Jason and Jeff how much I wanted to get that fire back, but was just completely burned out and could not get it back. Susan and my Dad were my rocks at the speedway, and we just did not have anyone in the younger generations of our family that showed the interest or willingness to keep the operation going at that pace. I know in my heart and brain it is time for me to start the next chapter in or lives.
It has been the thrill of a lifetime to spend those past 21 plus years with you all. I absolutely love entertaining people, and I hope to see each and everyone of you at an outdoor event real soon.
Danny Smith
