We were tipped off to a link today that indicates the company which owns the track and offices wants to see the facility opened and operating again, “as soon as possible.” This report was published by SCV News which is a local news station in Santa Clarita, California. The report states that the company which owns the property, “NU Way Industries” is located in Acadia, California and has every interest in seeing the track back in action. The owners of NU Way Industries pulled no punches when talking about the former management of the facility.
Jim Mnoian is the head honcho at Nu Way and he was quoted as saying, “We wanted to re-lease the site or sell it. Our company’s intention is to find a new tenant. We want an operator who has experience operating a track and take it over. The people who were running it didn’t have the experience and didn’t find anyone with experience in 15 years. Anyone is better than what they had.” So we’re thinking he was not a fan of the former group that was leasing the facility. One of the reasons may be the fact that they didn’t mention to Mnoian that they were going to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy and just went ahead with it. Mnoian seems to believe that the Jim Williams, the majority shareholder in the now bankrupt Irwindale Speedway LLC company had the money in his own pocket to stave off the bankruptcy filing, but refused to spend it.
To us, this is good news in a roundabout way. Once the mess of the former management group is sorted out, a new group should be able to step in and flip the switch back on at the facility. If the people who actually own the track want to see it operate again, we have to believe that it will. Hopefully sooner rather than later!
Thanks to Berserko Bob for the tip!
LINK: Irwindale Speedway Ownership Wants to See Track Running Again
In the military we called it a “regime change.”
Can’t wait to see a giant “Under New Management” sign hanging from the grand stands.
It’s about getting the “right” group back in there.
Saugus Speedway was very successful in putting people in the stands considering what they had to work with (pretty dumpy). Ray Wilkings promoted that track and was the very first promoter for Irwindale Speedway in it’s first year.
After the first year, Wilkings and Jim Williams (track owner) parted ways after differences. Williams, with an Indy car background, didn’t want the typical local short track “low brow” features like train racing, demo derby, auto soccer, etc. Years later after spectator decline, Irwindale added demo derby’s, outlaw figure 8 races, trailer boat races, etc. A little late.
Read this about the old Saugus Speedway: http://articles.latimes.com/1993-09-…augus-speedway
“This year (1993), Saugus Speedway’s audience is averaging 4,200 fans, up from about 2,800 five years ago.”
The bathrooms there were horrible. For as little as they had. Spectators parked on dirt. You pitted on gravel or if you were lucky rough lumpy broken concrete or asphalt. The stands were splinter fest. The pit stands were mostly lawn chairs. Seriously we would line up lawn chairs all along turns 1 and 2 first come, first served… [b]And they still got 4,200 fans a night![/b]
So, it is possible to do this in the Southern Californian market.
Thanks for keeping us up to speed on this, theres hope yet!
More good news!!!
http://bangshift.com/blog/irwindale-speedway-update-property-owner-claims-20-parties-have-contacted-him-about-taking-over-track.html
I wish I had the funds, I would open it up and run it myself, Sounds like the guy in charge was a real flake
You all do not have an idea what you are talking about. Put keep on talking if it makes you feel better.
“You all do not have an idea what you are talking about. Put keep on talking if it makes you feel better.”
Have you raced/crewed at circle tracks in So Cal consistantly over the last 25 years?
Have you helped with sucessful promotions at Irwindale in the past?
Irwindale exists because of Jim Williams. He dropped $15 million of his own dollars to make it happen. The only big mistake he made was NOT buying the land first. If he had done that, at least he could have recouped some of his funds. Nu Way is the big winner here, because they will be able to lease the property for more money using Willams’ improvements. 2011 was a rough year for many businesses, you can’t blame Williams for wanting to cut his losses. Obama is doing a good job of running the country into the ground. Irwindale is just one more example.
Lots of bad info out there. Seems you all forgot Nu Way has a vested interest in getting it reopened…money. Yes, there were some questionable decisions made, but I know firsthand, that we tried to put a good program out there every week for the fans. The track closing not only affects the racers and fans, but all the industries that are supported by racing. If you truly want to have a succesful racing facility, patronize it once in awhile. Go to a Nascar event even though you are a drag racer. Or,when you’re not racing bring your family out to an event. But the most important thing you can do, is promote your racetrack in a positive manner. Remember every negative comment made gets magnified the next time it is passed along.