When it comes to the offseason for Southern New England short track racing, it’s been the mystery that has lingered for months and the most often asked question when it comes to the 2022 schedule locally.
Will the SRX Series return to Stafford Speedway in 2022?
Nobody from Stafford or the SRX Series is commenting at this point, but reading between the lines of social media could offer some strong indicators.
The SRX Series made its much anticipated worldwide debut on the half-mile at Stafford Speedway on June 12, 2021. Home track racer and six-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby held off some of the biggest names in the sport to score victory in the event.
As of today no official announcement has been made regarding a possible return of the series to Stafford. In actuality, as of today, no official announcement has even been made regarding the return of the SRX Series anywhere in 2022. Though based on the liveliness of the division’s social media accounts and movement within management with the series, all indicators point to a return for the series in 2022.
So, back to the question concerning a return to Stafford Speedway in 2022.
On Tuesday evening the SRX Twitter account featured a photo of the frontstretch grandstand at Stafford filled for last year’s event. The caption on the tweet read “Coming Soon” with an sunglass wearing emoji and a race car emoji.
It’s fair to surmise that if the SRX didn’t have designs on returning to Stafford Speedway in 2022 they likely wouldn’t be using a photo of the track from last year’s event with that sort of tweet.
On January 22 Stafford Speedway posted on social media an all caps alert stating “BIG NEWS DROPPING AT THE END OF JANUARY”.
Multiple sources close to Stafford Speedway and the SRX have indicated that track management is looking at a likely Saturday July 2 date for a series return to the Connecticut half-mile.
you said it Shawn, that’s been my guess of the big news coming but I didn’t want to burst anyones bubble so i kept my opinion to myself. Now that you are putting it out there, yes this is the news and also Doug Coby will be at Stafford defending the SRX win, AND he will be invited to other SRX races as well.
Might not be announced all at one but that is what will happen.
Woud like to see srx at Seekonk but wont happen if they go back to Stafford.
Great news for Stafford. Love seeing those grandstands packed.
If I recall correctly and Mr. Courchesne can correct me if I’m wrong there have been a couple previous tea leaves reading on this topic. The first was very early and put the idea of a return in play. The second indicating it might be a no and now it’s back in play again.
If you are hearing the Unmuffled episodes you’ll notice a lot more opinion from the host a great thing in my view. Not be be confused with the solid and confirmable reporting RaceDayCt is known for.
This is still conjecture. Were it to happen it would be a coup for Stafford for sure. At best they should be returning to two tracks and one might think Stewart’s track, Nashville and Slinger may be ahead of Stafford. If they do return to Stafford it will be on the strength of their connection to Evernham and there will be a story within a story should the prediction pan out.
If you are reading tea leaves I’d say the new video screen/score board at Stafford may fall in the category of positive sign. The order placed well before any decision was made on SRX. On the other hand knowing they were in the hunt and willing to demonstrate they are ready to kick it up a notch with something I do not believe any of the other tracks have.
I’ve been firmly in the no way in hell category SRX returns to Stafford. Mainly because of all the great tracks clamoring for a date. Maybe that thinking was too shallow.
Beyond reading tea leaves what could be some of the reasons Stafford could possibly have a leg up the second time around.
1) It all starts with ownership. The Arutes not just good owners they’re a team of four people with complementary skills. That hire top people for key positions and the resulting product is a cut above. We can’t know how the people at CBS feel about the people they are dealing with that own the track but it’s not hard to imagine them impressed.
2) Ray Evernham-Evernham is a national figure but has always maintained close contacts with Stafford. He bet on them last year and they delivered. If Stafford is in your comfort zone why not return there for the opener.
3) Production capability. It’s CBS and they can bring everything needed to a dessert island and produce a good show. However when the facility already has top notch production capability for a local track and you speak the same language in terms of camera’s, cameral angles, platforms and cabling then that makes the job easier.
4) The facility- visually on camera it just looks very attractive. At night with that new video screen lit up in the middle of the track it will be that much more impressive.
5) Geographic location- it’s in the well populated Northeast corridor convenient to Boston, NY City,Providence as well as the Connecticut cities. A lot of people with money live here and they don’t need to care anything about racing to spend any amount of money to be at the event.
6) The racers-although not professionals top to bottom at Stafford the competitors, with very few exceptions, conduct themselves like professionals. They know what is appropriate and what is not on the big stage and in total are assets to everything leading up to the big event.
7) Media coverage-it’s the Northeast and sure to get a lot of attention from virtually every major broadcast and sports network not the least of which is ESPN.
8) Not by much but Stafford had the second highest TV audience 1.330 million, second only to Eldora at 1.380.
9) Hotels-there are a lot of people that come in to do the show and there are plenty of high quality places to stay that are convenient to get to.
10) Intangibles-Mr Courchesne said that “Stafford is always moving forward”. If you don’t know them that may seem too vague to make any sense. But to we that follow them it makes perfect sense. Year in and out they are constantly searching for ways to make their product better, they take calculated risks and they unfailingly support the teams that make the product possible. Maybe the SRX people simply trust Stafford to make a return seamless. Seamless many time meaning lower cost.
I’m frankly half shocked SRX got a second season. They weren’t even close to their rating target. Re-runs of 48 hours did almost equivalent or even better ratings in the same time slot. They had very little sponsorship. Camping world seems to have been scrubbed from their website/socials. They haven’t really announced any drivers committed to it yet.
I kinda liked the series. Just think it’s trying to do too many things and not any one thing great. I also think they set unrealistic expectations for themselves with their socials.
Nothing against Stafford or Nashville, but i do think it is a massive fail on SRX’s part to go to repeat tracks.
Sorry, Stafford did a brilliant job kicking this off for SRX but time for another New England track to shine. I rather see Seekonk, Thompson, Thunder Road, or Oxford Plains
There are plenty of tracks that could benefit from the exposure and publicity. Part of the appeal of the SRX series should be different tracks. I’m thinking Thompson would be an outstanding venue for an SRX event.