(Press Release from New London-Waterford Speedbowl)
It is with great excitement to announce the 2022 schedule for the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. The 71st year of the shoreline oval will feature a little something for everyone’s taste beginning with the Blast Off on May 7th. The year will feature the SK Modifieds®, SK Light Modifieds, Late Models, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks and Legend Cars as our main offerings on Saturdays from May to October, with supporting roles from the Speedbowl Trucks and various touring divisions. Legend Cars, X-Cars, Super X-Cars and Bandoleros return from May to September for the Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday program.
A few open practice sessions will preface the season in April, leading up to the 2022 edition of the Speedbowl Blast Off headlined by a 71 lap SK Modified® race. All of our weekly Saturday night divisions are on the card to kick off their scheduled 20 point races over the 23 week season, except the Trucks who are on the card for 16 weeks.
Making up the difference of those 16 weeks for the Trucks, the Speedbowl will host the Exit Realty Pro Truck Challenge 3 times with one of them being their Championship event held at the 18th running of Smacktoberfest. That event will be headlined by the 3rd Annual Northeast Street Stock Championship and will also play host to the return of the Open Competition Mini Stocks. We will also crown the champion for the Compact Enduros who will once again run a 5 race point series, and more. There are two other family fun days planned on June 26th and September 4th, with more information to be released at a later date.
Also visiting the Speedbowl in 2022, The 350 SMAC Super Modifieds will make their first appearance of the season on May 14th and they will share the spotlight with the returning NEMA and NEMA Lite clubs on September 10th. NEMA and NEMA Lite will light the track up with their fast speeds three times in total, also on July 9th and at the Finale on October 14th-16th.
Mirroring the same format as 2021, The Finale will feature a day of practice followed by races by the Bandoleros, X-Cars, Super X-Cars, and American Vintage Modifieds on Friday, with a full weekend of racing from the rest of our divisions, NEMA, and the 2022 return of the American Three Quarter Midget Racing Association.
Extra distance races for each division are planned throughout the year with the Late Models going 50 laps on May 28th and a special 25/25/15 format for Full Fendered Throwdown on September 24th. SK Light’s hit the track for 50 laps on June 18th, Open Street Stocks go 50 laps on July 2nd, Street Stocks get their time on July 16th, Mini Stocks on July 30th, and Trucks on August 6th. Legend Cars will have a special 20/20/10 event on July 23rd, and will also headline the Legend Car Fall Classic on October 1st.
Back for 2022 will be the popular and rebranded Fast 3 Series for the SK Modifieds® on June 11th, July 9th, and August 13th which is bound to attract some of the biggest names in SK Modified® racing in the Northeast. We will also once again present the Triple Threat Series for Saturday divisions and the Fall Shootout Series for Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday after the conclusion of their regular season that runs for 13 Wednesday’s between May 25th and September 7th. There is also 6 point paying races for the Open Street Stocks throughout the year with each race winner being guaranteed a starting spot in the 3rd Annual Northeast Street Stock Championship during Smacktoberfest.
For the most up to date information and any updates, please follow the New London Waterford Speedbowl on Facebook, @SpeedbowlCT on Twitter, or our website at www.speedbowlct.com
Wonder what happened to the TriTrack race on 8/6?
Good News. Can’t wait for some turn 1 Hot Dogs.
See the turn 1 gang soon enough.
Ditto Eddie, that race is still on the Tri-Track site as scheduled at Waterford.
Will they sell beer this year?
Earl,
At this point there definitely seems to be some unresolved confusion about the state of that event going forward. All I’m being told is that it apparently was not a mistake that the the event doesn’t appear on what was released yesterday. Take that for what you want at that this point.
Rich,
To my knowledge nothing will be changing from the typical operations of the last couple years, so I would guess that to mean there will be no beer or other track operated concessions in 2022.
So if the Speedbowl TriTrack race doesn’t happen, I wonder if it will be replaced? A second event at Star or Monadnock maybe? or maybe a new location? I think White Mountain would be a cool new venue for them.
I just want the old August Saturday Wings and Wheels show back. Tour-Type mods, Big-Block Supers, NEMA, and SK’s. Dear Santa…
So how’s that reconstruction going?
All done yet?
New tower?
Infrastructure improvements such as rest rooms, drainage, sewer, electrical, etc. all done?
It’s always something there. Nothing can ever be normal about how they do anything. Always has to be something stupid going on. They didn’t just accidentally forget to put the biggest series coming there on their schedule. Heard Dick Williams won’t do the big paying SK races if Tri-Track is allowed there. More drama. Always drama.
