Speed World Arizona - Going, going gone...

[Mark Yacavone]

I guess it's easy to just blame Speedworld's demise on Dan Matthews (not my favorite drag race promoter), but there were other factors as well.
The drag strip portion of the venue never really did support itself ,and was being propped up by the other venues on site..or so we thought.
I had been out there for test and tune nights before our events. There weren't even enough cars to cover the cost of the glue and the salaries. I knew then ,it wasn't a money making deal for anyone.

There are tens of thousands of retirees on fixed incomes just down the road from the track. We managed to pull a few of them out for our nostalgia events, but the free, lawn chair cruise nights were generally more appealing to most of these folks....And they certainly weren't going to come out and watch bracket racing...Sorry boys, but those are facts ...that were relayed directly to me.

This valley was hit hard by the recession. Housing prices spiked during the middle of the last decade, and then dropped like a rock toward the end of it. They are just now starting to climb out of the cellar.
Disposable income was hard to come by. All those great rust free car bodies were hauled off and scrapped in the last five years.
This is what, the fifth largest metro area in the country ? , but a very diverse culture.
You have other distractions here, besides motorsports...Sports teams, high end auto auctions , bike nights, horse shows,casinos, even gang- banging activities, to compete with.

There are many dedicated, creative ,talented people here in motorsports and the car culture...But by and large it's not a car and racing driven city.
Let's see if it will support one nice drag strip now...I'm not so sure it will, but we'll do our part.

[Dan Bernay]

Originally Posted by Mark Yacavone

I guess it's easy to just blame Speedworld's demise on Dan Matthews (not my favorite drag race promoter), but there were other factors as well.
The drag strip portion of the venue never really did support itself ,and was being propped up by the other venues on site..or so we thought.
I had been out there for test and tune nights before our events. There weren't even enough cars to cover the cost of the glue and the salaries. I knew then ,it wasn't a money making deal for anyone.

There are tens of thousands of retirees on fixed incomes just down the road from the track. We managed to pull a few of them out for our nostalgia events, but the free, lawn chair cruise nights were generally more appealing to most of these folks....And they certainly weren't going to come out and watch bracket racing...Sorry boys, but those are facts ...that were relayed directly to me.

This valley was hit hard by the recession. Housing prices spiked during the middle of the last decade, and then dropped like a rock toward the end of it. They are just now starting to climb out of the cellar.
Disposable income was hard to come by. All those great rust free car bodies were hauled off and scrapped in the last five years.
This is what, the fifth largest metro area in the country ? , but a very diverse culture.
You have other distractions here, besides motorsports...Sports teams, high end auto auctions , bike nights, horse shows,casinos, even gang- banging activities, to compete with.

There are many dedicated, creative ,talented people here in motorsports and the car culture...But by and large it's not a car and racing driven city.
Let's see if it will support one nice drag strip now...I'm not so sure it will, but we'll do our part.

Well said Mark.