Chris Tilley
Chris Tilley has been a fixture in the dirt racing world for several years now, and that looks to be even more of the case for the upcoming 2015 season. The Somerset, Kentucky native plans to continue his efforts in the announcing booth for Ray Cook’s Spring Nationals and Southern Nationals while also serving as race director and promoter for the Southern Nationals Bonus Series.
At the same time, Tilley will be adding new responsibilities at the Tazewell Speedway to his already jam packed list of things to do during the upcoming year. He and track owner Gary Hall have formulated a plan for Tilley to bring his experience in the racing business to the high-banked clay oval located in the northeastern corner of Tennessee.
“Gary had talked to me for the last year or so up at Tazewell about helping them,” Tilley explained in a recent interview. “Last season when I was off from Ray Cook’s races, I helped them a little bit with the race directing. I worked with Brad(Hall) and Gary. Then, Gary had to be out of town a lot when he went to Florida to be with his mom and dad, who weren’t well. So we got to talking this winter and things fell into place so that I could help them out this year.”
Tilley is excited for the opportunity to join Hall’s team at such a significant time in the track’s history.
“I feel like he’s got one of the best schedules I’ve seen,” the educator and high school basketball official declared. “For the 50th anniversary of the track, he put a lot of time and work into it. There’s a lot of things for the fans and the drivers. It’s going to be really special.”
As far as his duties at Tazewell Speedway are concerned, Tilley will be serving in a familiar position.
“My role will be as the race director and to handle race day duties,” the owner of CT Promotions said. “I’ll be there early in the day to handle other things as well. We’ll be promoting his events at his racetrack, trying to get people in there with all the different series and activities he’s got going on.”
Tazewell is known not only for bringing in the top racing series in the sport, such as the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, the World of Outlaws Late Models and the Southern Nationals, but also for its strong weekly program. Tilley looks forward to being a part of both aspects of the track’s schedule.
“The track has a very loyal fan base,” he pointed out. “I noticed last year there would be times when people would be lined up outside waiting for the gates to open. That’s something you don’t see a lot anymore.”
For the past several years, Tilley has worked alongside driver/promoter Ray Cook in the operation of his Southern Nationals tour as well as the newer Spring Nationals. That role will remain much the same in 2015.
Chris Tilley has worked alongside Ray Cook for the past several years on the Southern Nationals tour.
“It’s going to be the busiest schedule I’ve ever had,” Tilley admitted. “I’ll still be handling the PR duties and the announcing duties for the series as well as race director for the Southern Nationals Bonus Series, which we announced a larger point fund on it for this year and we’ve got some more things we’re going to announce that will make it pretty exciting.
“Between the two schedules, I can mostly make it fit,” he added. “I may have to miss a night or two with Ray and maybe only a night or two with Gary so it’s not going to work out bad at all.”
Tilley, who is always quick to praise Cook for his running of the Southern Nationals and its affiliated tours, believes there is a reason why drivers and fans look forward to running the spring and summer mini-series.
“If you look out how our series are set up, we pay out three different points funds,” Tilley explained. “A racer can have his points fund money from the Spring Nationals by Memorial Day that can help him get through the summer, then he can have his Southern Nationals money by August 1st that will help him race into the fall, and the Bonus series money later on that will help him get through the winter months.”
Fairness and consistency are the keys to success in the racing industry according to the 29-year-old announcer and promoter.
“We try hard, and I feel that being consistent with the rules and working hard for the teams to make it fair makes us successful,” he declared. “The drivers are our customers and the fans are our customers, and we do our best to put on a good show for them.
“You may leave a track some nights thinking that it wasn’t the best race, but I don’t ever want a racer to leave from a race I’ve worked thinking that he wasn’t treated fairly. I’ve been that way since day one. If we don’t have our integrity, we don’t have anything. We’re going to stick by our rules. It may not always make everybody happy, but as long as we’re trying, people will see that we’re doing our best to be fair and honest.”
Tilley hopes to continue those qualities of consistency, honesty and fairness in the Ray Cook promoted races as well as in his new duties at Tazewell Speedway.
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