Greenville Pickens’ most passionate advocate needs help securing its future

Historic Greenville Pickens Speedway has been in a fight for survival over the past three and a half years and Tasha Porter-Kummer has been at the forefront from the start.

During that time, she has spearheaded efforts to thwart off redevelopment while preserving what still could be an active sports and entertainment facility with the right ownership group. It’s an ownership group she wants to bring together before it’s too late.

Urgency is the watchword for Kummer, a previous winner in the Limited Late Model division at the Easley, South Carolina half mile, who says a new ownership group is needed ASAP to prevent demolition.

“I have been told that if I can’t get funding for this, then it will be sold back to the developers and it will be bulldozed,” Kummer told Short Track Scene on Tuesday. “So, there is a very short window that I have to get this done, and it took three years to even get to this point.

“Now everyone is in agreement and allowing us time to get this done by the end of this deadline, but if it can’t be, then they are going back to their first plan, which is to bulldoze it down and put up a Costco or some other kind of building for industrial use.”

Since the last race at Greenville in 2022, several warehouses have been erected near the racetrack on land sold by previous owner Kevin Whitaker. There have been no shortage of public hearing sessions focused on historical preservation and traffic impacts to slow redevelopment talks.

Kummer, the daughter of late businessman Ed Porter and brother to ex-NASCAR racer Randy, created a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to saving the racetrack and pursuing business partners to operate a revival. She’s pursued this with the same business acumen she inherited from her father and how she put together business plans to support her racing endeavors.

Right now, for the track to reopen, Kummer says she needs $3.7 million.

“I have had several meetings with the owner and we have come to an agreement on the price and it just comes down to the funding,” Kummer said. “I just need an investor, a partner, a sponsor, a grant.

“I’ve established a nonprofit where people can make donations through it in order to save the racetrack, restore it and reopen it.” Kummer said. “I have so many programs I want to participate in with the community, STEM education, while making the track a community center.”

Kummer says she’s put together an economic impact study with the help of local and regional experts. In simplest terms, she’s participating in something like the television show Shark Tank, where she has a business plan and just needs someone to literally buy-in to it.

“We have a list of about 40 businesses that have already signed up to do pro bono work,” Kummer added. “That’s concrete, asphalt, electrical, plumbing, anything that would need to be done, construction.

“That is how much this community wants to save their track. Now it just boils down to me needing the funding to secure the purchase and get some of these programs going and get the track open.”

She says she has the endorsement of local and state sports and tourism authorities as well.

Kummer has been the face of the nonprofit, named The Real Historic Greenville Pickens Speedway, but was reluctant until now to reveal that she was the proposed buyer that had been making the rumor mill recently.

On one hand, she recognizes the pursuit of business partners requires a public face but she also has been reticent to be viewed as personally being responsible for what could be the final nail in figurative coffin if this doesn’t work out.

“I didn’t want to let everyone know about that because I feel the weight of the community on my shoulders,” Kummer said. “I feel like everyone is looking to me to make this happen, and I feel like it would be a huge letdown in this whole town if this doesn’t happen, but also the support we have received from Maine, Florida, Wisconsin and Virginia.

“I didn’t want the grief if everyone knew I was one behind this and just couldn’t get the funding and get it to happen. They’ll say ‘she should have done this or that, and that’s why she couldn’t get funding’ so that is the reason.”

But ultimately, this is getting close to the end, one way or the other and Kummer is pulling every lever at her disposal to attract partners or a consortium to join her in buying the racetrack.

It’s business but also deeply personal at the same time.

“I remember being three or four, and was in Victory Lane with my brother, and I was beside myself,” she said. “I just loved being in winner’s circle and seeing everyone so happy and cheering. It was just a great experience.

“I made it my mission to make it to that spot on my own. Fast forward some years later, I did that, and that was an important memory, one I’ll never forget.”

She says she remembers throwing footballs around with friends and family every Saturday night. Instead of a traditional family weekend cookout, the Porters raced at Greenville Pickens Speedway, and she is fighting with literally everything she has to secure those memories for the next generation.

Again, time is of the essence, and Kummer just needs help.