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SHUMAN RELEASES 2004 SCRA SCHEDULE |
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LAKEWOOD, CA, January 11, 2004 - Sprint Car Racing Association President Ron Shuman formally released the 2004 NAPA Auto Parts / Auto Trader Magazines SCRA schedule today. The SCRA season will kickoff in March with a date that has yet to be determined. Shuman said he's hopeful in the days ahead that he'll be able to announce the details of the "big" season opener. For right now, the first race on the schedule is an April 3rd date at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare (CA). The SCRA will visit Thunderbowl Raceway five more times during the year. With eight races, Barona Speedway Park in Ramona (CA) is a welcomed addition to the SCRA schedule and brings sprint car racing on dirt back to the San Diego area for the first time since Speedway 117 closed over 20 years. "I'm proud to see the way Steve Faria has supported the SCRA for the upcoming year. Thunderbowl Raceway has provided us with some of the finest racing we've had at any of our venues. I'm just happy that we're finally able to give them more dates," Shuman said. "I'm equally as pleased that The Salazar Family has come on board this season and has brought sprint car racing on dirt back to the fans in San Diego. I'm confident that Barona Speedway Park will give our fans some of the most exciting quarter-mile dirt track racing in the country. Even though I can't talk too much about it right now, there's also a couple new racetracks we're looking into in Arizona that I'm very excited about." The SCRA tour will head back to the Pacific Northwest this year for the first time since the 1995 season. Former World of Outlaws driver Steve Beitler signed the group to a two-day show at Skagit Speedway (Alger, WA) for July 2nd & 3rd. Another race on July 4th will likely be added in either Oregon or Washington. Pre-registered SCRA cars making the trip will be guaranteed $500 tow money from Skagit Speedway, in addition to the tow money that will be added by the SCRA. The SCRA tour will once again travel east during the month of August starting with a first-ever visit to Duke City Raceway in Albuquerque, New Mexico on August 6th. Staying in the area, the SCRA will run a televised show the following night at Hollywood Hills Speedway that will air on the Outdoor Channel. Terry McCarl's $30,000-to-win "Non-Wing Challenge" at Oskaloosa Speedway (IA) is once again on the schedule. This year's race will be run on August 10th and will also be televised by the Outdoor Channel. Three days later, the SCRA will make it's first stop at Gas City I-69 Speedway (IN), before heading to Lawrenceburg Speedway (IN) the following evening. For the third straight year, Godfrey Speedway (IN) has secured a date (8/16) on the SCRA slate. One night later, Lake of the Ozark Speedway in Missouri will have its maiden SCRA race. Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City (KS) will again close out the tour with a two-day show starting on August 20th. Promoter Marc Olson will pay $10,000 to Saturday's 40-lap feature winner. Every feature race on the 2004 SCRA schedule will pay at least $3,000 to win, $350 to start, plus $100 to the highest finishing car with a 360 engine. Since the SCRA doesn't have a "home track" this year, every car will receive $50 tow money at every event. Tow money for the Midwest tour will also be paid to pre-registered SCRA cars. Shuman estimates that the tow for the tour will be between $200 to $300 per race. Even with all the anticipation of a new season, the 2004 campaign begins with some disappointment since two tracks that have been with the SCRA since it's first full season in 1994 have elected to sign-up with the newly formed USAC/CRA series The Perris Auto Speedway, which has served as the home track for the SCRA since the facility was built in 1996, also opted to support this new rival 410 sprint car group. In a statement released earlier in the week by the PAS, track President Don Kazarian said "I know a lot of speculation has been made that this decision was solely made based on economics. However, this was not the case." Adding to the confusion shared by fans and the SCRA membership, Shuman insists that all the negotiations that took place between himself and Kazarian were only about the amount of purse money to be paid to the SCRA. "Perris led me to believe for most of last year that we would have a deal for 2004 and that we would run for the same purse we ran in 2003. They kept postponing wanting to finalize a deal, but made it seem that we wouldn't have a problem coming to an agreement," Shuman explained. "When I finally received Perris' proposal they wanted us to run for a percentage of the gate after the Fair Board took their cut. This is something that no one has done for about 25 years." "Based on the attendance figures Perris provided us for 2003, their proposal would have dropped SCRA's purse from $18,500 to $14,500 for all but three of the races we ran last year. Because of time restraints, I only contacted the top-20 owners in last year's point standings, and every owner told me to not accept this offer and that they didn't want to run for less money. Hoping to keep Perris on our schedule, I offered to run fewer dates with a reduced purse that would have only covered SCRA's basic costs of running a program. Even though this substantially reduced