Tri track series is better off not going there. Love going to tri track races, but I wouldn’t bring my family to that place with the history there. A lot of creepy there. What happened to their flagger that got arrested a couple years ago for sending dirty pics to kids he met there? They swept that under the rug pretty good. Not a good culture going on there for kids or families.
Also noticed the fast 5 is only the fast 3 this year. Was looking forward to the tritrack race, finally a big enough event to go there for. I’d lie to see wings& wheels also, maybe another track will try that sometime. I guess the speedbowl wants to focus on the weekly racers. I always liked the track myself, but there aren’t big events there any more..
Thanks for the 411 Shawn. Just when it appears that things may be changing a bit, the fans get kicked in the balls again.
IMHO
Dafella – Dadevastated
Listen, I’m glad Waterford is open but it is not one of my favorite tracks. Every Friday I go Stafford, the complete opposite of Waterford on the stability front. Saturday night is kinda my wildcard night. The question is usually do I feel like driving to Lebanon Valley or Monadnock. If I don’t but still want to do something I head to Waterford. Will definitely try to see the midgets and the super modifieds. Wings and Wheels was always a cool event.
Speedbowl is best track for racing around hands down. Action Track.
Asked the Cart Guy and said Beer Cooked Hot Dogs this year.
Can’t we just be happy another track is not lost and help support based on race fan ship.
If you have to travel l get it and easy to make a statement than just let it alone and just stay home.
Stafford is ok hard to see back part of back stretch and into turn 3 from stands. It’s a get a run track and momentum type racing.
Just different style when Waterford is use them up everywhere.
Just my thoughts.
I’ll say this, if gas is $5-6 a gallon this summer I’ll probably hit Waterford a few extra times and just stay in CT in general for my racing entertainment. Also have my eye on a couple of races at Lime Rock this summer.
Beer cooked hotdogs? That’s not the same as serving beer.
What is the “use them up everywhere” style of racing?
Fast Eddie wrote, “I guess the speedbowl wants to focus on the weekly racers.”
No Fast Eddie, it is not that the bowl wants to focus on the weekly racers. There is always an undercard of weekly racers. That’s pretty much all that the bowl has now since it appears no other touring series wants to go to the bowl.
Weekly racers are all that the bowl has left, and those weekly racers really have no place else to go.
Lucy sets the ball one more time…
It certainly looked like there would be a tritrack race there this year untill the speedbowl schedule was posted.
I’m an old man. I still dearly miss Norwood, Westboro, Riverside, Danbury and Plainville. When Waterford closes someday, any true diehard New England race fan will lament it whether or not they will admit it.
Konkfan, definitely agree with you. I never saw Danbury or Plainville, but I get nostalgic and aggravated when I go by the former Mass tracks. Norwood particularly due to living nearby and passing where the speedway and dragstrip were at least 5-6 times a week. The speedway is now an Italian restauraunt and part of a golf course and the dragstrip has been swallowed up by vegatation at the edge of a small airport, although the entrance from to it from route 1 is still visible.
I didn’t start going to the races until Danbury and Plainville were already closed. When I was in high school I remember seeing the auto racing ads in the Waterbury paper. After I started going to the track in the 80s I was shocked how close Plainville Stadium was to my house in the east end of Waterbury and I never though to go. Afterwards every couple of years I would go to that old Plainville plaza/parking lot, go to the back fence and just stare at that old track. To me it almost seemed too small, like a high school track with simple grandstands and lights. I was a little bummed when the new plaza went up and any remnants of Plainville Stadium went away for good. CT has 3 short tracks and Lime Rock and I don’t want to see any of them closed.
If the Speedbowl is operating and it’s been your track forever and you live near it then it makes little difference who owns it. I’m pretty sure the last person parents want to see on Wednesday or Saturday race night is creepy Bruce wandering around the house he renovated. The renovation erasing a perpetually unsafe facility with a ton of character transforming it to a sterile, functionally safe race track. That’s the key. Most parents have numerous entertainment choices and can easily write off the Speedbowl. Racers wanna race so that’s why the track is where it is at this point.
Best track in Connecticut to watch racing from a spectator perspective in my view. The single most important racing media reporter persona non grata at the facility, no beer, the stigma of creepy Bruce all baked in at this point all well discussed. What may be new is how mismanaged and opportunistic the division line up is that waters down the product on the track. Great for competitors with more choices of race division to pick from but detrimental to the total entertainment value in the long run and the owner doesn’t care.
So how did we get to where we are now? Racing until very recently generally in decline with respect to spectator interest. Yet the division line ups have exploded to the point where some are on the same level and compete watering each other down.
