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Auto auction and salvage companies targeting race tracks as business opportunities | Daily 9-1-2022

Are auto auction and salvage companies preying on short tracks? We'll get into that today, plus High Limit adds another race and takes another shot at the Outlaws, we'll have sprint cars after dark tonight and more. Let's go!

It's Thursday, September 1st, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

So, we talked yesterday on the show about the ongoing situation at Grandview Speedway, how the track has basically been sold, and now we wait on township approvals to see if it will indeed cease to exist at some date in the foreseeable future. Through putting yesterday's daily together, getting it posted, and the hours since then, I was not prepared to find out that auto auction and salvage companies have been targeting race tracks in recent years as opportunities for property takeovers. You've heard me say this before, and it continues to be true, but owning race tracks and promoting events is a very difficult business, but this was an interesting wrinkle I wasn't expecting. The proposed buyer of Grandview is Copart, which is an auto auction company that deals in used, wholesale, and repairable vehicles. It's based in Dallas, Texas, has locations all around the US and in several other countries, and is even listed on the NASDAQ as a public company. You may also recognize Copart from their support of various racing, including Carl Edwards Nationwide Series ride, Brandon Bernstein's NHRA top fuel dragster, and various other teams. After I posted the Wednesday Daily, I started to have people message and email me about Copart's dealings around race tracks and this whole thing started to come together a bit. Just 11 miles from where I sit at this exact moment is Copart's Concord, North Carolina location that used to be the site of Concord Speedway. The track was a paved 1/2 mile tri-oval that closed abruptly in 2019 after hosting all sorts of racing beginning in 1982. The track was originally a dirt track when Henry Furr built it, but he decided to pave it in 1986. Now the property is used to house quote "clean title used cars to salvage title trucks for sale" unquote. This is the fate that is coming for Grandview up in Pennsylvania, and Copart doesn't appear to be done. Various news outlets in Arkansas are reporting that I-30 Speedway in Little Rock is set to meet the same end. I-30 is home to the annual Short Track Nationals for the ASCS National Tour and weekly IMCA racing among other shows, but 2022 is likely it's last season in operation. Neither Copart nor the facility owners have commented publicly, but at an August 16th meeting of the Little Rock Board of Directors, the zoning for the property was changed to allow for quote "the storage, sales, and open display of vehicles and machinery" unquote. The track has been in operation in it's current location since 1959, and a real estate listing had the asking price set at $7.33 million. So that's three tracks we know of for sure. Other people also mentioned Englishtown Raceway Park, which hosted NHRA national events, but that facility was taken over by another auction company, Insurance Auto Auctions. But, the idea is the same. And besides the ones we know about, there are also rumors about places like I-96 in Michigan, I-80 in Nebraska and others. Companies like Copart need large pieces of land to house vehicles, and aging race tracks are easing picking from ownership, and they are easier to get rezoned for their needs. Existing infrastructure exists so trucks can get in and out easily, the facilities are usually located away from towns, so you won't get as much of the NIMBY effect, and a lot of the land is already flat and cleared. Now before you go and start picketing Copart and sending letters to your congressman, understand that this isn't necessarily a targeted attack on the racing community. Copart buying these race tracks is a sympton of a much larger systemic problem that short track racing will continue to face in the coming years. Tracks are a very low margin business, often times operated by older groups, and like was the case with Grandview, Copart is an easy out. There is no protracted selling period, trying to find the right operator, etc. Copart writes a check, gets the facility rezoned, and it's done. A lot of these race tracks haven't been upgraded in years, so a new owner would have to come in and spend a significant amount of money to get them up to current standards, and on the backside, there is no guarantee that they will make that money back any time soon. There are definitely some bright spots out there in short track racing, but the community needs to work together to make sure that these facilities not only stay in existence, but also thrive. If not, you'll see more opportunists like Copart and real estate developers snatching up these tracks and turning them into other things.

Alright, moving on to other topics.

