SAN BERNARDINO, California — Rick McCray has high expectations and in the immediate aftermath of opening night at Orange Show Speedway Saturday (March 28) he said he was a little disappointed.
A couple of days later, after digesting the predominantly positive comments from fans and racers and reflecting on all that his Best In The West Racing team had accomplished in just five weeks, he amended his original comments.
“All in all, with no more time than we had to get everything done, I think it was pretty smooth,” McCray said of an evening on which an estimated 3,000 fans watched Mark Shackleford (Super Late Model), Jim Edmiston (Pony Stock), Ed Hill (Factory Four) and Chad Schug (Legends Cars) take the first wins of the year.
This Saturday (April 4), the always competitive Late Models will anchor a program that includes Street Stocks, Stock Cars USA, Figure-8’s and Drifting, and by then the issues raised on opening night will have been addressed.
“There were a lot of little odds and ends, but all in all everything was very positive,” said McCray, who had spent most of his time since Feb. 18 overseeing renovations and preparations at the historic, ASA-sanctioned quarter-mile oval on the National Orange Show grounds.
McCray, 53, a successful businessman and former NASCAR racer, has a 5-year lease that gives him control of the speedway, the concessions and the parking and should make it easier to address whatever problems arise.
Some of the complaints from the enthusiastic crowd dealt with the time spent in line waiting to enter the parking area, the walk from the parking lot to the speedway, and a lack of adequate identification for the new food and beverage vendors.
McCray said the parking delays were caused primarily because NOS had booked a concert into the nearby Valencia pavilion, a conflict which won’t occur every weekend, and he is going to add another shuttle to carry spectators from their cars to the OSS entry gate. There also will be signs to clearly identify the various concessionaires.
“I think we’ve still got a lot that we need to do to make it better, but we’ll get there,” McCray said. “We know we’ve got to get better all the way around and we will. This is a learning curve, a learning experience for all of us.”
One of the disappointments for McCray was the light turnout of race cars, with just 42 of them spread over the four divisions. He said he attributes that in part to the fact that after the abrupt resignation of former promoter Joe Ganino there was a great deal of speculation regarding the future of the 62-year-old facility and many racers simply quit working on their cars.
“Everyone was so skeptical, and then with us getting a late start, nobody knew if the track would be there or not,” McCray said. “I think now things will start to improve.”
Judging by the comments of the racers, that should be the case.
Pony Stock driver Martin Timm, of San Diego, who finished third in the main event, has raced at tracks throughout the West. He was impressed by the even-handed officiating and the Best In The West staff’s efforts to make everyone feel welcome and said it was “the best time I’ve ever had at a race track.”
Super Late Model driver Dave Scheidecker, whose family has raced at Orange Show Speedway since it opened in 1947, told the San Bernardino Sun: “I like what he’s (McCray) doing. I think he can pull it off. He’s trying to work with the racers. With the changes he’s made, he’s put us in the 21st century.”
Shackleford noticed several of those changes immediately. There is a new announcer (Bruce Flanders) and a new sound system and “you could actually hear what they were saying,” Shackleford said. There were also radio commercials and increased prize money, a definite anomaly at a time when all short tracks are struggling financially.
“I think we’re fortunate,” Shackleford told the Sun. “(McCray’s) the right guy at the right time.”
The right guy knows better than anyone that this still is a work in progress, though.
“I think we’ve still got a lot that we need to do to make it better all the way around, but we’ll get there,” McCray said. “This is a learning curve, a learning experience for all of us.”
Spectator gates will open at 4 p.m. Saturday with the first race at 7 p.m.
Tickets are priced at $10 for general admission, $8 for seniors (60 and older) and military personnel with valid identification. Children 10 and under are admitted free. A new Family Pack, which includes admission for four plus a hot dog and small soft drink for each person, is priced at $40. A season ticket, good for all 22 nights of racing, is available for $150.
Parking is $5, with entry through Gate 4 off Mill Street.
For information on sponsorship and promotional opportunities, please contact Best in the West Racing by telephone at 909-885-9000 or visit the new web site at www.BestInTheWestRacing.com.
For all other information, please contact Jim Short by telephone at 951-203-2649 or by e-mail at jimshort65@sbcglobal.net.
