Posted by MERLE HOLDEN on October 31, 2009, 9:57 pm
Administrator holdenm

Just a quick look back on the just completed 2009 racing season! With the Michigan economy in the tank for several years, especially St. Joseph County(where Mottville is!) we had been cutting back and cutting back just to survive! Eventaully we got down to just Mini Thunder Cars and Karts. This worked well for a couple of seasons but when gas hit $4 per gallon in 2008 we would have been far better off to close the doors! Too many of our cars were coming from just too far away! When you get down to running nothing but 2-5 karts per night you are about as low as you can get! So for 2009 we decided we had to start rebuilding! We added Mini Stocks. We were actually the very first track in the area to race mini stocks! Despite the fact we paid them extremely well we struggled to build a field. One would believe that with the area economy struggling in 2009, Mini Thunder Cars would prosper! While our count was up, we did not prosper. But it was a tough year for most area tracks in 2009! We did at least get Mottville back on the radar screen in 2009! Several problems that people point out are either inaccurate or beyond our control. One is the lack of an ambulance. We do have two first responders-Vicky Reeves and Kathleen Bellaire. Our track safety truck has a fire extinguisher on board. Getting an on site ambulance has been next to impossible at Mottville. We would love to get an EMT however, if there is an EMT out there who would like to work around 40 nights for some extra cash! But within 5 minutes of a call we can have an ambualnce and 12-15 medical personnel at the track! Out situation is not much different that many Michigan tracks. Here is what Patrick McNamara said on Stock Car EXtreme: I am aware of only two track in Michigan that have an ambulance at the track which can transport off-track... Berlin Raceway and Auto City Speedway. The balance, the EMT's on-site can only treat and stablize and you aren't going anywhere till an area ambulance is called to transport you. Also.. many of the EMT's staffing these crews are EMT-B's.. there are 4 levels of EMT's.. and an EMT-B doesn't have much more training then a Certified First Responder. There are several dirt tracks in our region where they appear to have an ambulance on site.. but it is actually a former ambulance purchased by the track and staffed with a First Responder. This track recently had two accidents in one night.. and the "ambulance" on site didn't have a neck brace or backboard in it... and the "EMT" the track had wouldn't touch the injured driver because he wasn't certified to handle neck/head trama. More often then not.. these ambulances and EMTs are just there for appearances, to make the driver's feel safer. I would think what should be a much bigger concern for drivers is a safety crew which is certified in extractions and equipped with a jaws of life and a fire crew equiped with the proper fire protection. If the track isn't utilizing a trained crew like Speedway Safety or Track Rescue or training & equipping their own crew the same way.. then you probably are at the same risk at Mottville as you are at any other track.MichiganCircleTrack Also despite so many rumors to the contrary we do have and always have had a wrecker on site! Shade Tree Towing out of White Pigeon. The wrecker also has a fire extinguisher. Now one other item about 2009: Karts. We have run karts for many years at Mottville but will not be running them in 2010. We started out paying them nothing, then a trophy. Then we made a huge mistake and started paying them money! Then another track came along started paying them $100 to win! Pretty soon we had no karts! Well, that track quit running karts. But we never could get a decent field of Karts and we refuse to pay them more than they bring in as they were to be a "supporting class." Late in 2009 we actually went 6 weeks without seeing a Kart! Short of losing money on them, I have no idea what to do to please them, even after all these many years! You can count on about 1.2 pit passes per Kart and no fans per night so your pay-off options are very limited. From a safety standpoint I have always had fears regarding karts. The few ambulance transports we have had from Mottville in 19 years have been 75 per cent karts. A quarter mile track for karts is very dangerous! Now on to 2010! We are encouraged that we may finally have some Mini Stocks and Mini Thunder Cars! Now we want to add the one class that will put some fans in the stands-STREET STOCKS! We will run them on the Hoosier 790 tires since that is what most area tracks are running. We intend to pay them very well! Our rules will be a "hybrid" of several area tracks so that most cars from other tracks will be legal at Mottville. We know we need Street Stocks to survive! So we know 2010 will be a challenge but we are most definatly in the rebuilding proceess now and not the downsizing! Tentatively we will run Saturdays and 10 Sundays. The 10 Sundays will have seperate points from the Saturday shows. We are most open to reasonable suggestions. write me at holdenm@nationwide.com