What is going on with Raceway Park?

May 21, Boyertown, PA--- Well as most of you know, Raceway Park has been my home track for several years.  The team has decided that this will no longer be the case, I am sorry to say.  Since the track has been turned over to Rich Schmidt, we thought things were going to be different. Well they have been; just not in a way we expected.  Here are my thoughts of the week. 

Ken Landerman used to have the authority over the Motocross racing at Raceway Park in Englishtown NJ.  When he ran the show, the price was cheaper and there was no overnight parking inside the track, except for multi day events and the turnout was much higher.  Now when 2005 came along, Ken decided to retire, so to speak, and in comes young Rich Schmidt with great ideas.  The first was overnight parking, but of course it came at a price. You guessed it; they charge teams to be able to park the day before an event.  Next he wanted to start a program that supplied entertainment for the youth. That started and we will get to that a little later in this column.  Now the race entry fee and spectator fee went up as well. But it still was bearable, I guess, for those racing a single class.  The first year was rough, as it is for anyone just taking over control of a facility of that size. He hit a few bumps in the road as anyone would encounter.  The turnouts dropped but not by enough of an amount to be obviously noticeable. 

Welcome to 2006, where again the price increases hit the racers pockets.  This made the track the most expensive on the local circuit.  Of course there is still the overnight parking fee, even on multiple day events, which was never charged in the past. So unless you packed up your area and moved to the exterior staging area for the next day, you had to pay to park overnight.  To me this is a little ridiculous, why don’t you just tell the people give me your money because I haven’t taken enough of it yet.  Not let’s look at it from the perspective of a family of four.  Let’s do the math of 3 riders in the family, and 2 classes each.  Now the spectator fee was $12 in ’06 and racing was $35 for the first class, and I believe $30 for 2^nd class (if you do the math, the first class fee minus the spectator fee should only be $23) so to just get in the gate would be $207 plus that ever popular over night parking fee of 15 bucks.  That is a little steep for the average family and it doesn’t even include the price of gas in there at around $3 a gallon during the summer months.  And food pricing, don’t even go there, trust me it is cheaper to eat at a NASCAR event.  So maybe things would improve in ’07 right? 

WRONG!! 

Welcome to the current Raceway Park, the schedule on the track’s site is incorrect (race listed for Mother’s Day, no messages on any site or machine stating otherwise until we arrive at the track to find out no racing just an expensive practice session), the prices went up again, and turn out has dramatically decreased.  And there is no denying that one when the Woman’s class out numbers the 85cc class, sorry a 10-2 ration is pathetic!!  So what is new this year? Price increases again; $45 for the first class, $35 for the 2^nd and $15 for spectators, for one day! 

You don’t want to go there on a multiple day event trust me.  The turn out is much visibly lower and multiple classes are being run together.  Some classes have had only 2 riders in them, others less then 10 and that is on an ideal day.  The parking lot is sparse and familiar names are not there.  Many friends we have made will no longer come to the track until drastic changes take place.  There is a ton of sandbagging being done in several classes, and don’t get me started on lady racers who have raced for 5 years still running a novice male class!!!!  If you go by the rules, classes where points are not kept for advancement have a 2 year rule. If you have been racing for 2 or more years, you are not eligible for Novice. But once again, lack of enforcement allows riders to go out in classes where they don’t belong.  Now I am a racer too. Don’t get me wrong, I run the B class. I know where I belong, and I follow the rules, and yes, I don’t score as well as I would in the novice class, but I won’t drop down just to get a better score.  I like the challenge that the men’s B class holds for me.  I have also competed on the National Level and earned my National Number, so I really don’t think I could get away with running any other class (plus the 1^st place trophy from the Men’s 25+B Class in my collection really seals the deal). 

Just think now the price for that family of 4 this year would be (for a one day event)--- $255!!!  Plus the overnight parking fee, can’t forget that.  The track claims they don’t make any money on motocross. Let me see when you have at least 200 riders running multiple classes, I think you are making a lot of money, but not as much as other tracks who charge less, and offer more to there visitors.  Other tracks charge $25 for first class and $20 for second, with 5 buck spectator fees.  The tracks we will run in PA average around $30 for racers and $5-10 for spectators, and of course we will have larger race fields and tougher competition. 

