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Things at the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park haven’t been great this season. The year started off with a ‘dust out,’ then two weeks ago an over watering situation resulted in a cancellation. As a result of these issues and various other situations, Jerry Sampson Jr., the current promoter, has decided to turn the operation over to Mike Romano and Jake Spraker.
“A few weeks ago the promoter (Sampson) called us and said he wasn’t having any fun and that he wanted out,” said Romano from Andy’s Speed Shop in Johnstown, N.Y. “We sat down with the owner and got an agreement to take over the speedway next week.”
Although the pair has no previous promoting experience, Romano feels the group has the right ideas to turn the struggling quarter-mile Montgomery County oval around.
“Obviously this isn’t the most ideal situation for us,” said Romano. “We looked at other opportunities in the past but nothing ever happened there and when this presented itself we decided to give it a shot.
“We are both racing people and have been around this sport for a long time. Hopefully we can use some of things we’ve learned over the years to improve things at Glen Ridge.”
Romano and Spraker plan to honor all season passes purchased under the old regime in order to start things off at the Fultonville, N.Y. track on the right foot.
“We don’t want to come in and be the bad guys,” commented Romano. “We are going to do everything we can to turn this place around and hopefully we can make it better for everyone.”
The only major change the new management team plans to implement is a different night for racing. Currently the speedway operates on Sunday afternoons, but starting next week, the program will shift to Friday nights.
“The racing surface up there isn’t like Utica-Rome or Albany Saratoga,” stated Romano. “We think by going to Friday night’s it will give the drivers a better surface and produce some better racing.
“We also won’t have to worry about the curfew and the people that we’ve talked that live near the speedway are happy we are changing the night.”
Romano went on to add, “People can get out of work and head out to the speedway. Friday night’s have been very successful for Bruce Richards so we figured why not go for it and see what happens.”
Sampson and his team are running their final program this Sunday afternoon, June 10. Romano and Spraker officially take control from that point with their first racing program scheduled for Friday June 15. This show is set to be a regular show for all current divisions and it should be the beginning of new era at ‘the ridge.’
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