our purse, it would not have reduced the pay out to our owners and drivers. Obviously, I knew something was up when Perris refused to even look at my counteroffer." Sources close to Shuman have since told him that the plans to start a rival organization have been in the works for some time. Equally as disappointing to Shuman is the fact that there has been no attempt by Perris Auto Speedway or Ventura Raceway officials to try to let this new organization co-exist with the SCRA. Instead, battle lines seem to have been drawn. "Ultimately it's the fans that will suffer the most this season," Shuman felt. "I want to apologize to the fans and our membership for not being very vocal about what has been happening during the last few weeks, but please understand that I was hopeful that it wasn't going to come to this. I just want to reassure the owners, drivers, members and fans that special events are currently being planned, which will help accommodate your efforts to support the SCRA." "Right up until they released their schedule, I still thought we had a real good chance of keeping Manzanita Speedway on our schedule because I had just had a 3 ½ hour meeting with Manzy officials that I thought went very well. I'm just very surprised, especially since we had great turnouts at all of our races at Manzanita Speedway last year and have helped make the Western World Championships a national event once again. As of the end of November, I was also convinced that the SCRA had three solid dates scheduled at Ventura Raceway, just like we've had for the past several years. Jim Naylor (Ventura) told me that he wanted the same three dates he had last year, but wanted to move the October race back a week, which we did. A couple weeks later, he told me he was going to go a different direction. I also thought we had two races at Santa Maria Speedway. That is until they, like many of our other tracks, started getting calls urging them to band against us. Not wanting to get involved in a war, Santa Maria Speedway elected to not schedule any races with either group." Shuman is quick to point out that his refusal to run for what Perris offered was based completely on the wishes of the club's car owners. He also added that the following car owners are among the owners that have pledged to support SCRA for the upcoming season: Mark Alexander, Don Argo, Ernie Ballard, Jim Blakesly, Ron Clark, Glenn Crossno, Gayle Davis, Ron DiDonato, Jeremy Ellertson, Hal Engstrom, Tony Everhart, Mike Faria, Bob Ferro, Jim Giardina, Bob Gremett, Rhonda Hillberg, Jack Keene, Lee Leonard, Ben Lancaster, Adam Mitchell, Bill Pratt, Alex Pruett, Jim Ruth, Tom and Lauri Sertich, Buzz Shoemaker, Tony Smiley, Cal Smith, Verne Sweeney, Kevin Urton, Buster Venard, Johnny Vermeer, Randy Waitman, Billy Wilkerson, Keith Williamson, Harlan Willis and Seth Wilson. "The owners, drivers and members of the SCRA need to remember that this is their club and that they are the only ones that can give it away," Shuman said. "I know some teams have expressed some concerns about sponsorship, but it's a concern we share. I'm confident that the bulk of our owners will see the big picture and choose to support a club where they still have a voice." Understandably, many observers are still looking for reasons why one of the fastest growing and most popular racing organizations in the country is now forced to battle for their rightful place in their own backyard. "I think the owners, drivers and fans need to ask some serious questions as to why all this has happened," inquired SCRA Vice President and longtime CRA official Steve Vodden. "They need to look at the real reasons and motivations here. They need to ask why Perris is willing to pay a considerably greater amount of money to this new organization than they were willing to offer the SCRA. They need to ask why Jim Naylor, who only has about three races a year with SCRA, would help form this new group when it is believed that his race track may not be around much longer after this season. They need to ask why they felt the need to use the California Racing Association name when the true spirit of the CRA lives within the SCRA." 2004 SCRA SCHEDULE Mar. 6 TBA TBA Mar. 13 TBA TBA Apr. 3 Thunderbowl Raceway Tulare, CA Apr. 16 Barona Speedway Park (Media Day) Ramona, CA Apr. 17 Barona Speedway Park Ramona, CA May 1 Barona Speedway Park Ramona, CA May 15 Thunderbowl Raceway Tulare, CA May 29 Barona Speedway Park Ramona, CA June 5 TBA TBA June 19 Thunderbowl Raceway Tulare, CA June 26 Barona Speedway Park Ramona, CA July 2 Skagit Speedway Alger, WA July 3 Skagit Speedway Alger, WA July 4 TBA TBA July 10 Thunderbowl Raceway Tulare, CA July 24 Barona Speedway Park Ramona, CA Aug. 6 Duke City Raceway Albuquerque, NM Aug. 7 Hollywood Hills Speedway (TV) San Felipe, NM Aug. 10 Southern Iowa Speedway (TV) Oskaloosa, IA Aug. 13 Gas City I-69 Speedway Gas City, IN Aug. 14 Lawrenceburg Speedway Lawrenceburg, IN Aug. 16 Godfrey Speedway Godfrey, IL Aug. 18 Lake of the Ozark Speedway Lake of the Ozark, MO Aug. 19 Lakeside Speedway (Media Day) Kansas City, KS Aug. 20 Lakeside Speedway Kansas City, KS Aug. 21 Lakeside Speedway Kansas City, KS Sept. 4 TBA TBA Sept. 18 Barona Speedway Park Ramona, CA Sept. 25 TBA TBA Oct. 2 Thunderbowl Raceway Tulare, CA Oct. 16 Barona Speedway Park Ramona, CA Nov. 6 TBA TBA Nov. 13 Barona Speedway Park Ramona, CA *Schedule subject to change / Not responsible for errors or omissions |
