VIEWPOINTS FROM THE PRESSBOX

 

By - Roger Jewell

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SHORT TRACK RACING SUFFERS FROM LACK OF PROMOTION

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Racing is lacking and the fans are complaining!   Greenville-Pickens Speedway, one of NASCAR's original race tracks has always been THE place to be on Saturday nights from March to September.  Generations of fans have supported the historic track but these days a huge difference is being experienced.  Only two race nights are held each month, food is no longer sold at concession stands and when races are held only seven to eight cars show up in the featured limited last model division and you can forget about finding race results anywhere.  The half mile speed plant is suffering from a total lack of promotion.

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Back in 1999 I was hired to handle press communications for Greenville-Pickens Speedway.  I sent race results to over 16 newspapers and stock car racing outlets as well as write feature columns in the track's weekly magazine "Saturday Night Thunder."  Turn the clock forward to 2022 and you will not find any of that happening at Greenville-Pickens.  Oh yes, the track does have a Facebook page and sometimes finishing orders from divisional races are posted there sometimes but never on a regular basis and never anywhere else.  It appears nobody knows how to string sentences together for press releases and narrative stories of what went on in those events.  Facebook is the only tool being used even though the track has a website but the website is not being updated on a regular basis.

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It isn't just Greenville Pickens that is experiencing this laziness.  Up yonder at Travelers Rest Speedway, race results on that track's website have not been updated since 2020.   Weekly results, typically only a list of the final finishing order, appear sometimes on the facility's Facebook page - but nowhere else.  And again, race narratives can't be found anywhere because nobody on TRS's payroll knows how to write race reports.  

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Anderson Motor Speedway over in Anderson County has a good basic website and it is updated......whenever they decide to hold a "weekly" event, only seven races have been held over there this season.  But you will not find a single race "story" on the site other than finishing orders and point standings.

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Promoted race tracks, the ones that are being promoted properly, appear to be in the northeaster and midwestern states.  Everyone in the southeast seems to have gone braindead at the same time.

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TRAVELERS REST SPEEDWAY 2022 SCHEDULE

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• Meaning of Abbreviations under Dates are
R = Rookies, FWD= Extreme 4, PS= Pure Stock,
TBF= Thunder Bomber Futures,
TB= Thunder Bomber, CS= Crate Sportsman,
SSR= Street Stock/Renegade, 602= 602 Crate Late Models



Friday - July 15th - Shane Gentry Memorial $1,200 to Win
-R,FWD,PS,TBF,TB,CS,SSR

Friday, July 22nd – Southern Vintage
• R, FWD, PS, TBF, TB, CS, SSR, Vintage

Friday, July 29th – Weekly Divisions / TB Futures $800 to Win
• R, FWD, PS, TBF, TB, CS, SSR

Saturday, August 13th - Sharp Mini Late Models
• R, FWD, PS, TB $5,000 to Win , SSR, Sharp Mini Late Models

Friday, August 26th – Blue Ridge Outlaws
• TBD

Friday, Sept 2nd – Weekly Divisions / Pure Stock $1,000 to Win
• R, FWD, PS, TBF, TB, CS, SSR

Friday, Spet 9th – USCS Sprints
• TBD

Sept 16th Rain Out Date

Friday & Saturday, Sept 23rd & 24th – Robert Bradley Night of Champions / 602 Thunder
• TBD

October 8th Rain Date

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Oct 13,14 & 15th $10,000 Thunder Bomber Classic