The World Of Auto Racing Essay, Research Paper

Delaware and IT’S Speedway

Auto racing has been around for many years. From dirt track to asphalt, oval to road course, from sprint cars to stockcars. As you can see the world is full of all kinds of racing. Racing has been around for an extremely long time. The Romans had chariot races to entertain Caesar and his people. Over the years racing has evolved from chariots to cars that keep getting safer and faster. The fans are also growing dramatically from race to race. Small racetracks can be found all across North America. Set in the small village of Delaware Ontario is Delaware Speedway an 5/8 of a mile oval asphalt track. Delaware Speedway is making money and moving forward into the future with new technologies to ensure their future in racing. These technologies help Delaware Speedway and also have a positive effect on the small town of Delaware. It helps gas stations, restaurants, and other small businesses that racing fans pass on their way to the track.

Delaware Speedway has a tremendous effect on the surrounding area businesses. In downtown Delaware Ontario there is an ESSO gas station and garage, which is located on Highway #2. This highway is the main road through Delaware, and half of the people going to the track pass this gas station on route to the Speedway. A regular night at the track usually features three different classes of racing : street stock, modified, and CASCARS. A street stock car the lowest class in racing. It would roughly cost seven thousand dollars to run this type of car for one racing season. A modified car is an open wheel vehicle that is incredibly faster than the street stock by about forty mph. A CASCAR is the most elite car that races at the Speedway. To run a CASCAR for a season is roughly twenty thousand dollars and these cars reach speeds up to one hundred and thirty mph. J&J Mann and Motors will pump anywhere from two thousand to five thousand more liters of gas on race night. So for example a regular night they might pump thirty-five hundred liters of gas but when race night rolls around this number increases to nearly eight thousand. It all depends on the price of gas at the time since sometimes gas prices go up right before the weekend. During big racing weekends when the Cascars are battling for three hundred laps attendance at the track is close to twelve thousand people. On these days the gas station does double the business than it would on a Friday night show. So clearly it is shown that Delaware’s ESSO station is affected by auto racing.

Set right in the heart of Delaware is Butlers Diner. This restaurant is located on Highway #2 directly across from the gas station. The restaurant is a great spot for a home- cooked meal at a reasonable price. On a Friday night the restaurant is normally packed with the local families catching dinner on the way to the racetrack. On a regular Friday race night they will average anywhere from 30-50 people plus who are all headed to the races. ” You can tell so easily these are race fans because most of them are dressed in their favorite drivers t-shirts or hats. ” says proprietor Deb Wheeler. If it is a big race weekend, during which the track will get roughly one hundred and fifty to two hundred people camping over the race teams tend to head down the restaurant to get a bite to eat. A race team can consist anywhere from five to twenty people and therefore they pack the restaurant. Therefore restaurants also profit from the Speedway.

BJ’s Country market the local grocery store also profits from Delaware Speedway. Since people camp over on big racing weekends BJ’s is the ideal place to pick up those grocery’s you forgot to pack. This market is a small grocery store with an attached ice cream parlor so it can be a nice break from a hot day at the track. Owner Brad Stevens said, ” It seems that on race days the town grows by the hundreds its great for business.” They usually earn between five hundred to seven hundred and fifty more on a race weekend, which is a lot for this small business. Consequently the racetrack improves business for BJ’s Country Market.

Delaware Variety is set on the corner heading to the track with the large sign on it’s side pointing in the direction of the Speedway. The variety store gets paid by the Speedway to advertise. Also this is a popular spot for people to fill their coolers with their favorite soda pop and grab some snack food like salty chips or a creamy chocolate bar. Always busier on race nights the benefits to this business are also evident.

River Bend Interiors is an exclusive gift shop also located on Highway #2 in the village. On race nights proprietor Bonnie Piscarowski gets many more visitors than through out the rest of the week and sees the positive effects of the racing fans. In fact she recently expanded her business to an old two-story frame house from the small shop she had previously.

Delaware Speedway not only helps the surrounding businesses but they have created many jobs for the area residents. The raceway is an ideal place for students to work, as there is a concession stand that they can help run. The track also employs a safety crew consisting of fourteen people that have their St. Johns Ambulance requirements and are always there to make sure the evening runs smoothly. There must also be people to run the gate, sell tickets, and announce the evening’s event. The Lions Club is the local community club that runs the beer tent every Friday night. The racetrack in return gives them a share of the money earned so it is an excellent fundraiser. So it is undeniably shown that the Speedway is giving back to the community.

Delaware Speedway is also an excellent place for businesses to advertise. There are billboards that run along the backstretch wall advertising many different businesses, these are in full view of the crowd the entire night so it a prime advertising location. The track also has a sponsor of the night. This sponsor is promoted throughout the entire night and sometimes gives out souvenirs to the fans. The Speedway also allows the sponsor to bring in fans with them so this introduces new people to the world of auto racing. Small business names are also featured on the many racecars that run on the track.

Recently Cascar signed a multi million-dollar agreement with Speed Vision for extended television coverage of the racing action. The speedway also signed a six-year lease with owner Nick Spivak thus ensuring continued success for the raceway.

The identity of Delaware is intricately linked with that of the Speedway. When you tell someone you are from Delaware (if they have heard of it) they inevitably say “Oh where the raceway is!” The community has been positively affected by the raceway in many different ways and has benefited economically. So if debating on whether to put a track in your small community you need to look no further than Delaware for your answer.