First of all, congratulations to Michael Fritz on winning the Mini-Stock feature, Lane Sundholm the Street Stock feature and Cody Koroshes the Stinger 8 feature at Mid-Season Championship Night on Saturday at Evergreen Speedway. Unfortunately, marking Fritz’s win — he is just the latest in a string of first-time victors this season — may be overshadowed by the latest problem at the speedway.
The track surface starting coming up near the exit of turn 4 on the three-eighths mile oval, reportedly midway through the Street Stock feature, making it unsafe for the Super Late Model division to run its 75-lap feature.
The Western Washington Racing Association (WWRA) races for Sunday, June 28 were also cancelled.
There is a lot we don’t know the morning after: How this affects the points situation in the late-model division, when or if the race will be rescheduled — as a NASCAR home track the speedway is required to run 18 late-model races — how fans will be compensated for seeing a less than complete show, and perhaps most important of all, when and how the track will be repaired.
As of this writing, there has been no response to a request to the speedway for information.
The condition of the track at Evergreen has long been a subject of discussion amongst racers, and the presence of a hole near the exit of turn 4 — and a dip near turn 2 — is something first-time drivers are warned about. Prior to the NASCAR Camping World Series West races the past two seasons, every driver and team I spoke to remarked on the poor condition of the racing surface — some calling it the worst track the series raced on.
Still, series qualifying records were set by West drivers before both of those races, and informal discussions with promoter Lex Johnson indicated a reluctance to resurface the track for fear it would hurt racing by limiting the groove to just one lane.
Attempts to patch the holes, especially the one near turn 4 — many nights I have seen the red flag flown while speedway workers applied a temporary patch — have not resolved the issue.
The lease between Snohomish County and the speedway operators, obtained through the county, says in part:
“CONTRACTOR will repair and maintain the premises and any related equipment or facilities occupied or used under this agreement, including any improvements by the CONTRACTOR, in good, presentable and safe conditions and working order consistent with federal, state, local, NASCAR, and other applicable safety and other standards and in at least as good condition and working order as when first occupied or used at the start of the 2003 auto racing season.”
The lease goes on to say specifically that this includes “Repair and maintenance of all track and associated surfaces (including asphalt, gravel and pit areas) …”
The unsafe condition of the track on Saturday — and credit the speedway with taking the hit by stopping the show — is just the latest in a string of problems at the speedway, starting with the revelation before the season began that the promoters owed money to the county and other area businesses from the 2008 season. Although the promoters have since resolved their funding problems, other issues have cropped up.
Several key employees have left the speedway, there have been low car counts in several divisions, including the feature Super Late Model and Super Figure 8 divisions — mostly due to the economy, but some drivers have made the decision to compete elsewhere — and uneven officiating of races for all divisions.
Recently there have reports of a greater willingness on the part of the promoters to communicate directly with drivers and teams, a sore subject for many dating back to last season. This is a positive and welcome step, which will hopefully include in the near-term an open assessment of what will be required to return the speedway to operational status.
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