(Press Release from Airborne Speedway)
Officials from Airborne Park Speedway and the Valenti Modified Racing Series have mutually agreed to terminate their event planned for Saturday, May 30 at the Plattsburgh, NY race track. The decision became necessary due to a scheduling conflict for tour-type Modifieds in the northeast.
An event for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour was recently added to Connecticut’s New London-Waterford Speedbowl – in the heart of Modified racing – on the same date as the already-scheduled VMRS race at Airborne, and threatened to negatively impact competitor attendance at Airborne. VMRS president Jack Bateman and Airborne Park Speedway general manager Mike Bruno were unable to find a suitable date to reschedule the Airborne race.
“We worked hard over the winter to bring VMRS back to Airborne so canceling this race is a tough pill to swallow, but we really have no other choice,” Bruno said. “Some teams would have traveled as far as 300 miles to Airborne, but they now have the option to race much closer to home. No one can fault the racers for choosing that, but there likely would not have been enough cars at Airborne to put on a good race for the fans. Quite frankly, Jack and I have to protect our businesses as well, and it didn’t make any financial sense to keep the race alive.”
Bruno was quick to point out that Airborne’s partner track, Devil’s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, VT, is still moving forward with its Valenti Modified Racing Series event scheduled for Friday, July 24. That race will be the debut event for the VMRS cars at the Devil’s Bowl half-mile.
“We are really excited for the Newport Chevrolet 100 at Devil’s Bowl in July, and we want to reassure our fans that the cancellation at Airborne has no effect on Devil’s Bowl,” Bruno said.
Airborne Park Speedway will still be open on Saturday, May 30 to host racing for the weekly NASCAR Whelen All-American Series presented by Yandow Sales & Service and John Deere. New plans for that event will be announced soon.
Airborne’s 62nd season continues on Saturday, May 16 at 5:00 p.m. with the Bill McBride Chevrolet “Spring Green” presented by Interstate Batteries. The event opens the American-Canadian Tour Québec Triple Crown Series with the ACT Late Models and Série ProCam Super Trucks in action, along with Airborne’s weekly J&S Steel Modified, Key R-D Trailer Sales Renegade, and Busch Beer Mini Modified divisions.
Airborne is located on Broderick Road in Plattsburgh, NY, one mile south of Exit 36 on the Interstate 87 Northway. Visit www.airborneparkspeedway.com for more information, or call (518) 647-4444. Airborne Park Speedway is on Facebook at Facebook.com/AirborneParkSpeedway and on Twitter at @AirborneSpeed.
To bad for them. Good for us.
But I’m not going to lie when I say that it would be fun if the VMRS and the WMT would race at the Bowl at the same night. XD
Bruno should fact check his releases before he sends them out. Very few (if any) VMRS cars are legal for the Whelen Modified tour, and the expense to convert to NASCAR specs isn’t practical for one race, given the current purses.
Racing in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at Waterford simply isn’t an option for the VMRS teams.
“Very few (if any) VMRS cars are legal for the Whelen Modified tour, and the expense to convert to NASCAR specs isn’t practical for one race, given the current purses. ”
Maybe he’s concerned about the number of drivers who have different seats for both series, and which race those drivers would choose to attend.
There were only 4 drivers (out of 28) at Monadnock who have rides on the NWMT. Take away those drivers and the VMRS would still have more teams in competition (24) than Airborne had for any of their weekly divisions (21).
If Bruno is so concerned about having enough cars to put on a good show, why does he continue to try and run ACT Late Models there? He had a grand total of 6 opening day, which is very consistent with the numbers they had there last year.
Compare the numbers between Devil’s Bowl & Albany Saratoga and you will see what type of promoter Mike Bruno really is.