The High Limit Sprint Car Series, owned by Kyle Larson and Brad Sweet, debuted just a couple of weeks ago at Lincoln Park Speedway following the Knoxville Nationals. If you might remember, Buddy Kofoid took the $22,000 win over Justin Sanders and Cory Eliason. We thought we wouldn't see the series again until they went full time in 2023, but as Lee Corso would say, NOT SO FAST. Yesterday, High Limit announced they will have another event this year, with Wayne County Speedway in Ohio hosting a $22,000 to win show on Tuesday, September 27th. And in yet another shot across the bow of the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, the event is in partnership with driver Sheldon Haudenschild. It's being called The Sheldon Haudenschild High Limit Buckeye Brawl, and Wayne County is his home race track. As was the case at Lincoln Park with series owner Brad Sweet, Sheldon will not drive in the event because of his platinum agreement with the Outlaws that restricts where he can race. Larson will participate with the Paul Silva owned 57, and if the first race was any indication, this one should have another strong field. This race will fall after the Four Crown weekend at Eldora and the Outlaws at Sharon. So the All Star teams will be free to race, and I'm sure the Ohio contingent will show up in force. We are still waiting on the full schedule for 2023, when the series will debut with a 12 race schedule that includes higher paying races and a points fund. Tickets for the event at Wayne County are on sale now, and you find more details at highlimitracing.com. The plot thickens friends!

Speaking of the World of Outlaws, the west coast swing starts tonight at Skagit Speedway. We'll get sprint cars after dark here on the east coast from today through Placerville on September 17th. The next two nights of the Skagit Nationals are $10,000 to win shows, with Saturday paying $25,000 to win. Brad Sweet enters the weekend with a 66 point lead over David Gravel, with Carson Macedo another 30 points back in third. 20 race nights remain on the schedule, and those guys further down the order, like Sheldon Haundenschild and Donny Schatz, are more than likely out of contention for the title at this point. Gravel trails by 33 feature positions right now effectively, with Macedo down 48 positions. Last year we had three different winners during this Skagit weekend, with Macedo, Sweet, and James McFadden all getting victories. Logan Schuchart picked up a pair of wins at the track in 2019 with no Outlaw shows there in 2020. McFadden leads all drivers in average finish at 2.33, with Schatz, Sweet, Schuchart and Gravel all being strong there in the past as well. We were in the mid 20's for car count at Skagit in 2021, and I'd guess we'll be something similar this weekend. You'll have the Outlaw full timers, plus local names like Trey Starks and Colby Thornhill, guys coming up from California like Max Mittry and Joel Myers Jr., and young guns Corey Day and Ryan Timms. Yes, the series has confirmed that Timms rolled west. The dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula favors Schatz over Gravel and Sweet tonight. I'm going Macedo though. He's been on the podium in seven of the last eight races, which includes wins at Pevely, Jackson, and Red River Valley. His only real misstep was the Knoxville Nationals where he finished 17th, but he did suffer a flat in that race. If you want to watch tonight, you can do that over on DIRTVision.

If you want some late model racing tonight, the rescheduled Herald and Review 100 is happening at Macon Speedway. $5000 to win and it leads into a busy weekend in the area with Farmer City on tap for Friday, Fairbury racing Saturday, and Spoon River on Sunday. All of those three events are MARS sanctioned. And then next week we'll get the Dream makeup and World 100 at Eldora. Drivers expected to race tonight include Shannon Babb, Brian Shirley, Ryan Unzicker, Jason Feger, Myles Moos and others. This event was originally part of the Summer Nationals but was postponed because of weather.

Last night at Georgetown Speedway, Matt Sheppard got around Mike Gular for the lead on lap nine and survived a war of tire attrition to earn his seventh Short Track Super Series win of the year. Gular and Mike Mahaney joined him on the podium. Two of the drivers to have late issues included Stewart Friesen and Ryan Godown, who were both top five runners. Friesen got back to fifth at the end, with Godown eighth. Godown led the points in the south region before last night's race, and he'll give up ground to Sheppard with the Speed Showcase weekend next on the schedule for the region. The north region and Elite Series are back this coming Sunday at Utica-Rome for the $25,000 to win New Yorker.

There are eight shows on today's streaming schedule. DIRTVision has the World of Outlaws from Skagit, Speed Sport has the Herald and Review 100 from Macon and other regional action. There is also USRA modifieds from Mississippi Thunder on RacinDirt and Flo 24/7. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.

That's it for the show today, have a good Thursday. Make sure to like, subscribe, and comment.

Thanks everybody for tuning in, I'll see you tomorrow for more DIRTRACKR Daily!