I am not going to come on here and bash the track like everyone thinks we do....but there just has to be something that can be done......last night we went to owendale of course....which let me tell you we like owendale because it is really close to us and half of our family races there to so it is very nice to get everyone together and race...because they cant all compete at the other tracks we race at....or afford the gas to drive there....but last night was STUPID!!!! First off during time trials the track was so dusty that you couldnt even see...then they went and put a bunch of water on the track...so they line up the dashes and bring out the sportsman WITHOUT maybe thinking they should pack the track in....so......they drop the green flag and YOU couldnt even tell....they were racing ALL of them drifted up in the one and two and THEY COULDNT TURN THE WHEELS...so after FOUR afwul laps they brought the streets out SAME THING....POOR GUYS but after all that the limiteds helped the track out with there bigger tires...so then we have the features....Im really sorry to say this but the new flag man is NOT going to help Mary at all with her track....she has lost so much already and it is really sad to see something that was SUCH a happening place go right down toilet....but.....in the streetstock feature there were a couple of things...the STREETSTOCKs arent the nicest set of guys lol but what can you do...well of course they were BEATING and BANGING eachother like crazy but i CERTAIN someone was RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!! I cant believe HOW many times he hit people to get them OUT of his way...i thought we were suppposed to DRIVE some what CLEAN....at least thats what mary wants and thats the way it should be....but it wasnt i saw someone get in trouble for his mistakes and it cost that person there spot WHICH SHOULD OF NEVER happened....so he was sent to the back while the other guy GOT HIS SPOT BACK!!!!! can you believe that...then they had another caution and this same person GOT OUT of his CAR during a CAUTION (to check to make sure his GAS cap was still on thats what he told mary..) and then GOT back into his CAR and THEY GAVE HIM HIS SPOT BACK! COME ON.....i know at many tracks you cant get out of your car and get back in and THINK you can get your spot back ITS THE RULES.....so some of the streetstock guys had a meeting with the "great" flag man and HE SAID HE DIDNT SEE HIM GET OUT!!!!!!! what was he looking at???? EVERYONE seen it....but after some agrueing and alot of witnesses.....he didnt get his money or his points for the night...which he was very mad about and threated alot of people......which is un sportsman like i think....but i think FINALLY the flag man made a right choice....and its just so sad to see this track the way it is.... Everyone says it cant be that bad but i have been going up there since i was a little girl....and i remember there being SO many people there that you couldnt find a sit in the grandstands...now when i look up in the stands from the pits you see MAYBE a total of 20 people in the stands....and there were only 6 sportsman.....12 streeters and 6 is 7 limiteds.....its just so sad...something needs to be done with it....i think if she were maybe to hire some new people in there it may be better.....and maybe to get someone to know what there doing with points to..thats another thing we totaled up points last weekend because i always do....just to make sure everything and everyone is getting there corrected points well they arent....you know we got 2 extra points and we dont know why...then they gave another car 25 points for the feature and he got 2nd which he should of only got 23 points....and then they gave 3 people 6th place when there only was FIVE cars left in the feature COME ON get with it....I will do it for owendale if they asked it isnt that hard i do it for two tracks...i dont know how its getting so SCREWED up....but thanks for reading this if you are i just needed to vent out some things that really arent just bothering me but bothering a bunch of people and someone needs to do something before she is forced to close it down....thats not what we want we want to race there but we want it to be fair and RIGHT!!!!!!!!! thanks everyone!!!

Miranda

your right what they did to car 27 was wrong and car 44 should not be racing there
last year he took 3 cars out in one night. and the flag man did nothing! i dont know
why he is special. i have been going up there for over 25 years seen alot of good
old boys racing up ther e and good clean racing. that track i believe can be that way
again. mary needs to listen to her drivers her drivers are the one that will bring her the
fans back and without supporting the drivers over one flag man wrong decisions she
going to lose more. she dont realize that car 27 has 6 other cars that are teammates with
him and she cant afford for all of them to pull out of there. good luck next week in racing
tell chad to kid butt.

yes and you want to know what they didnt call the REAGULAR flag man back....they are letting gene carson be the flag man.....i thought charlie did a good job and his job and NOW they bring in someone that NO ONE likes......i mean NO ONE!!!!! She should say GOOD BYE to him because everyone is going to have problems we have had many problems with him and then they make him FLAG MAN!!!! OMG what was she thinking seriously...but yes owendale could go back to the way it was if she would listen to her drivers but the reason the drivers done say anything is because its got to go through gene first and watever gene thinks goes....MARY listen to ur drivers......you might be surprised on what you..get....you may even get your old cars back.....maybe even mend some bridges with some of the people you banned from there because ever since you banned them you havent gotten your crowd and im sure they wouldnt mind coming back if they could race there...i think she could have some good shows if she brought in some BIG TIME racers and REALLY worked on maybe getting SOME big SHOWS out there.....i hope the best for her but we will not be going back for awhile we can race 20 cars at mt pleasant and make top5 and we go to owendale and race 6 cars....its to bad.......come see us at mt pleasant nutcracker!!???? who are ya lol

I was up there for the first time last night. That street stock feature was CRAZY. Everybody likes some hard racing, but dang!! I thought the late models put on a pretty good show.

I did notice about the flag man on at least 2 occassions they had to do an extra lap after a caution because he forgot that he still had the yellow flag in his hand

Overall, for $8 I wasn't complaining, but I don't have to deal with the politics either...

yes i agree the limited are good ....they are a good bunch of guys....ryan and billy have to be the nicest guys in the world.....but the street feature was crazy....they might like hard racing but that was DIRTY...... but thats why we call owendale OWENDERBY.....but glad you made it to the track mary needs all she can get right now.....but if you up for some REALLY GOOD racing go to Mt Pleasant they race on fridays and Crystal on saturdays NOW that is so GOOD HARD CLEAN racing!!!!!!!!!!! No bullshit there....hahahaha

I do have to say I did like the #27's Dukes of Hazzard style re-entry on the track after he changed his tire. Now that was some good stuff!

