Citrus???

[gary laplant]

Nathan started to race again at Citrus and everything was great untill he could not get a rule rewritten they way he wanted he sold the car and know I am back on his great hit list LMAO.

[OldSchool+]

Gary,

The past is the past, no need to re-hash who said what when...

The important thing: Any conclusive word on your plans regarding Inverness moving forward?

We all are hoping for good news.

[Matt Albee]

Nathan being Nathan and how who ever took the picture at the other end of the pits there was 35 karts parked on the slabs in back of the office.
35 karts is not a empty pits Like he is making it out to be. In the last 4 month we have 20 to 35 karts every Fri nit to practice.

Nope, that doesn't qualify as an empty pit. But i think the question on everyone's mind is....was this a practice ONLY for karts? If so, that's a decent turnout.
If the practice was for karts, cars, trucks, sprint cars, etc., then the turnout was pretty scary. Scary for you, and scary for the life expectancy of that track.

[gary laplant]

Matt

Its open practice for all but thsi week was mainly for kart the did a event for the even that was free this weekend at the track. The past free weeks we have had a few cars practice on Friday. Since I have been there as the owner its really does not have a great car count for pratice unless I am putting on a 50 lap race on that Saturday night.

But to everyone question I am putting a race together for July working on the date this week. Was thinking about closing JUly and Aug like Alburndale and Desoto beacause of the heat and rain. But I am going to try and get in One in July and many two in Aug and start a little later, then reopen full time in Sept

[Weftracing96]

Hopefully everyone can just bury the past and get back to racing. It's a great track and fighting obviously helps nobody. We all can choose to live in the past, or move forward into the future.

[scottgarrity07]

I've had some light shed on this deal to me by someone. It's true that Gary has made some mistakes up at Citrus but there is a lynch mob style group that is trying to shove him out and it has been made pretty clear that it ain't gonna happen. Like him or not Gary holds the lease and has had no problems making the payments and with the current climate it is more advantageous for him to not race than to lose even more money because people "boycotting" him has made the prospect of profitability non existant. What's the solution? Take a deep breath and hit the reset button.

I'm sure Gary has learned from his mistakes. But keeping the track closed 2 years to wait him out is not just bad for racing. It's bad for the community up in Inverness. What about the people who make a living at the gas station down the road? Nobody coming up 41 on a Saturday night is hurting him, for sure. How about the people who supplement their income by working at the track? Those of you railing against him need to think about what the ramifications of there being no racing there for two years will do. It's not just about the racers. This hurts the entire COMMUNITY. I'm thinking there has been no announcement because Gary simply doesn't know how to fix this with the anger he is up against.

We all know who is against Gary. They even have a facebook page they are injecting their venom from. How about who is FOR RACING AND PRESERVING CITRUS COUNTY SPEEDWAY? Speak up and voice out on here if you'd be willing, for the sake of racing and the community to give Gary another chance to make things right. I don't think he was ever evil, just misguided. I think anyone can change and see the error of their ways and atone for past "sins". I think the silent majority wants to see racing at Citrus.

Gary, if you were to get some fresh blood helping you, try to iron out tech fairness and give it another go I'd be more than happy to tow the 07 Sportsman to Inverness and race. Whattaya say people? Give the guy another chance or shutter the place for two years and possibly lose the track forever. That's the options we are all facing. The track has been there 60 years. I'd love to see it go at least as long as I'm around. How about it? The choice is really up to all of us.

[scottgarrity07]

Oops, he made an announcement when I was typing!

[OldSchool+]

Great job, there Scott.

Give me Sportsman and mods, hold down the support classes to a couple-three, let me sit in the shade in the deluxe stands on the backstretch, and I will be there.

[Phil Jacques]

I've had some light shed on this deal to me by someone. It's true that Gary has made some mistakes up at Citrus but there is a lynch mob style group that is trying to shove him out and it has been made pretty clear that it ain't gonna happen. Like him or not Gary holds the lease and has had no problems making the payments and with the current climate it is more advantageous for him to not race than to lose even more money because people "boycotting" him has made the prospect of profitability non existant. What's the solution? Take a deep breath and hit the reset button.

I'm sure Gary has learned from his mistakes. But keeping the track closed 2 years to wait him out is not just bad for racing. It's bad for the community up in Inverness. What about the people who make a living at the gas station down the road? Nobody coming up 41 on a Saturday night is hurting him, for sure. How about the people who supplement their income by working at the track? Those of you railing against him need to think about what the ramifications of there being no racing there for two years will do. It's not just about the racers. This hurts the entire COMMUNITY. I'm thinking there has been no announcement because Gary simply doesn't know how to fix this with the anger he is up against.

We all know who is against Gary. They even have a facebook page they are injecting their venom from. How about who is FOR RACING AND PRESERVING CITRUS COUNTY SPEEDWAY? Speak up and voice out on here if you'd be willing, for the sake of racing and the community to give Gary another chance to make things right. I don't think he was ever evil, just misguided. I think anyone can change and see the error of their ways and atone for past "sins". I think the silent majority wants to see racing at Citrus.

