Beautiful Weather, Nice Crowd For Media Day At Kutztown’s Action Track USA
by BARRY ANGSTADT
In a sense, it was just like the famous line from the movie Field of Dreams…”build it, and they will come.”
Rich Tobias and Doug Rose, along with help from numerous volunteers and marketing partners, built it.
Actually, they renovated and reconfigured the little oval at the Kutztown Fairgrounds, turning it into the JeffreyHogueRealtor.com Action Track USA.
They did a beautiful job, too, adorning the backstretch with multi-colored flags that fly overtop a plethora of shiny new billboards.
Those who remember the “Tobias blue” paint jobs on Toby’s Superdog Modifieds will recognize the color of the concrete barriers that make up the outside wall of the race track. That wall also has the name “Action Track” lettered on the backstretch barriers and “Start/ Finish” emblazoned on the homestretch wall. The turns are also numbered (digits painted on the wall), which is a pretty cool idea for spectators who may not be very familiar with oval track racing.
When I first heard about the “Fan Zones” – a pair of large wooden “boxes” in the infield from which fans can watch the races if they pay an extra $5.00 for their ticket – I wasn’t so sure that I liked the idea. Would it be a bit dangerous for the fans and sponsors who stood in the Fan Zones? Would they (Fan Zones) block the view of the majority of spectators who sit in the spacious aluminum bleachers?
After I witnessed the Fan Zones in use on Sunday, May 5, I’ve changed my mind. The wooden “boxes” are protected by a line of Jersey barriers and the sight lines for those in the stands are not really affected at all.
Tobias and Rose also added a picnic area, filled with wooden tables that offer a great view of the track so fans can sit and enjoy a nice meal or snack without missing a minute of action on the speedway.
Add in the new Announcing/Scoring stand – Doug Rose affectionately calls it “Barry’s new tower”…isn’t that nice of him? – and the renovated facility is, in a word, fantastic!
So they built it, and last Sunday, for the first time, people (both fans and racers) came to see it.
On a gorgeous, sun-drenched afternoon, a nice crowd showed up to check out the refurbished facility and see just how different types of racecars would get around the widened, progressively banked oval.
Overall, reactions from both spectators and drivers were positive. As the afternoon went on and the cars got into their third and fourth practice sessions, drivers worked the groove higher and higher at both ends of the speedway. The wingless 600cc Micro-Sprints – the top three in last year’s point standings were invited to take some practice laps on Sunday – were getting around in fine fashion. There’s no doubt that the 600’s will be able to stand on the gas, twist ’em sideways, and use most of, if not all the banking at both ends of the clay oval. Jeff Hartman, Doug Snyder, and Brett Schoenly were definitely gettin’ after it during their time on the track.
The winged 270cc Micros were trying some different lines, too, as the day wore on, with defending track champ Jarid Kunkle, Steve Walters, and Tommy Kunsman Jr. blasting around the new surface. That new surface, by the way, held up very well considering it was a warm, sunny afternoon and it was the very first time the clay was pounded by racing tires.
The general consensus from the All Star Slingshot camp was…”hey, this place is racy and fast; it’s Linda’s fast.” The comparison to speeds turned on the big quarter-mile in Jonestown, Pa. seemed accurate, and the Slingers were not just cruising around the bottom in the corners, either. They were able to take advantage of at least some of the banking.
Matt Mertz, Travis Bieber, and last year’s point champ at Kutztown, Shellhammer’s, and oh yeah, he’s the two-time and defending National Slingshot Tour Champion, too – Brett Bieber – took part in the Media Day practice sessions. Dakota Kohler was on hand with his sharp looking No. 59k, representing the Junior Slingshot division.
The SpeedSTR drivers appeared to get more comfortable as the day went on, with Paul Lotier Jr., Kenny Brightbill, Craig Von Dohren, Wayne Weaver, the Rahmer boys (Freddie and Brandon), and Brittany Wixon testing and adjusting their cars. They, too, climbed the banking in the later sessions and all indications point to multiple grooves for those cars, too, when nighttime competition begins on Wednesday, May 22nd, with the running of the Goldie Meitzler Memorial.
It was a good day for some Italian Water Ice, and the folks from Rita’s of Blandon and Kutztown were on hand with some of their delicious treats – just as they will be all season long.
Other marketing partners with displays set up at Media Day included Empire Building Supplies, We Logo It, and The T-Shirt Guy.
Sunoco race fuel, both alcohol and gasoline, was sold at discounted prices to those who reserved drums.
There was one special ceremony on Media Day, too – in addition to the official ribbon cutting at the start/finish line, a section of the grandstand was named to honor the memory of a local auto racing legend.
A sign now sits atop the section just to the right of the flagstand; it has been designated as the “Freddy Adam #8” section of the grandstand. Freddy’s wife, Mary, and his son Troy were there for the unveiling of the sign by Rich Tobias.
Tobias admitted that Freddy, known as “the Kutztown Comet”, was actually his favorite driver and hero when Rich was a youngster. He even had a No. 8 license plate on his bicycle, and not a No. 17, which was, of course, the number made famous by his dad, the late great Toby Tobias.
There will be an open practice on Monday, May 20, at the JeffreyHogueRealtor.com Action Track USA. Practice will begin at 6:30 and run until about 9:30, and it’s open to all of the divisions that will compete in Kutztown this season.
Then, on May 22nd, it gets real as the Action Track hosts its first night of actual competition.
Tobias and Rose built it, and people came. By all accounts, they will come back, and they’ll be joined by many more, when the season gets underway in two weeks.
Thanks for reading; hope you enjoyed it.