Yes but if decisions are made based upon how much $ your car brings to the track then that puts us in a situation of favoritism like this ya know? . But I know what you mean a wrong very wrong call can cause more then one car to not return. Yes the 44 seems to have more then his share of contact out there. From what I have seen this year and heard from others this topic is truthfull. Sure there is some personal feelings also thrown in but it is mainly the facts. It is time to fix the problems and save the speedway. I'm not trying to blame or call anyone out but I don't want the place to close and I don't think management does either. The comment about listening to drivers is good but dont just follow one drivers lead hear what they all think. Remember the fans give there two cents to drivers they know so a driver has more feedback then just their opinion. Owendale has been going downhill to long its time to revive it....and it can be done...with some changes and cooperation from everyone from teams/track/fans.

[Overall, for $8 I wasn't complaining, but I don't have to deal with the politics either...
[/quote]


yeah $8 bucks is a better deal them some of the other tracks! At least they got that part right! And the food is good.

I went to auto city a couple weeks back payed ten bucks and got if you believe it or not even a worse show than at Owendale. As for the street stock feature They were all banging and bashing one another. There was low car count in all classes and not much competition for the streeters and espically the lone road warrior. The street stock feature had how many cautions before they got 2 green laps in? As for the incident with the #27 and essex, essex was not driving clean Calvin was not driving the cleanest either and I agree fully with the decision to black flag the #27 car when it returned to the track and bumped /rammed the 44 car twice under caution. It would have only gotton worse at race speeds. That in my opinion is also bad spotsmanship I raced up there many years and you just plain get taking out sometimes you can not go retalliate on the person when that happens or it makes you no better than them. As for the late model feature someone said it was good racing they must have been sleeping becuase it was LaFave by 1\2 of a track over billy it was boring to me. Sporsman had some racing as 88 realed in 01 after his car started missing would have been better if 39 was out there too but that was the best feature of the night. Strret stock feature was terriable 12 cars start what 5-6 finished. Road warrior 1 car showed didn't even get to race Would like to see more road warriors. As for getting big shows they have a hard time putting on what they do did you see the track last week and the start of this week it's a joke than the fuel issue another joke . I offered last year becuase I am what about three miles down the road to go up during the week and water the track get moisture down into it make it a good track on Saturday Mary said oh we already have somebody doing that Ya ok evidentally you do not watch the races out there. Gene as flagman I liked the #27 call but, there were a lot of other calls that should have been made differentally in the streetstock feature. How can one guy supposedly be inspector, flagman, and basically run the whole show? You might as well bring your car light the scales are never working and tech is a joke. I raced at Crystal about 3-4 years ago and had to run with pro stocks becuase my floorboards were not stock and my left front tire was 1\2 inch too wide I was weighed before I even raced they stuck by the rule book 100% wisyh it was in my backyard as owendale is. Yes mary becuase you made the comment of "are you gonna post this on the internet too Scott?" as I was watching them fill up a gas can with five gallons and then you would have to transfer it to your gas can becuase the pump hasen't been working correctly for two weeks. For that comment Mary I feel this is a way to get out my fustrations of a poorly ran track Yes the economy is bad and we are in a bad location up here but, there are a lot of race cars in the area that would race there with a lot of changes and the people would fill the stand if the race cars were there where else can you get a night of entertainment for eight bucks a head? Make changes before it gets worse than it is. Just my opinion that I needed to express by the way the food is good!!!

FINALLY!!!!!!!! Someone is agreeing...i do agree with you scott with 27 going and ramming in the caution that was unsportman like..but you know in the heat of the moment you dont think that which i have seen many drivers give a tap to show other racer that either they are there or that they didnt like what just happened...which 27 did hit 44 a couple times but what do you do...thats why its owenderby haha

Chad broke in the heat race with the driveshaft breaking....we also wish we could of been in the feature we heard from other racers that the track was very fast which you could tell because the streeters were even fast last night... which makes for good racing...but owendale dont have the cars for that!

Yes and let me tell you why cant they work on the gas pump during the week....

With the road warrior MARY told him he could race with the streeters at the back of the pack...so when he got ready for the feature the ONE official told him he couldnt....poor guy wasted his night thinking he was going to race....why mess with a class that never has cars???? bring something different in maybe that would change something.....

I think she could get some sponsors and then have a STREETSTOCK special or something....that would be pretty awesome...bring in some different cars from different places...She justs needs to listen to us...with out having someone saying something different......and i dont think they ever had the scales since ray and her starting dating....its weird but i dont know .....its sad but i wish they would get rid of gene carson....i bet that would help....find someone that is on the OUTSIDE .....and that isnt familiar with the drivers or the race track....

I would love to see owendale get big again....we would race there FOR SURE....but with 6 cars its just not worth it......

I had tossed around the idea of putting up $1000 myself for top prize in a street stock special do it midseason so cars are put together say pay based on 50 cars something like:
5 heats of ten cars
pay 50\40\30 1st- 3rd transfer top 4 to a main+ 5 from b main
b main starts 12+3 from c main 4-15 $30 to start
c main starts 12 top3 transfer 4-15 $20 to start

Amain would start 25 cars pay somehting like:
1 1000
2 450
3 300
4 250
5 200
6 150
7 100
8 80
9 70
10 60
11-25 50 to start

Thats about a 5000 dollar payout if I put up 1000 and 30 dollar entrytimes by 50 cars(1500) entry gets you one pit pass and registration .
Figure every driver brings 1/2 person at 20 pit pass=20*25=500
I would still be 2 grand short plus workers ambulance ect..
Thought about putting it on by seeing about renting the track if possible then I could come up with my own official team.
Cars from crystal streets, mount pleasant streets, owendale street and sportsmans probably others merritt??i96?? palo??
3400lbs min weight
2 bbl carb
just some rules possibly
need $$$$

you guys had one bad night at autocity and act like its ran like owendale ? well i ran owendale for ten years and then went to auto city i just dont know how you guys can keep bashing the city but can't keep a handle on your own backyard

i never once bashed auto city....i used to go to auto city when i was a kid when my dad wasnt racing full time.....but i really dont remember much of it......



and i dont think 50 cars are going to come to owendale.....crystal cars wont come to owendale i know a couple.....and they know how it is there and merritt doesnt have streets anymore so im sure there racing either at other dirt tracks....but i guess you never know until you try it....

