A new racing season begins at Monroe’s Evergreen Speedway on Saturday night, and the opening-night ceremonies will include a tribute to the Seattle Seahawks with former players, Seagals cheerleaders and the mascot Blitz joining the celebration.
“For us it’s a great kickoff (to the new season),” speedway president Doug Hobbs said.
With Snohomish County executive John Lovick serving as grand marshal, the opening ceremonies are scheduled for 6 p.m., followed by racing in mini stocks, figure 8s, bump-to-pass renegades and stinger 8s. The main event for super late models will be 75 laps on the 3/8-mile track, with a field of approximately 25 cars expected.
The evening’s festivities will close with a fireworks display.
It is the opener of a Saturday night racing schedule that will continue until late October. Highlighting this year’s season will be the annual Summer Showdown, a three-day event capped by the Summer Showdown 200 for super late models on June 27; and the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West 150 on Aug. 15.
“It’s really going to be a great season, an awesome season,” said Hobbs, whose company High Road Promotions is starting its fifth season of operating the track.
One reason for the optimism, Hobbs said, is Evergreen Speedway’s growing reputation, not only in the Pacific Northwest, but around the United States. Hobbs and his wife Traci, who is the speedway’s director of sales and marketing, traveled to other tracks around the country over the winter and were pleased by the positive response.
This year, he said, that increasing prestige should translate into more drivers and better racing.
“It’s kind of a rebirth of racing (at the speedway),” Doug Hobbs said. “We’re going to have tons of rookies out this year. And we’ll have new drivers out of King County and Snohomish County, and also drivers from Portland, Vancouver (B.C.) and from eastern Washington who want to compete here on a weekly basis.”
That is important, he went on, because the drivers “are the stars of the show. Without drivers on the track, there’s no need for fans in the stands.”
Among the new amenities at the track, Traci Hobbs said, will be new handrails on the stairs in the grandstands. And regardless of the weather, fans can count on a show “because we race rain or shine,” she said. “That’s one of the great traditions at Evergreen Speedway.”
Tickets for Saturday night are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors 62 and older, and $10 for juniors 6-15. All active and reserve military are free.
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