The practice track reopened in 2007 but once again at a greater cost to riders.  You must now purchase additional insurance to ride there, which is a $60 fee, plus your daily admission of $40 bucks.  So a one time deal would cost you $100 to ride.  Personally I carry my own insurance on myself and my bike, so why do I have to pay to get theirs?  Well I still do. So Kevin, there is a loss of income each race weekend, because that is money you won’t be getting from me, which after 12 or so races it does add up.  I will go and use my passes at other facilities where it is only $30 to ride all day and no insurance fee if you have your own. 

Now to the Youth League. You heard right, they stopped it.  It isn’t important to cater to the youth riders. The adults make them their money per the new General Manager of Raceway Park, Kevin Markland.  So far what we have seen is poor communication, lack of hospitality skills and lack of good marketing skills that even your average every day person can do without training. 

Maybe this is why at the last event the police were called in, because the parent fighting was out of hand?  This was something that didn’t need to be done in the 2 years the youth league was operating.  I know this for a fact because my husband and I ran the league, and raised the funds that are now sitting dormant.  We were told it was going to be used to build a playground.  That idea was stopped because of their new insurance carrier saying it was a liability risk.  Anything they host there is a liability risk, and they get sued over petty things that people who call themselves racers, should know that it was a risk they took when they got on their bike or in their drag car.  The league also bought a projector, which still isn’t being used even on dry evenings at the track.  People put a lot of money and effort into something that was worth while but the track doesn’t feel that they need to do anything special for their youth riders.  Guess they think the adult racers are going to live forever?  Last time I looked, the youth are what keeps everything going. We pass onto them what we've learned and they pass that down the line and that is what keeps any sport alive. 

Marketing and advertising wise, we had a Loretta Lynn’s qualifier, and Saturday’s event was great, Sunday’s was a mud fest.  It was nice to see this take place and yes we qualified to go to the regional’s. But for such a big event, turnout was definitely much lower then what I expected to see on Saturday. As far as track sponsors, there are no new companies to speak of, new dealers, but no new and improved bonuses for finishing in the trophy category.  For a track charging so much and claiming to be so much better to the racers, I really don’t see it.  Instead I see them pushing loyal racers away.  Rumor is that a dealership that gave away an 85cc bike last year was told they would have to pay for signage at the track.  Let's see--- spend $1000 on a single sign or give away a bike valued at close to $3000, what is more profitable and would bring in more riders?  I would say the bike and if it was me I would give them a small signage as a thank you, but then again, that's just me and what is normally considered good marketing. 

The track really needs to step up and make some changes in many areas of management and improve the way they treat their patrons, or eventually they won’t have anyone there to race except track employees.  Maybe if they would take time to listen to their patrons and give a little back to their racers things would change.  Personally, I won’t go to a track unless it is family orientated.  Raceway Park may have added racing for the younger riders, but their rewards to their youth racers are pathetic. They give them a medal just for coming out, other tracks give all youth riders a trophy regardless of their finish.  They need to hire someone that knows what they are doing when it comes to customer relations and someone that will help them build the strong relationships with business and sponsors that will turn the track around into a profitable area for them.  They need someone that will know how to handle problems tactfully when they arise, and how to make sure everyone is satisfied so that they return and bring along new racers.  As the old saying goes, a negative review will spread faster then a good one.  Raceway Park, you have been getting negative reviews from many racers for a long time now.  The drag facility has activities and events just for their youth and no one has a problem with that. Obviously no one has informed the new General Manager of the benefits of keeping families satisfied.

This by far is my favorite track to compete on. It is so difficult and technical, but the competition just isn’t what it used to be in any class.  It isn’t worth the 2 hour drive and the tolls to get there.  Unless we can go to a track as a family and enjoy the weekend as a family, I will not attend.  Tracks in my area have entertainment the night before, or a group of kids playing games together, those are the places we will patronize.  Sorry Raceway Park, this is our last year there, and we have already replaced a few of your races because we won’t waste our time at a facility that feels no need to cater to their patrons.