Gary, if you were to get some fresh blood helping you, try to iron out tech fairness and give it another go I'd be more than happy to tow the 07 Sportsman to Inverness and race. Whattaya say people? Give the guy another chance or shutter the place for two years and possibly lose the track forever. That's the options we are all facing. The track has been there 60 years. I'd love to see it go at least as long as I'm around. How about it? The choice is really up to all of us.

Scotty, you know me... I want to see every single track in FL survive... Hell, I'd even love to see some of the long dormant skeletons rise from the dead somehow. I have always believed an owner/promoter is as good as those he is surrounded by. Owners become the "fall guy" because they are the voice and the head of the beast. Maybe Gary can take a good long talk and listen to you Scott. You, like me, have been part of extremely successful racing communities. You have been embedded in FL racing as well for quite some time and have a greater grasp on concepts that may work well to help bring CCS back to the top. One thing I will personally suggest to Gary... Reach out to the other tracks and start an alliance wherever you can. Work with them, find ways to work with the tracks, maybe alternating divisional schedules so guys can run back and fourth between two tracks without missing big events at the other that they might want to run. Stuff like that will only help FL. The way NSS is rotating their divisions in the schedule is a great model. If they had another track they worked with that did a mirror opposite of the rotation they are doing, both tracks could prosper. Just my .02...

[kendo]

The way NSS is rotating their divisions in the schedule is a great model. If they had another track they worked with that did a mirror opposite of the rotation they are doing, both tracks could prosper. Just my .02...

Well there you go OSW,,,The fix is sooo simple

[gary laplant]

Phil

I have reached out to other owners to talks Rex will not talk to me or work with me at all last year his word to me was I will run you of and talk ove Citrus. Yoho said the same thing. I tryed to talk to Cope and Cretter they said no also when they were at Desoto we dont need to work together now ther gone. . Tallked to Mr Meyers at Desoto two weeks ago it went well at Bronson this past Saturday went very well there.

My true thoughts are rule sound be the same at all tracks. we run the same tire for our classes at each track and etc. Even payout should be very fair and the same also at all tracks. . Florida Short Track racing Is way out of hand with rules and etc. JUst My thoughts.

It really is a big shame all track owner will not sit down and talk even if we dont like each other at all for one hour a month to save money. Beacuse as a group of owners we can have buying power form our vendors
(Tires,fuel,food,paper product, etc) if we can save moeny as a full team we could pass it onto the drivers and ther families.

I enjoy racing and want to save Citrus County Speedway If I did not care about the track along with my great fans and drivers and saving it i would have walked off months ago.

JUst my Thoughts

[zerofor]

One suggestion for any promoter in the state of Florida.Dont be so damn afraid to mention a rival track over your p.a. systems during breaks in the action.Talk a little bit about who the modified,or late model,sportsman etc winner was at other tracks the week or night before.Try to build an interest in RACING, not just racing at your own track.If you get a race fan truly hooked they will follow their favorite drivers,AND tracks.That will only be a positive for the entire racing scene in the state as a whole.

[Weftracing96]

Great comments all around!

[gary laplant]

zerofor

Thats is a great Idea because some fan travel to see different clases.

[Matt Albee]

Matt

Its open practice for all but thsi week was mainly for kart the did a event for the even that was free this weekend at the track. The past free weeks we have had a few cars practice on Friday. Since I have been there as the owner its really does not have a great car count for pratice unless I am putting on a 50 lap race on that Saturday night.

But to everyone question I am putting a race together for July working on the date this week. Was thinking about closing JUly and Aug like Alburndale and Desoto beacause of the heat and rain. But I am going to try and get in One in July and many two in Aug and start a little later, then reopen full time in Sept

Thanks Gary, that helps put everything into perspective.
A couple of suggestions here.
If you can afford to pony up the money for a good purse( and i'm talking a REAL good purse) for one or two races during the summer, you might just pull a lot of cars from the tracks that are closed. Doesn't have to headline classes, just give racers and fans the option of good races during the summer. During those races, show the racers and fans that show up that you're serious about getting their support. Nobody knows, because these tracks have never shut down for the summer.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TRACK COOPERATION IN FLORIDA. Never really has been, certainly isn't now. You've already been told by the tracks closest to you that all they're interested in is running you off and taking over your lease. Use the same rules as other tracks if it makes sense for Citrus. But you're on your own, trust me. Build your own classes up, and pay good money to get them out there. Bring in sponsors, or produce the purse out of your own pocket for a while if you can. You've got to give the racers a reason to come to Citrus. And nothing attracts racers like a good purse that pays all the way back to last place.

Consider talking to the two guys that Denny Myers was too dumb to keep around. They might be willing to help.