The newly configured I-75 Motor Speedway is set for their grand re-opening this Saturday, September. Fans and drivers will see lots of changes from the last time the track was open as the former Murphy Speedway.
From our story in June, we reported Tim and Angie Kyle purchased the speedway earlier this year. Their plan was to reconfigure the track from a 5/8-mile track to a 3/-8 mile, flat track. There was also lots of work to be done to a facility that has sat idle for nearly seven years.
After three months of moving dirt, clean up work, mowing, and more, I-75 Motor Speedway is ready for its first racing program this Saturday night.
The track held two practice sessions the past two weekends. The play dates were as much for the staff as it was for the drivers.
“The play days was really for us,” Kyle said. “We have people that have never worked at a dirt track before that wanted to come to work here. It was good for them, and for us, to get used to dealing with actual fans and drivers being here.”
The two practice sessions drew some impressive numbers, according to Kyle. At least 73 drivers and over 600 fans attended the first practice on Labor Day. Another 50-55 drivers came to Sunday’s practice.
“I was impressed with the turn out we had on the play days,” Kyle stated. “When we last counted, we had over 73 cars and we had over 600 people in the grandstands on Labor Day just for practice. We had a lot of people from Monroe and McMinn counties. Some we talked to had never been to a dirt track before. They heard about our practice and decided to come out and see.”
“We were tickled to death with our turn out on Sunday too. Sundays can be hard to get people to come out. But we had between 50 and 55 cars.”
With two practice sessions under their belt, Kyle said there are some kinks to work out and other projects to tackle in the off-season.
“We still have some things we need to work on during the winter,” Kyle said. “Those can wait. We will have the pit graveled by Saturday so we can have the pits open. The new P.A. system is on the way. It will be ready for Saturday.”
Just as I-75 Motor Speedway is set to re-open, Cleveland Speedway will be re-opening next Friday. Being just 40 miles a part, Kyle is not concerned about their opening.
“Since we’re running on different night, I’m not sure if they’ll affect us,” Kyle said. “I hope they do really good. I basically grew up there. I was there all of the time when my daddy raced. Tim and I’s first date was there. I hope they do good. We hope we can work with them in the future.”
Kyle sees the reopening of I-75 as the place to be for the locals in the community.
“We don’t have many forms of entertainment in our area,” Kyle added. “Where I live, we don’t have a red light. Heck, we don’t even have a Hardee’s. This is going to be huge for our communities. We already seen a lot of fan support on our play days. I’ve seen drivers that hasn’t raced much all year that came out to test. Hopefully, we will see new drivers come on board. This will also give our teens something to do on Saturday nights. This is not just a competition for us. We just want to have fun.”
The gates for I-75 Motor Speedway will open this Saturday at 5 p.m. The driver’s meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. with hot laps soon afterwards. Classes running included limited late models, crate late models, A-Hobby/Sportsman, B-Hobby, Thunder, and Mini Stocks.
