Scott Tapley
For the second time in less than three years Scott Tapley has left the New London-Waterford Speedbowl looking for a new race director.
Riverhead Raceway officials announced Wednesday that Tapley will take over as the new race director at the track.
Tapley, of Poland Spring, Me., said he told to Speedbowl general manager Shawn Monahan on Monday that he was leaving the track. Tapley oversaw his final event of the season at the Speedbowl Sunday.
Under the new ownership of Bruce Bemer, Tapley returned to the track as race director prior to the start of the 2015 season.
After spending two years under previous Speedbowl race director Tom Fox, Tapley was named race director at the track in 2011.
He left the Speedbowl following the 2012 season to take over as the Valenti Modified Racing Series race director. Tapley parted ways with Valenti Modified Racing Series in June 2014.
Tapley also currently serves as race director at Thompson Speedway and Lee USA Speedway.
It’s unclear immediately what direction the Speedbowl will go in replacing Tapley. Monahan was not immediately available for comment.
Good and take Chris Williams with you . I saw Scott leave before the last race was over on the finals weekend . Seems like he didn’t care . Also to change Wednesday to Thursday to fit there sch and really changed car counts and asses in the stands . Good luck Scott your no longer our problem . See who’s next to go ? Should be a interesting off season at the Bowl .
Let the silly season begin and the rumor mill start. Maybe the Shawn M, aka the velvet hammer should take over Tapley’s race director position. If Terry Ames could fill Tapley’s shoes for the 2013 season, I’m sure Shawn M. could do the job just as well as Ames considering Shawn’s racing experience.
Had the highest car counts in New England maybe the country… Yup they sucked…
What makes the Riverhead job better than the Speedbowl job? Seems like there must be more to the story. Monahan was available for comment for the dq story, but not the Tapley story?
I think Shawn should look into seeing about Dennis Gada or
Maybe St. Hilaire will be next. Another wannabee!
I also heard that Monahan is not the most well liked individual there also.
If anyone was paying attention, the fan appreciation party (after the last regular season show) was very poorly attended by not only the fans but the employees. My question was why did the employees elected not to stay?
It’s about to get interesting . Shawn has one last show this weekend see what happens after that . The car counts got better but that’s due to Bruce Bemers check cashed and purses were fair . I know of several others that would attended if we had a Dif GM ! If Bruce makes the purses a lil but higher in the lower divisions the place will be the track to race in 2016 . Change Thursdays back to Wednesdays . The crowds will come . Mike Did a great job promoting but l was told Shawn over ruled him on some of his great ideas ?? I think next year will be the best year for NLWSB if some of the management changes or learns to listen and stop using people . I have heard many people say Shawn M called and texted them for help and soon after they helped he forgot who they were . Thank God that Mr. Bemer didn’t .
Love live the Bowl..,,
Humphry; you said it was a “fan appreciation” party. Maybe the employees have their own appreciation event? Just saying, it may not be fair to suggest there may be trouble in paradise with the employees considering the improvement in the worker’s attitude at the Bowl this year. The only thing I had issue with was the inconsistency of the food quality.
I’ve heard two different opinions about Tapley. Some love him, some hate him. As a fan I don’t really recall much about any unfair calls from him during the races. He must be doing something right if all these tracks want him. Management, the only reason they went from Wednesday to Thursday is because Thompson moved to Wednesday. I do agree that they could probably go back to Wednesday and get a decent crowd. So the question is, did Tapley leave on his own or did they boot him?
I know Scott left on his own, I am waiting to see who replaces him. Management at the bowl could and should be improved. People with a passion for the sport should come before anything else. You can’t honestly care for people and fear god with both of you’re shoe laces tied together. (If you have a problem with me who are you gonna tell at the end of the night?)… well, it’s kind of hard to vent when you are blocked on social media and cell phones. Phony people suck.
Well “old timer” I heard some of the same things as “management” said in his post. There was no separate employee appreciation party that I know of so why would the employees not stay comingle with the fans? Nice to meet and thank the people that pay your salary. If management told them to stay away then shame on them for not allowing them to partake.
A good leader should listen to his people, they are the ones doing the job and usually they know what the problems are and generally how to fix them. Employees tend to take ownership in what they do if given the opportunity however, if management is using the employees and taking the approach it is my way or the highway then there is a problem in paradise. It will be tough to run an operation if there is no one willing to work for you!
I don’t know Mr Tapley personally but the whole “soaking gate” deal on the VMRS during his tenure there must have left a bad taste in peoples mouth about him I would assume. Was he doing Jack’s
bidding there…don’t know but whole thing was a crock. Look CT is a small state and the racing community there is rather small as well and if I were Bemer I’d look out of state to find and experienced race director who doesn’t have any bonds or ties to the Waterford gang that races there weekly. Same rules and enforcement to Rocco, Teddy, Wendall Daily ..whomever. Getting another local who knows everybody and is friends with them will just yield more of the same. This is probably true of any short track I would think. The Bowl had a nice comeback year but it would really be a shame to see it fall back into the same old story there.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Shawn Foster is in the running for the job. Wasn’t he Fox’s assistant or something at the bowl a few years ago?