Area track owners have formed a cooperative alliance with the goal of improving the state of the sport in east Tennessee.
The owners of 411 Motor Speedway, Smoky Mountain Speedway, Tazewell Speedway, and Volunteer Speedway have agreed to form an alliance. The goal is to provide a common rulebook for racers, a common points fund, and to grow the attendance at each of those venues.
Roger Sellers, owner of Smoky Mountain Speedway, began talking to some of fellow track owners, Mitch McCarter (411), Gary Hall (Tazewell), and Landon Stallard (Volunteer,) about the possibility of a cooperative effort to help each track to get better car counts and better attendance for each track. Once he talked to each owner, they liked the idea and things took off from there.
“The goal was for us to work together and no one stepping on each other, especially for the bigger events, “Sellers said. “Everyone has been all in since we started discussing it.”
Owners and promoters (from L to R) Casey Moses, Dustin Dunlap, Gary Hall, Rick Brooks, Pierce McCarter, Mitch McCarter, Landon Stallard, and Roger Sellers at the April 20 meeting.
The latest meeting took place Monday night at the race shop owned by Roger Sellers in Morristown. The group felt with the down time due to the shut down orders, for the coronavirus epidemic, was the perfect time to work on several issues.
“It’s been the perfect time for us to get some things done,” Sellers said. “Our plan was to meet every two weeks until the coronavirus got in the way. We have been talking on the phone and have had positive discussions.”
The biggest news coming from the Monday meeting is a revised schedule involving all four tracks. The schedule has been set up to rotate among the tracks with some compromises on support classes among the tracks that run the same classes.
411 Motor Speedway and Volunteer Speedway has seen a reduction in the number of races on each track’s schedule. Tazewell Speedway will continue to run a primarily weekly schedule with some off dates sprinkled into the schedule. Smoky Mountain Speedway’s schedule remains mostly unchanged as all of their scheduled races are locked in with the various series that will visit the track.
“This is kind of a trial period and work together on scheduling,” Sellers added. “We want to grow it past this year. If it works well for everyone, we’ll do more things together that we’ll announce at a later date.”
Sellers said the cooperation has been great and has given a chance for all the owners to get to know each other.
“When we started this, Landon was the new kid on the block,” Sellers said. “Mitch and Gary really didn’t know him, but these meetings has given us a chance for us to get to know each other and realize nobody is out to get the others. Everybody has gotten along really well and there’s been some good cooperation already.”
Tazewell Speedway owner Gary Hall echoed Sellers’ comments on everyone working together.
“It has given us a chance to sit down and talk about some of the issues and get to know each other,” Hall said. “I’ve known Mitch for some time and have known Roger for a long time. But I didn’t know Landon. This gave us the chance to all talk to each other and try to work together.”
The released schedule is listed below.
2020 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Saturday, May 2nd
$2500 to win Topless Outlaws @ 411
Open Practice @ Tazewell
NO RACING @ SMOKY MOUNTAIN OR VOLUNTEER
Saturday, May 9th
Weekly Racing @ Tazewell & Volunteer
NO RACING @ 411 OR SMOKY MOUNTAIN
Saturday, May 16th
Weekly Racing @ 411, Tazewell, & Volunteer
NO RACING @ SMOKY MOUNTAIN
Friday, May 22nd @ VOLUNTEER
$2500 to win Topless Outlaws
$1500 to win Crate LM
Saturday, May 23rd @ SMOKY MOUNTAIN
$5000 to win American Crate All Stars
$5000 to win Topless Outlaws