I feel you!!! I know from personal experience. It's sad to hear all of you stressed out about the bad calls, favortism, bad track conditions, poor maintanance, but yet you want to save the track and keep going back every week for the same old treatment? I am empathetic for all of you!!! I don't want to see that good old race track close either. What I would like to see is a new owner, one who cares. I know that with the price of fuel and the current situation with our economy, the die hard racers that are on a tight budget have nowhere else to go. MY suggestion is save your money, take 1 week off and use the money you saved to travel to a better facility such as Crystal or Mt. Pleasant. Maybe with no cars she will have to sell the track. We all want to save the track BUT IT NEEDS TO START WITH THE OWNER. The owner has proven to all of us that SHE DON'T CARE!!! The same thing has been going on for years and it's finally starting to catch up with her. She is not a promoter, just an owner. There has been no specials for years for any of the loyal drivers who come back week after week. I think the last twenty or so cars that are left should leave!!! I appologize if I have offended anyone but I have been reading these comments for quite a while now and I strongly feel if you go to that track to race, you should expect that kind of treatment. Don't get me wrong she shmooses the sprints and the legends once or twice a year but for all you loyal Owendale racers who feel the abuse every week,"I FEEL YOU" Peace out!!!

Joe P

For $10 you could have seen 120 cars at Crystal last night.

This is crazy!! Maybe I was to suttle . Come on people WAKE UP!!![/ I can understand how you feel but you should [b]LEAVE!!! I did, and it was the best move of my racing career. After I left I made a huge mistake and went back a couple years later, and just as I suspected, everything was still the same. There are still tracks that are having awesome car counts every week!!! B- Mains, in every class!!! When is the last time Owendale had a B-Main in any class? There are big money shows in every class at Mt. Pleasant and Crystal. Save your money Scott, I know you sincerly care about that track, but life is full of change and in this case the grass is greener on the other side. wouldnt you guy's rather race against 20 cars vs 6-12 and have the stands full of people screaming your name & #. I like the every other week Idea. All you guy's that can't afford to travel, save your money and race every other week at a DIFFERENT TRACK!!! Try It and you wont go back!!! Then maybe we can get sombody in there that cares and is willing to step up to the plate and make the drastic changes that need to be made there.
Peace Out!!!

Joe P

I agree fully with you joe p.......its pretty sad that she doesnt care about us and everyone still goes back ...... we did expect the same thing just because we knew it would never change the ONLY reason we go there was because we really couldnt run with the pro stocks at crystal but after ALL of the things last weekend we dont plan on going back....i hope some of the other people that said they werent going back dont go back.....but i have a feeling they will....i really think we will be going to crystal not every weekend because chad has other things going on now...but until something happens to owendale i dont want to go back....I agree SAVE your money and go somewhere else were you can get your moneys worth......

Mary,Mary,Mary

I know a lot of people don't like mary but but you have to watch what you wish for our luck Gene Carson would be the one to buy the track. He's a not right we all know that and last week i think Mary seen that when he kept insisting that 44 didn't get out of his car she finally made the right call and dq'ed him. I'd say maybe he wont come back that was the first time she stood up to him and he didn't like it. When I was in reese sunday with my son racing one of the fans in the stands that know Gene said his wife said they weren't gong back. If only we were that lucky. If he doesn't come back i'm sure scotty would run the flag stand. There has to be someone out there who can make a good call. I thought the ones they had at the begining of last year weren't that bad there was no bitchin we all just raced and they made mostly good calls . Thats what we need. Then Gene came back and it was two weeks till all hell broke loose again. 44 was running everybody over and Gene just let him go ask the #25. If we do it constructivly she might listen.

I'm with you Joe, life is too short and racing is too expensive to go to those places anymore.

I officially volunteer for the flag man position if becomes open. Will do for free. Well need an announcer too maybe I can do both??

I wouldn't mind trying the announce position....but I can't be there every week so I guess I'm not any good for that. Flagging seems like it would be fun but alot of to go with it. I'd like to wave the green for the start of the street or sprint feature super race day that'd be cool but somebody else can flag the rest I wouldn't want the crap that goes with it. It sure would be cool to do once. I tried mt. Pleasant once and I didn't enjoy the visit I was happy to be home the following week not to mention it cost me enough in total that I could have raced at home 2 or 3 times. The track employees were nice and the announcer was great he came in the pits to find out information on us new guys. But that's all the + stuff I have to say. I don't think I've even went back to watch since maybe once to see Joe Pomeroy race. I've tested crystal and it was fun. But because i have a camaro i'd have to race with the pro stocks give me a break it's just a plain old camaro with a 355 nothing special. So I wouldn't waste my time & $ to tow all the way there to be lapped in a heat race. But my car is blown up and probably won't be fixed this year. Or else I'd of been up to Owendale by now where my car can race in the class it belongs. Not to mention most places besides owendale don't allow camaros to run in street stock . I'm trying to get my demo car ready for June 14th but it isn't looking good. Everybody seems to think if it shuts down it will be sold well what if it isn't and we somehow end up with a thunder road situation then what? I know some of the reasons that some people have for not coming back and I understand them. I'm caught in the middle of it I love the track and nobody as far as track emploees have done anything to me personally to make me angry enough to leave or say anything bad about them....I was not thrilled with the track conditions opening night for the dashes but at the same time with gas prices who was going to come out and wheel pack and I can't blame them and how much can the track itself shell out in gas when the car count is so low and fans are scarce? I have not spoke to Mary yet this year I tried once but she was not home and I'd like to do that before I give any more of my opinions on here. But I will say this with the low numbers for cars/crowd the show must go well or your numbers will get worse. The track needs to be good, the races need to be lined up and ready, the races need to be competitve and CLEAN among other things or else the people just won't return. Not just when the numbers are low that stuff needs to happen every week and you can't blame Mary or Gene for all of that stuff.

