Doug Pace: New way of scheduling pays off for Stateline Speedway

Many of the region’s racing facilities are working their way towards the end of the 2014 season with events being held the rest of the month at sites including Spokane County Raceway, Sunset Speedway and Spokane Speedway. One that has already wrapped its slate of action-packed excitement, Stateline Speedway, has done so much earlier than it ever has.

Taking a cue from minor-league, short-season baseball where teams offer plenty of games in a small amount of time, Stateline’s general manager, Larry Bertrand looked to provide a similar approach to his 2014 schedule.

“Weather was a part of it (the reason to shorten the divisional racing schedule) but another plan to it all was the racing school’s growth that utilized the months of April and September to run programs and corporate events. On a school day, if a sprinkle comes along you can dry the track and not impact a tremendous amount of racers and fans. In a rain situation, where we’re racing our divisions, you’d lose 50 percent of your attendance if there was a race scheduled and it began raining,” Bertrand said.

The approach paid big dividends to the track’s bottom line, he added.

“This was the least amount of rainouts in the season that we’ve ever had and it was the largest amount of racing school dates we’ve held so it’s been a good process.”

Aiming for Martinsville

Martinsville Speedway in Virginia is one of the sport’s most iconic racetracks. The facility is the only track that has been on NASCAR’s schedule since the sanctioning body’s inception back in 1948.

For the first time since Chad Little ran at Martinsville back in 2000, a Spokane area driver, Braeden Havens, has the opportunity to compete in an event on the half-mile. The MDCU 300 for Late Model stock cars will attract many of the best drivers in the country when it drops the green flag on Oct. 3.

Havens is hoping to be among those starting the event. To do so, he’s launched an ambitious campaign to get himself into the race.

For information on what community support is needed for him to make the race, email killerb83@hotmail.com or call (509) 993-6105.