Thompson Speedway will be looking for a new race director for their oval tracks events for the 2019 season.
Since late in the 2018 season Thompson Speedway race director Scott Tapley had indicated there was a likely chance he would not return to the role in 2019.
On Monday during a radio show he hosts Tapley made the news official that he will not be returning to Thompson in 2019.
“[Thompson Speedway general manager Terry Eames] made a very fair offer,” Tapley said. “I just need to be home more. That’s really what it comes down to. My daughter is 10 years old and I’ve never been home on the weekends in her ten years. I really need to have more weekends home. That’s really what it ultimately comes down to.”
Tapley, of Poland Springs, Me., was named the race director at Thompson Speedway in October 2013. He also serves as the race director at Stafford Motor Speedway and Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway. He said he will remain involved with both Stafford and Riverhead in 2019.
Tapley is also a former race director at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl and former series director of the Valenti Modified Racing Series. Prior to becoming a track official Tapley was a crew member for the championship winning team of former K&N Pro Series East driver Matt Kobyluck.
Eames said he wasn’t surprised to hear Tapley made the decision.
“He’s kept the door open a crack, until this,” Eames said. “Had I been a betting man since September I would have bet that he wasn’t coming back. Obviously we had hoped that he would. He’s done a great job there. But life goes on. … I was hoping he might have a change of heart.”
Scott, thank you for always being fair (at least to me), and thank you for your hard work and dedication to this sport. We could definitely use a few more like you around here. Conversations we have had over the years have given me a much greater respect and understanding of the job you do. Definitely going to miss racing under your direction. Best wishes to you and your family in the future!
Good Luck To you Scott , I enjoyed working with you at the Bowl . your an awesome race director, the best i have ever seen. enjoy your time with your family. Merry Christmas
Don’t know him personally but always ran a fair good shows I seen at Thompson enjoy your time with family
Sounds a little fishy. Needs to be home more on the weekends but is still going to work at Stafford and Riverhead. Don’t they race on the weekend? Conflict between Terry and Scott?
LM,
Seven Sunday events at Thompson this year, which include two full weekend events, and a Saturday event. I can fully understand the part about wanting to be home more on the weekends and how that schedule changed things.
Shawn,
Going to have to agree with LM here. There is something not right between Scott and the Thompson management. The excuse of wanting to be home more on the weekend should have driven him to race direct the seven events at Thompson and give up the 20 plus weekends at Riverhead and Stafford.
Let’s put a little logic behind all of this. Scott lives in Maine meaning on a good day its a 3-1/2 to 4 hour ride to Stafford. Its also on Friday which means he has to miss a large portion of his work day. From there he ventures to Riverhead. I’m guessing he doesn’t travel back to Maine the 4 hours and gets up on Saturday morning to make the 6 plus hour ride back to Long Island. Then after Riverhead he driver back to Maine.
Doing quick math means the earliest he would arrive back in Maine on Sunday morning is around 6am. I would think he now wants to get a little sleep, not go off to a sports game with his kid. And he wants to do this for 22 weekends!
So you can say what you want, he chose the two most active tracks, the furthest from his home to continue to race direct at, not the one closest and with the least amount of events. This decision doesn’t make him look like the dad he wants everyone to think he is. There is much more to the story than we all know.
SMH,
I don’t think anyone has any right to decide or assume what works best logistically involving someone else’s family life. And I think you guys are going a little far in essentially calling him a liar for saying he wants to be home more on the weekends.
There go the conspiracy theorists again. If the man wants to cut back on the number of tracks he works at, that’s his decision and he has the right to it. Why does there always have to be some kind of conflict?Just take it at face value.
“So you can say what you want, he chose the two most active tracks, the furthest from his home to continue to race direct at, not the one closest and with the least amount of events. This decision doesn’t make him look like the dad he wants everyone to think he is. There is much more to the story than we all know.”
Maybe the total number of events at all three tracks is too much?
Having had jobs in event production that had me traveling and away on nights and weekends, I totally understand this. Eliminating SOME of the work makes the rest palatable…
SMH laid out a pretty good case. Makes sense, and is hard to question or disagree with.
Shawn, somebody saying they are leaving their job to “spend more time with the family” is sort of a euphemism for they were fired, not welcomed back, quitting because they hate the boss/management, etc., and other things that they don’t want to say openly. There are very few tracks around, and a Race Director would pretty much shut himself out at all tracks if he speaks unfavorably about any track, management, etc., regardless of being completely and totally truthful. Hence, play the “spend more time with the family” card.
For example, there have recently been numerous people leaving public sector jobs “to spend more time with the family,” only to take lucrative, pressure cooker jobs in the private sector.
Can’t the local tracks find someone locally to be Race Director?
There you have it from the one who knows all , DAREAL , now we can call Scott and let him know why he left
What we don’t know….We don’t know.
What is the job description of a race director?
Thread is dead Doug.
Thanks humphry then I can add this and no one will care.
Generic race director job description:
• Manage crew of officials on race day
• Budget expenses for race event
• Conduct pre-race drivers meeting
• Communicate with drivers raceday and through season
• Raceceiver while on track
• Communicate with officials during event
• Coordinate with Track officials to ensure event flow
• Attention to detail
• Ability to multitask
• Ability to work in a fast paced environment
• Ability to make split-second decisions
According to Staffords web site they employ roughly 60 people for race events and do a nice thing by listing their team and in some cases providing a profile of the person.
Tapley who is actually younger then one might think is apparently a very capable guy. His profile lists him as self employed so regardless of whether his primary business is being a contract employee at race events he clearly is doing it well.
It’s a new management structure at Thompson. It could very well be he wasn’t comfortable with the new management or increased work load and sighting family is the acceptable way to move on without burning any bridges. Or it could be exactly as he said and family is the sole reason.
Appreciate the fact that this is a really solid racing guy that a lot of tracks like overseeing their race day events and we have such people being so capable behind the scenes working to put on a good show for we fans.
I understand he’s not the Race Director at Stafford – what is Ben Dodge’s job description?
Rafter – If you read Stafford’s web site, it will show Ben Dodge as Broadcaster (he spends every Friday on the mic if you actually went there) and Scott Tapley as Race Director.
https://www.staffordmotorspeedway.com/team-stafford-employee-profiles/
One word….. Eames
Eames takes over Tapley quits. Move along people. Nothing to see here.
Rich C –
I go to Stafford regularly, and am well aware that Ben Dodge is an announcer there. However, I’ve heard that Ben’s role at Stafford goes well beyond announcer. Many drivers thank Ben from the podium, which also suggest a larger role for Ben. If anyone can confirm + describe or refute Ben’s non-announcer duties, I’d appreciate it.