Sunday, May 24th @ TAZEWELL
$3001 to win UCRA Crate Late Models
Monday, May 25th @ 411
$10,052 to win Spring Nationals / Iron-Man Super LM
$1500 to win Crate LM
Saturday, May 30th
Weekly Racing @ 411 & Tazewell
NO RACING @ SMOKY MOUNTAIN OR VOLUNTEER
Saturday, June 6th
$5000 to win JT Kerr Memorial Crate LM @ 411
Weekly Racing @ Tazewell
NO RACING @ SMOKY MOUNTAIN OR VOLUNTEER
Saturday, June 13th
$15,000 to win Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series @ Smoky Mountain
NO RACING @ 411, TAZEWELL, OR VOLUNTEER
Saturday, June 20th
$4000 to win Iron-Man Super LM @ Volunteer
$2500 to win Topless Outlaws @ Tazewell
NO RACING @ 411 OR SMOKY MOUNTAIN
Friday, June 26th
$12,000 to win Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series @ 411
NO RACING @ SMOKY MOUNTAIN, TAZEWELL, OR VOLUNTEER
Saturday, June 27th
Weekly Racing @ Tazewell & Volunteer
NO RACING @ 411 OR SMOKY MOUNTAIN
Friday, July 3rd
$5000 to win Iron-Man Super LM @ Tazewell
NO RACING @ 411, SMOKY MOUNTAIN, OR VOLUNTEER
Saturday, July 4th
$5000 to win Iron-Man Super LM + $2000 to win American Crate All Stars @ Volunteer
NO RACING @ 411, SMOKY MOUNTAIN, OR TAZEWELL
Friday, July 10th
$10,000 to win Southern Nationals Super LM @ Smoky Mountain
NO RACING @ 411, TAZEWELL, OR VOLUNTEER
Saturday, July 11th
Weekly Special Event @ 411
NO RACING @ SMOKY MOUNTAIN, TAZEWELL, OR VOLUNTEER
Saturday, July 18th
Weekly Racing @ Tazewell & Volunteer
NO RACING @ 411 OR SMOKY MOUNTAIN
Friday, July 24th
$10,000 to win Southern Nationals Super LM @ 411
NO RACING @ SMOKY MOUNTAIN, TAZEWELL, OR VOLUNTEER
Saturday, July 25th
$10,000 to win Southern Nationals Super LM @ Tazewell
NO RACING @ 411, SMOKY MOUNTAIN, OR VOLUNTEER
Saturday, August 1st
$1200 to win Iron-Man Open Wheels @ Volunteer
Weekly Racing @ 411 & Tazewell
NO RACING @ SMOKY MOUNTAIN
Saturday, August 8th
$5000 to win Iron-Man Super LM @ Smoky Mountain
Weekly Racing @ Tazewell & Volunteer
NO RACING @ 411
Saturday, August 15th
$3000 to win UCRA Crate Late Models @ Tazewell
Weekly Racing @ 411 & Volunteer
NO RACING @ SMOKY MOUNTAIN
Saturday, August 22nd
Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series @ Volunteer
Weekly Racing @ Tazewell (last points race)
NO RACING @ 411 OR SMOKY MOUNTAIN
Saturday, August 29th
$2500 to win Topless Outlaws @ 411
Weekly Racing @ Tazewell (crown champions)
NO RACING @ SMOKY MOUNTAIN OR VOLUNTEER
Friday, September 4th @ Volunteer
$2000 to win Crate LM special
Saturday, September 5th @ Smoky Mountain
$5000 to win Fall Nationals Super LM
$1500 to win Kajun Mini Stocks
Sunday, September 6th @ Tazewell
$4400 to win Fall Nationals / Iron-Man Super LM
Monday, September 7th @ 411
$2000 to win Crate LM special
Saturday, September 12th
Weekly Racing @ Volunteer
NO RACING @ 411, SMOKY MOUNTAIN, OR TAZEWELL
Saturday, September 19th
Weekly Racing @ 411
NO RACING @ SMOKY MOUNTAIN, TAZEWELL, OR VOLUNTEER
Saturday, September 26th
Weekly Racing @ Volunteer
NO RACING @ 411, SMOKY MOUNTAIN, OR TAZEWELL
Saturday, October 3rd
$10,000 to win World of Outlaws Late Model Series @ 411
NO RACING @ SMOKY MOUNTAIN, TAZEWELL, OR VOLUNTEER
Saturday, October 10th
Hazzard Fest / Weekly Racing @ Volunteer
TBA @ Tazewell
NO RACING @ 411 OR SMOKY MOUNTAIN
Friday, October 16th
$3000 to win Southern All Stars / $2000 American Crate All Stars @ Smoky Mountain
NO RACING @ 411, TAZEWELL, OR VOLUNTEER
Saturday, October 17th
$7000 to win Southern All Stars / $3000 American Crate All Stars @ Smoky Mountain
NO RACING @ 411, TAZEWELL, OR VOLUNTEER
Saturday, October 24th
Weekly Racing @ Volunteer
NO RACING @ 411, SMOKY MOUNTAIN, OR TAZEWELL
Saturday, October 31st
$5100 to win Topless Outlaws @ 411
NO RACING @ SMOKY MOUNTAIN, TAZEWELL, OR VOLUNTEER
Saturday, November 28th
$5000 to win Iron-Man Super LM @ 411
NO RACING @ SMOKY MOUNTAIN, TAZEWELL, OR VOLUNTEER