Sorry Dave, but I have to politely disagree. Mary is to blame!!! She does absolutely nothing to promote you!!! She will promote the sprints once or twice a year just to pay the bills. You can't even read about Owendale in the racing papers. I'm sorry you had a bad experience at Mt. Pleasant, they have a very competitive street stock class, compareable to Owendales sportsman class. I give a big hats off to Betty crook, the owner of MT. Pleasant speedway. She is doing everything she can to keep her track alive. She actualy hired a track promoter to get people to come to the track, and it's working!!! They have all kinds of stuff going on, cars and drivers going to local schools and numerous other events, they have comercials on TV, they are giving out free passes to bring in more people. They are having numerous big money races in every class!! Name one big money race or special event for the regular drivers at Owendale in the last 8-10 years? She is very fortunate to have you few loyal drivers. It is obvious to me that you guy's are willing to step outside the box and do what ever you can to save that track, but the sad thing is she obviously doesn't feel the same way. I have to say once again, life is full of change, life is too short, and only the strong survive!!!

Sincerely

Joe P

WELL I HATE TO EVEN TOUCH THIS TOPIC, BUT I FEEL I HAVE TO. OWENDALE HAS BROUGHT MANY GREAT MEMORIES TO MANY. AND BY THE WAY IT IS GOING THEY WILL SOON BE ONLY MEMORIES. WHICH REALLY BUMS ME OUT. I HAVE WENT THE PAST 2 WEEKS JUST TO SUPPORT THE TRACK, WHY? NOT BECAUSE I CARE ABOUT MARY, BUT BECAUSE I REALLY DONT WANT IT TO CLOSE EVEN THOUGH IN REALITY IT PROBABLY WILL. I THINK THE ANSWER TO THE WHOLE PROBLEM AND I MAY BE ENTIRELY WRONG, BUT I THINK MARY SHOULD LEASE THE TRACK TO WENDY AND DAVE. WENDY DID A LOT OF PROMOTING AND EVEN THOUGH A LOT OF PEOPLE BLAMED PROBLEMS ON THEM, NOW EVERYONE CAN TRUELY SEE THEY WERE NOT THE PROBLEM AT ALL. THEY HAVE 1/3 OF THE CARS THEY DID WHEN WENDY AND DAVE WERE THERE. MARY PLEASE BITE THE BULLET AND LET SOMEONE ELSE TRY TO GET THE TRACK BACK TO WHERE IT NEEDS TO BE. YOU CAN STILL OWN IT JUST LET SOMEONE ELSE RUN IT, PLEASE!!! IT STILL HAS A LOT OF POTENTIAL AND WITH DIFFERENT MANAGEMENT I THINK ALL THE CARS WILL COME BACK, AND BACK TO WHAT JO SAID " THERE HAD NEVER BEEN A SPECIAL FOR THE GUYS WHO SUPPORT THE TRACK WEEK AFTER WEEK, WHAT DOES THAT SAY FOR THOSE DRIVERS. SOME ON LET TRY AND SAY THIS TRACK. MARY NEEDS TO CALL WENDY, LEAVE THE PAST IN THE PAST AND SEE IF THEY WOULD TAKE OVER BEFORE ITS GONE. ANYWAYS JUST MY OPIONION, BUT I THINK MAJORITY WILL AGREET IT STILL CAN BE SAVED JUST NOT UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT ARE THERE RIGHT NOW. THERE IS NO HOPE, NO ONE IS GOING BACK, END OF STORY.

LETS SAVE THE TRACK

SEE YA ALL AT CRYSTAL THIS WEEKEND.

RENTON WILL BE THERE IN THE OLD 58 AND WE SHOULD BE THERE IN THE 04.

HAVE A GREAT AND SAFE MEMORIAL WEEKEND,A ND I HOPE MARY SEE'S THIS AND REALLY THINKS ABOUT IT BEFORE THE TRACK IS GONE.

TRACY

I agree FULLY with joe and tracy....im also sorry dave that you had a bad experience at Mt Pleasant but I look forward to going to Mt Pleasant and racing everyone there is for the same reason....to have fun and race....Mt pleasant is getting people involved this year with burn outs.. and then getting with the schools even jumping on board with the Racers Speed Shop......and they always are giving away cool things and sometimes giving away free pit and grandstand seats...thats GREAT....soo i say WAY TO BETTY!!!!!!and everyone else there that helps with putting on a great night of racing...yea they might have some nights where its bad but other than that i cant complain....I know some of the cars are hard to race against but that just means maybe tune your cars up some and work a little harder and im sure you could get racing side by side with some of our boys.....but i agree with everyone it is marys fault and a think a little of genes to...if he would of just told the truth about seeing him get out last saturday WOULD OF NEVER happened...but thats my thought!!!

