Ace Speedway owner Jason Turner never once envisioned going through two consecutive shortened seasons at the track.
A combination of factors, including the ongoing tire shortage, forced Turner to make the difficult decision of ending Ace’s regular season after the Prelude to the Rodney Cook Classic last Friday.
Turner wanted to finish out the handful of races left on the schedule but knew that continuing on outside of the Rodney Cook Classic would only cause more problems.
“If you don’t have tires, you can’t fill a field of cars,” Turner said. “You’re kind of limited on how many events you can promote at a certain time along with how many cars you can get for each class until the supplies we rely on for this type of entertainment stabilize.”
Turner has been vocal about the tire shortage that has plagued short tracks all around the United States, which has stemmed from a lack of raw materials to tire manufactures like Hoosier being unable to meet the demands of teams and tracks.
Tires were not the only problem that hindered Ace throughout the 2021 season.
Upheaval in the global supply chain stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change regularly posed issues for Turner and his staff when it came to providing food for fans to enjoy.
Turner did not want to close any concession stands around the facility and risk losing spectators on Friday nights but admitted that searching for food turned into a rigorous and unnecessary chore.
“When you have food shortages, it’s hard to stock up enough food for races,” Turner said. “I went to four different grocery stores just to get enough buns for the concession stands to be open. Some stores can’t stock their shelves and if there’s not enough food to buy, then you can’t have a race.”
Along with the global supply chain disruptions, Turner also cited the weather as another reason behind the premature end to Ace’s regular season.
Turner singled out the week leading up to the Rodney Cook Classic Prelude as a prime example of how an unfavorable forecast can influence spectators to stay home, even though the entire event was completed despite raining earlier in the day.
Putting together the best race day possible for drivers and spectators is always top priority for Turner, which he said became impossible as concerns around tire and other shortages festered during the summer and impacted daily life at the track.
Now Turner is faced with the familiar yet unfortunate sight of Ace being dormant following a brief period in 2020 that saw the facility get shut down by North Carolina governor Roy Cooper due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Turner, who owns the Accelerated Graphics sign shop, is confident that Ace will survive the global supply chain troubles after dealing with the pandemic, adding that he does not anticipate any major financial issues with the amount of interest that fans, drivers and others invest into the track.
“We didn’t jump into this business to make a profit,” Turner said. “As a whole, the race track is fine but we only do this to keep the track going, racers active and fans entertained. Ace Speedway has a lot of great sponsors and we’ve been fortunate to have a great community around us that is going to continue supporting us no matter what we do.”
With the regular season now over, Turner is centering his focus on Ace’s crown jewel event in the Rodney Cook Classic on Oct. 23 that will include a 140-lap Late Model Stock race to go with a 99-lap feature for the SMART Modified Tour.
Turner has high expectations for the Rodney Cook Classic and is ready to cap off the shortened season in memorable fashion.
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