Racing is not as simple as “go fast, turn left” in these unprecedented times. How is one track racing while the other has postponed all events?

UPDATE: In a July 16 Facebook post, Galesburg Speedway announced that "racing has been temporarily suspended for the 2020 season."

Legendary driver Parnelli Jones famously said, "If you're in control, you're not going fast enough." Who controls racing- is it the Health Department or the County Sheriff? It depends on who you ask. Kalamazoo Speedway and Galesburg Speedway are in the same county and this year's racing season looks completely different with "The Burg" burning rubber and gulping race fuel every Saturday night, while Kalamazoo Speedway, just 25 miles away, is silent.

Galesburg Speedway broke their silence with a July 14 Facebook post explaining why they are continuing to run races. The rationalization is that fans are going to go somewhere (anywhere) to see competition, and closer to home is safer than driving "100 or 5000" miles to find auto racing action. The complaint is that the guidelines their business are expected to follow for safe operation have been continually changing and Galesburg Speedway has been transparent in their efforts to follow them, nonetheless.

All we have ever asked for is absolute clarification and to have your agency work with us...The message you portrayed as we don't care is absolutely false and could not be any further from the truth. We want to thank the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Department for their honesty, professionalism and their service to our community.

 

Meanwhile, Kalamazoo Speedway delayed the start of the season to June, then July and was forced to cancel the opener at the last minute. Now, track officials have  just made the decision to not even look at getting cars on the track until August.

I'm no epidemiologist and I have no idea what the right call is, but fans are convinced that their favorite track has made the right decision. Read the full social media posts and the comments below.

You win some, you lose some, you wreck some.
-Dale Earnhardt

 

We are going to break our silence. What we do know is that with common sense guidelines, that we have been using from...

Posted by Galesburg Speedway on Tuesday, July 14, 2020

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New post has been published on Kalamazoo Speedway

Posted by Kalamazoo Speedway on Wednesday, July 15, 2020

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