We might be traveling to crystal on sunday but i dont think on saturday chad got his pole barn kit this morning lol lol lol



Take care

Miranda

I agree with miranda had Gene or any of the officals been honest about #44 getting out of his car saterday would have been much calmer, however the driver of #44 knows that getting out of your car is not allowed as his faimliy said saterday hes raced there for 15 years so im sure he knows that getting out of your car will get you disquilified. but i do have one question and someone please correct me if im wrong but I thought that if you caused someone else to come of the track you also came off? now I know they knew it was # 44( as he does this on a regular basis) they put him in the back for the caution. So if he had been taken off the track everything most likely would have been over. As far as Tracys comment with letting Dave & Wendy lease it, im sure there were problems then to but they were still working for mary so you do have to do as your told weve seen what mary amd ray can do with the track lets see what could happen with someone else running it. Mary if you think about this it just may make sense to you, if so and you want Wendy's # let me know i'll give it to you, however if you decide to keep trying to run it yourself I strongly suggest you sit down and think about saterday night. this was all caused over your officals, the ones you gave the power to run your track, who does it make look bad? did anyone have problems the week before in streetstock keeping tires when trying to pass? nope you might want to look to see who wasent there. on a final note thanks to everyone that supported Calvin saterday night, he may not have showed the best sportsmanship but you can only take so much crap before its to much. hopefully mary will see that there are alot of people that want owendale to stay open and relize she has the power to do that if shes willing to make changes.

the bottom line to all of this is the officals. if they would of done the right thing and made a
honest call it would not of went as far as it did. would calvin been upset about his tire being
taken out maybe alittle but it happens everyone that races has had at one time a tire
popped it happens you go on. heres the thing gene(offical) be a man and step up and make the right
calls. 99 percent of the drivers are hard core honest racers if you have caused a caution and was
sent in the back or off the track for a mistake on the track most drivers will understand all i think
is BE HONEST AND FAIR WITH ALL. so gene move that big belly out of your eye site and do the
the right thing.

racing is in the blood its hard to afford to race right now but how can we stop

like nascar LETS GO RACING BOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know I know

But what are we going to do. Tracy I don't think Wendy and Dave can help anything, and the only reason why we had so many cars when they were at the track was because 1/2 of the freakin' racers still had jobs. To much has happened to the drivers, people lost their jobs, they sold their cars (or took them to the junkyard) or just can't afford it.

As for the flagman "Charlie" I do belive that he has finally gave up on her too......they wouldn't let him make any calls anymore he was just a little puppet up there. Now we have Gene.....ha..... I know something that he can do with those flags.... , as my husband always said it can always be worse, well guess what it is. Give Scott a chance at being the flagman, it is probably a good idea to have someone up there who gives a crap.

I was really hoping this year that we would have a few more cars at Owendale, I should have known better.

As for that gas issue, now they knew they had problems 2 weeks ago did she try to fix it no, doesn't really seem like she cares to much about being open or her racers having gas to race their car. It doesn't seem to me that she cares about anything anymore, you would think that she would try a few things to keep that track open. But whatever.

[quote name='race_girl' date='May 21 2008, 10:01 AM' post='124393']
I know I know

But what are we going to do. Tracy I don't think Wendy and Dave can help anything, and the only reason why we had so many cars when they were at the track was because 1/2 of the freakin' racers still had jobs. To much has happened to the drivers, people lost their jobs, they sold their cars (or took them to the junkyard) or just can't afford it.

Right on race girl Sometimes are memories are as short as a qualifying lap but ask some sportsman drivers who raced then and I'm sure they remember that there were ISSUES then. To name just two that I remember are as follows problems with the points myseterious points showing up and missing in certain cases. And general rudeness/arrogance by both of them. I don't think they are the answer at all. But maybe Mary bringing in some a new crew and maybe someone with new promoter ideas would work.

YES I KNOW THE ECONOMY IS BAD, AND AS FAR AS WENDY AND DAVE IT WAS JUST A THOUGHT, IT DEFIETLY CANT GET WORSE, AT LEAST THEY LOVE THE SPORT AND DID A LOT FOR MARY WHEN THEY JUST WORKED FOR HER. I GUESS IT DOESNT MATTER ANY MORE. IT WAS JUST A SUGGESTION, AND THATS WHY I USUALLY DONT SAY ANYTHING BECAUSE NOTHING POSITIVE EVER COME OUT WHEN IT COME TO OWENDALE. SORRY FOR SPEAKING MY MIND. WHO KNOWS MABE WE WILL DRIVE BY AND SEE A RACE TRACK FULL OF WIND MILLS. LOL. BY THE WAY THE ECONOMY IS REALLY BAD BUT THERE ARE STILL A LOT OF CARS THAT WOULD RACE THERE EVERY WEEK IF MARY WAS OUT OF THE PICTURE AND I CAN NAME AT LEAST 20, SO ITS IS NOT JUST THE ECONOMY 20 CARS BRING AT LEAST 200 FANS WITH THOSE CARS AND PROBABLY MORE, BUT WHO AM I TO SAY ANYTHING. SHE WANTS IT TO CLOSE THAT IS OBVOIUS, I GUESS I WAS HOPING THERE STILL WAS A CHANCE. BY THE WAY I THINK WENDY DID AN EXCELLENT JOB PROMOTING THE TRACK!!!!!!!!!!

Don't get upset you have a right to your opinion! Just because I don't miss them and didn't care for their attitudes doesn't mean I'm right or in the majority in thinking that. I'd rather see someone new try it then them again. But your right about cars not being there what a good group of lates we'd have too 97,21,5,4,24,04,58 thats enough to put on a better show then any other place could. I guess I don't understand why you think she did an excellent job? The last few years have had new events/return of old ones blind driver, chain race, wingless sprints, ledgends cars, Aussie persuit to name of few....I guess I define promoting as special events like these, posting results online and in print, and advertising. So you may have a point on the last two there. But what is your definition of promoting? Car count can largely be blamed on no $ in that area also. Sorry if I offended you I didn't mean to.

It's cool we won't always agree But about the promoting you (the weekly classes) vs sprints I can't disagree with that your right. And the same with the big $ events your right but has owendale ever done that? And Owendale should be in the racing papers! Yes I'm very loyal to my home track but if certain people got ahold of it I'd have much less loyalty. And like I said Mt. Pleasant staff seemed great when I was there .. but they tore up alot of cars with like 3 to go in the ss feature because the yellow flag didn't come out despite multiple crash scenes that increased each lap due to not stopping the action for two accidents! I'd blame the flagman...or is it the owners fault? It sounds like they are doing awesome promoting ideas! That's the way it should be.