Ideally what you should want in racing divisions looks something like this. Clearly unique divisions from a spectator standpoint where they can see differences without knowing anything about the technical aspects of the cars. You want open wheel and full fendered divisions as well as four and 8 cylinder cars different fans of different age groups can relate to. You want them to have ascending price points to campaign from entry level to full blown, sophisticated race cars Finally you want the path to moving up clearly defined to funnel interest in one direction rather then splitting competitors off in different directions.
Approximate car counts at the Speedbowl
Saturday Night
SK’s, 15 on a regular race night, 25 for the special events
LM’s, 11
Mini’s, 15
SK Lights, 12-19
Streets, 15-18
Legends, 5-7
Wednesday Night
Bandos, 10
Legends, 9-12
X-Cars, 11
Super X, 18
Waterford is simply a mess. Bandos and Legends have different performance levels and are visually different but essentially inhabit the same space being standardized, off the shelf micro race cars. Racing Legends on Wednesday and Saturday is self defeating.
X cars, Super X cars and Mini’s are all entry level. X cars to the casual fan look an awful lot like Mini’s and from a competitive standpoint race very similar on the track. Trucks are brought in on occasion. They look different obviously but from a competitive standpoint inhabit the same space as Streets.
I suppose it all made sense as people lost interest in racing. Have more choices, maximize the back gate and make it easier to get to the podium. It’s pretty much universal now the Speedbowl being the outlier that has taken it to the extreme in my view and probably for good reason given the problems creepy Bruce has had. The Wednesday and Saturday programs don’t look like complimentary events meant to promote the sport and competitors in a specific direction. They look like two days in the week to generate revenue primarily from teams that want to race. Abundant practice on a separate night with the same goal.
Aren’t there some indications that currently there is a resurgence in fan interest taking place? If that’s the case combined with the increased exposure and revenue provided by streaming could it be time to cut back on the divisions choices for competitors? Fewer divisions but more cars in each division with better competition and the excitement it generates, As opposed to seeing 6 divisions run features with some having single digit car counts. Drivers wanting to move up going to the next logical choice instead of splitting off into numerous directions.
The best and the worst you can find at Stafford. Kart’s unique with graduates having a clear path to the Friday night divisions. The problem being they can go to Streets, LLM’s or SK Lights which is too many choices and anti productive. The flow from SK Lights to SK’s then onto tour mods in the opens ideal and the car counts show it.
A lot of you seem to feel that it’s racing vs shutdown for the Speedbowl and that being owned by creepy Bruce is the lesser of the evils. I don’t share that view. Danbury, Plainville and Riverside Park shut down mainly because the property was more valuable then the race venue. The Speedbowl is in an industrial area, has been renovated to a functional level long term, is near a population center, is properly permitted by the town and is in proximity to a vacation destination. Thompson’s circle track events have a shorter shelf life and the vacuum it will leave when they cease to hold events makes the Speedbowl all the more attractive to fill the void.
I don’t accept the notion that if Bemer dies figuratively or literally the Speedbowl dies. Under new ownership it has the potential to hold epic racing events without the albatross it now carries and can hold other types of events as well. It’s not a race track vs a mall or national amusement park it’s a multi faceted entertainment venue vs a factory or shut. The racing venue very competitive post renovation.
The Speedbowl’s future very bright in my view. All those divisions watered down to generate back gate money may not be necessary with more fans and streaming. Less divisions will mean more excitement and competition.
We’re all conditioned to be pessimistic about the viability of tracks. The Speedbowl may be an exception to what we’re used to.
Did they change the Bandalero engines? Last I knew those were kid cars with souped up lawn mower engines. legends run much more powerful motorcycle engines.
Doug , There is still some really great racing across the board. Saturday has its share of good racing from the SK Lites and Minis have some top 3 to 5 battles amongst them. Ever watch a X-car race saw at least 3 races the 9 and can’t remember the other car side by side for 15 laps playing give and take with so much enthusiasm. The Bandlaros have hands down the best winner circle interviews. Can’t make up what they say.
Nothing wrong with Waterford Speedbowl other than the Haters .
I go to Waterford Speedbowl to see Stockcars race. Not interested much in open wheel race machines but I’ll watch anything race. I like seeing a bunch of beat-up cars banging there way around that circle track and trying like hell to win. When I see cars that have dents and damage to begin with, I know I’m watchin’ some real local stockcar racing.
NASCAR lost me years ago with the hightech race machines they call “stockcars”. Might be the reason real stockcar racing is getting popular again.
Thanks for keeping this track alive so I can see some real stockcar racing! Oh, and I don’t really care a whit for any of the drama that goes on in the background.