Here is my take on it. I've never personally had a problem with Mary (or Gene for that matter) anytime I have spoken to her and given a idea to her, or presented a problem she has been willing to listen and nice to me. I know some of you have not had such good talks with her and I don't know why that is. But I'm not going to blame her for all the problems. And I can't see how she is to blame for everything anyway? She doesn't drive the cars so it's not her fault that certain cars decide to plow over the rest of the cars in the race. The only thing she can do is send that driver packing for a few weeks and that should happen more then it does I think. But the things that Gene or any other past or present official says or does right or wrong isn't her doing either. Again I guess she has the power to overide or send them packing and it sounds as though she stepped in and overturned a call based upon what the other drivers saw this past week????? So that tells me she is willing to take charge and make changes when she sees them needed. And there do need to be changes made for sure. Mary is however the only one who can fix the problems I. She is also in a losing position no matter what she does she won't please everyone. Look at this post the opinions on the value of Wendy/Dave so what user do you believe? There are a couple ways of taking all our opinions #1 it could make you upset. I can see that for sure not one of us like to have criticism. And not change anything. #2 it could make you say alright then if you think you can flag and you think it's so easy to do the points then give it a shot. And you know what would that hurt to have them try? The pressure is on those who have voluntered to do a better job so Mary would really have nothing to lose in my opinion (my opinion that means nothing to anyone I'm sure) And if they do a better job then maybe that would bring more fans and cars back meaning both the track and the owner win. And if they don't do a better job then it stays the same as it was before you tried somebody else. I don't know what needs to happen I'm not there to hear what is being said at the drivers meetings so I can't really comment on the cuurent events and I wasn't there last week for the contraversy. But It's not like everyone is upset because their favorite car got a bad call so they jumped on here and vented. So either alot of people are wrong about what is being said or they are right and it needs to be addressed. So I think these issues should at least be given some review but it's not my call. I just wish somehow it could all get better without anyone else getting hard feelings about it. We all are involved because we love racing and we get opinioned because we care maybe we don't say it in the best way sometimes or the right way but for the most part our intentions are good. I would love to see some fences mended and see Joe Pomeroy, Wade Witherspoon, Renton Hurley, and Ray Pettit all battling for the win each week. I'd like to see what those guys have for the 97, 21, and 3 cars. Again I'm in the middle I understand why everyone is upset, but I also don't have a problem with Mary or Gene. But I will continue to support Owendale as much as I can, and wish I had my car there.

I agree alot of people would love to see those guys back up there racing each other however id leave pettit out of that group, its no fun to watch a race when you already know whos going to win before it even starts, now if it was a fair race that'd be different but we all know those officals did what ever it took to give Ray the checkerd flag , it may be bad calls on other drivers, passing before the green or maybe just a few extra laps till he got up there himself, when your involved with the owner you should not be on the track as a driver. But like I said bring back the other guys and i'd be willing to bet those stands start to fill up as someone said before we all go up there because we love racing and 8 bucks for a night out is worth it if you get to see a good show. Mary sit down with your drivers and listen to what they have to say. their all behind you in wanting the track to stay open.

In order to "save the track" by getting cars back you can only do it by getting street stocks back they are/ were the cars that footed the bills for the track. Figure it out if a limited pulls into the pits automatically she loses at least 30 bucks ($20 pit pass for the car -$50 start money for the main which u are basically guaranteed when u pull into the pits) sure its nice to see the limited class full but in past years when there were more cars the put on some good racing but, a lot of the time those drivers had a hard time getting throught the heat race let alone the feature it was terriable how much equiptment got torn up. A street stock pulls in the pits for the same $20 pit pass the track may make five bucks if the guy only gets start money ($15) for the feature. If you bring the streets you can then afford to get the limiteds I've done the math plenty of times. Limiteds cannot survive without the underclasses.

As for Wendy and Dave I don't see it making a big change. There was more favortism in the sportman class when barrons was running the #99 then the track shows pettit. I think pettit is real fast and people have a hard time dealing with that fact not saying he never got very favorable treatment but the man is almost untouchable at owendale. Kinda like Tommy in the streets and Chad Beiri #0 when he raced sportman.

There are a lot of people on here that care a lot about the track for a lot of different reasons. I feel even the owner cares about the track not enough in my opinion but she cares or else she wouldn't of even opened this year she cannot be making money and I am sure she could find something else to do on Saturday nights.
Also as far as #5 pettit heard a rumor he wasen't coming to owendale for the better of the track. Well I think Ray and Jamie might as well come back and give lafave some competition. None of the old guys are gonna come back in the current status of the track so we might as well get those two back.

As for running every other week and traveling to mt. pleasant/crystal. Joe I ran at Crystal couple years back and loved it even though I was out classed. It would have to be more like once a month though with current gas prices When I went to mount pleasant got treated nicely by the officials but the racers treated me with no respect. My car basically was totalled when I left there. I did not deserve the way they raced me not one car passed me cleanly.

Just my opinions

Very well put. And I agree pretty much with everything you said. I just want it fixed and I'm frustrated by not being able to do anything about it. I can't be there every week either with my car or as a spectator so I can't really offer to do anything though I'd love to do anything I can to help the track. I'd love to write up the results and send them to the racing papers and post them places like whowon.com and stuff like that. But if I'm not there I can't get the info I need much less in time to do it. I'd need line-ups and results to put together a nice article. But to get that info to me it'd be easier for them just to do it ya know. I know some people have valid reasons to be upset and I understand and respect their decisions I just wish it wasn't that way. And he's right about the night at mt. pleasant I was there that car was 100% when it started and in turn 1 they started to dismantle it and didn't quit until it wouldn't go. I didn't get roughed up the way you did but I did get rammed on the last lap of the heat and I was like 2nd or 3rd from last! I mean come on what are you gonna gain from that your not gonna transfer from way back there. Maybe they were just having an off night but it wasn't any better then a bad night at home for sure. Now at the Corn Harvest when I raced there that was great I liked the track, the crew seemed ok. I know there were cars from everywhere there.

Your right Dave Owendale has never had any big money races for their Loyal every week drivers. In my opinion that's a problem, racers need to be rewarded once in a while, raise the bar, give something more to shoot for. I have had conversations with Mary where I thought she was listening, and being very polite but that's all she does is listen. She needs to take ACTION!!! Mary is the track owner and that's the bottom line. Everyone keeps saying " if they wouldn't have made that bad call last week". Sorry people that's not going to change. Look at the big picture!!! There is going to be bad calls at every track you go to. That's part of the deal. I feel bad that you and Scott got your car tore up at Mt. Pleasant, but Owendale has got a reputation for being a rough driving track. Mt. Pleasant is using raceivers this year and this is going to help a lot. I admit they need to consider a new flag man, but the raceivers are a good start. I know first impressions mean a lot, but second chances do as well. I think you should do the math one more time Scott! I know when I raced at Owendale in the limited Late Model class, I brought a minimum of 5 people in the pits =$100 and 15-20 people in the stands $120 - $160 and most of them were buying food & beverages. Now when I do my math I don't see the track losing money from my attendance. Street Stocks are a great class but the majority of race fans (that are not associated with any car)go to the track to see the fastest class!!!
I wish you all a AWESOME Memorial Day Weekend!!! THINK SPEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peace Out
Joe P

Joe say you won the fature in limited pay 300 not to metion you might have got 2nd in the heat and won the four car not sure on these pays but the feature alone the street stocks paid the rest of your purse not to mention the heat and the 4 car pay. If I brought the same amount of people as you which was 5 crew w/yourslf 100 dollars and say 20 people in the stands 160 dollars that's 260 total. Now if I won everything 4 car $20 heat $20 I think and feature $85 looking at 125 payout with 135 dollars going to you or somebody elses purse. I go to watch the best racing which at most tracks I have visited is the street stocks they are not afaid to push it a lilttle harder if needed and not have to worry as much about there car as opposed to the late model guy that won't race side by side for the fear of putting a mark on their car. Some late races are good but, most are follow the leader with minimal side by side racing.

Last friday i saw chad and nate murphy drive HARD and CLEAN they never touched so its not like a derby out there all the time.....it just depends on the mood......but if you came back you'd see a whole new set of streeters....alot of growing up has happened and i think the streeters at Mt Pleasant have to be the hardest racers i have seen in a long time...and i think they are doing a great job....way to go GUYS!!!

Scott I can see your way of thinking. All I was trying to say was x that number by 20 and tell me the track is losing money, but remember there can only be one winner. When I raced at Owendale there were 15 - 20 every week!!! If you think that Street Stocks are going to save Owendale and make the track lot's of money, GOOD LUCK!!!! I don't know where you have been watching late models, but they are one of the most competitive classes. In the street stocks you have a handful of cars that are going to win every week. In the Late Model class any car can win on any given night and having said that, I think you need to get out more!!! Dirt Late Models are side by side just about everywhere you go at over 100 mph. Now, if you don't think that's worth more money than the street stocks, I guess you need to stay at Owendale and watch your 10 street stocks doing 40mph. From the driver to the fan, we all have to pay for speed!!!! One more thing Scott, your "untouchable" driver Pettit do you honestly believe he would be untouchable if he followed the rules like everyone else in his class had to and raced against more than 5-10 cars? Just to let everyone know a little bit about Scott's untouchable driver, he is the track owner's boyfriend. Just to mention a couple reasons why he was so fast is, 1) He could practice anytime he wanted and he did, when nobody else could. 2) he could never make weight and even went as far not using the scales in his class for this reason.3) when he wasn't up front he would pass 4 - 5 cars before the green flag and was never penalized. Bottom line is that he could do whatever he wanted. Let me ask you this, have you ever seen that car do good anywhere else? I can remember the one year he did venture out to Crystal for the Great Lakes Nationals and what a joke. Crystal has rules that everyone has to follow. Your untouchable Pettit had to make his car weigh the same as mine. I think we won that year and he got LAPPED!!! Come to Mt. Pleasant tonight Scott and watch some awesome racing in every class and I will pay for your admission!!!
Joe P

hey joe sure you already left for mt. pleasant but just wanted to say great effort last friday hope car was allright was little scary from stands. not sure why alvie was mad you were both side by side just racing if you ask me.

The car is fine it was just cosmetic. I got into the back of Alvie in the heat race and probably should have went down and apologized, but I was busy fixing my car. I think that's why he was upset and was smashing into me every time we were side by side in the feature. Part of the deal. We qualified 3rd on Friday and finished 4th in the feature without any damage! Now I can get back to working on set up. Mt. Pleasant is trying to increase their car count in the Street Stock class and are now going to pay $50 to start and $250 to win!!! That's pretty good pay!!! Owendale cars usually run good there!!!

Just to give a little back up for Scott's thoughts on Pettit. He did win the points in 1998 and was runner up to Tommy Schmidt in 1999 before the stuff that Joe mentioned started. So Scott has an argument about Pettit's ability at Owendale. And the championships after that well....I'll leave that up to everyone else to decide there are people on both sides of the fence on that but I think there are more on one particular side of it. I have not seen or heard of him having success or trying to race anywhere else but not everybody travels either. I know that you (Joe) have done well for yourself at other tracks and Wade Witherspoon has also done very well. Man I'd like to see a group of you (owendale/x-owendale)guys have your own little series hit Crystal, Mt. Pleasant, mid-michigan, Owendale, and maybe I-96. But I think untouchable may be a bit strong also. Joe, Wade, and Ron made him earn his keep on more then one occasion. I think wade and joe swapped track records back and forth a few weeks straight.

hey i think this Joe guy is right, im a pretty loyal race fan and this mister untouchable guy really cant win outside of Owendale. i did see him outside of Huron county a few times, i think once or twice at crysal think he won the even feature in 97 or 98 and won the A Main the next year in the dealers choice.And i might have seen that car over to Mount pleasant a few times to. when i seen it there it broke the track record and won the 1000.00 to win a time or two oh yea the corn harvest, i think it won every saturday speical it was in at that track and cant remember for sure if it was 2 or 3 a mains but that was before they started all these rules. hope to make it to Mount Pleasant soon so i can see some real racing again!

The last time i seen the 5 car at the corn harvest it never finished a race in the limiteds or the late models,the bad thing about the whole situaition is that it does'nt even seem to bother anybody that has been involved in the demise of the track for the last five years,its to bad because it was a fun place to go,So make sure you stop by the 24 trailer racefan4 so we can meet in person and discuss some of these so called records that Mr. untouchable seems to hold.I know he has won some races in the past,But that was the past,just like owendale is going to be A THING OF THE PAST THANKS TO MR.UNTOUCHABLE,So on that note,i do have to agree with this joe guy,and make sure you come by the trailer racefan4 when you come to Mt. Pleasant to see some real racing and maybe we can find out your real name instead of hiding behind a screen name,but i doubt you will because it is so hard to leave such a good track like owendale.

boy sure didnt want to get anybody upset, im just a race fan! and i hate to see someone bash a race team that has accomplished as much as that race team has. i kind of know the guy that sets up that 5 car. i think he has been setting up race cars for like 40 years. just hate to see a guy bust his butt to learn what he has over the years get called a cheat becouse someone doesnt like the guy that is driving the car. when in reality he may be a big part of why that car is as fast as it is. It makes me wonder if the real problem with Owendale is hot headed poeple that want to have all those years of knowledge in just a few short years. im sure its flustrating but look at any of the real fast guys around the state and they have all been racing for 25+ years. and im sure they were flustrated a time or two in there careers but didnt run around trying to close down the local dirt track becouse of it! just my opinion

If you read my post i never said i wanted owendale to close,Me and my family have been going to that track for almost 30 years and its sucks to see the situation that place is in.And this guy that has 40 plus years of set up,i think i know who you are talking about and yes i don't take anything away from him he does know his $hit,and yes even i admit it pettit has won a ton of races in the past.GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE I SAID IT,But in the last five or so years that place has treated alot people with total disrespect including my family and several of my racing friends and it continues to happen obviously otherwise this post would'nt have started,and the place would have more cars and fans than what they do,and i really don't think you need to have all that so called knowledge and i don't think it is because people are being hot headed,i think everything that is being disscussed about this track is the result of what happened over the last five or so years.So on that note I DO NOT WANT OWENDALE SPEEDWAY TO CLOSE.But you know just as well as i do if you have as much knowledge as you claim.

Yes racefan4 I forgot about the dealers choice stuff my bad. But I think I was kinda one sided so.....To my knowledge Joe still holds the track record at Owendale, Joe won a heat in Street Stock at the Corn Harvest in someone elses car! And has won in a street stock as well as a late at Mt. Pleasant. And before the big incident Joe was either leading the points or in second to Ray by less then 10 points at owendale. Now he is on to some bigger events and is competitive there as well. Not sure about his history at Crystal I don't follow his results as well as I once was able to.

you may have a great point there! But they have treated alot of people with disrespect as russell28 says including those on this post... including those who defend the track I've seen and heard it. But not everyplace can be perfect like crystal/mt.pleasant they always get it right and never do anybody or anything wrong

This is the most action owendale will have all year!

ok racefan....i wasnt going to say anything because chad has told me to stay out of this hahaha...BUT....We race at Mt Pleasant for 3 years and let me tell you...they have done some things wrong or had bad CALLS....BUT LET ME TELL YOU THIS!!! Mt pleasant has always TRIED/OR has fixed there problems..whenever we have a problem something is done about it...and of course there are bad calls but thats everywhere!! But mt pleasant does ALOT of things right!!! And crystal to THATS WHY THEY HAVE THE CARS!!! They treat people with respect and FOLLOW BY THERE RULEBOOK!!!!....Dont get me started with Mr Untouchable because he has started alot of BS with ALOT of my racing FAMILY!!!! More than just once....twice.....three....four......five.....GEEEZZZ i could go on forever!!! So watever he was in the PAST is the PAST but i saw them run a FEATURE OVER just so he can "CATCH" up and WOULDNT you know HE WON.....every damn weekend....but it helps when you can go to the race track and race during the week....or not have scales for 5 years and make weight BUT when someone that is GOOD at racing comes to OWENDALE OOOOOOO they get the scales out......GO FIGURE i remember one night i was watching people go over the scales because my dad made top 5 and they had scales and Mr Untouchable....had one of his boys SIT ON THE CAR...SO HE COULD MAKE WEIGHT.....well well..you think they caught him or wanted to listen to the people that were saying stuff...nope ..i just cant believe the CRAP that goes on there....so i dont know if other people here that are defending him are blind and dont see the things he has done.....i will admit that he has been good to my team but to others i have seen him get pretty dirty and not to mention the NAMES and the THINGs he has said about MY family!!!!!!!!!!! im sure people on here remember the fight at the banquet when Mr Untouchable thought he could call MY MOM some names BECAUSE people saw him drinking before a race and my mother thought it should be brought up AND IT DID....and its not OK to drink and race....and i also remember Mr Untouchable wanting to beat my dad up because he was defending my mom.....I never forget that and for that I will NOT be attended Owendale UNLESS i really dont have ANYTHING to do.....I hope it gets better but i doubt it.....but i ALSO dont want to see it close
HI STEVEY!!!!!!!