BLOARD and his associates should be commended for their efforts regarding Jacksonville...nice racy little joint that works great for every type of openwheel car from 600cc micros all the way up to winged or nonwing 410 sprinters.

Taking over a track to run a few specials is much more difficult than it seems...probably harder than trying to run a track weekly. When you are weekly you can hire people and commit to them being able to come to work every Friday or Saturday night...it's harder to hire concession help, ticket takers, push trucks, etc if there isn't as much consistency in their work hours. The people you hire learn their jobs quickly and easily if they get to do it every weekend but only 6-8 times over a season lets them get rusty or forget exactly what they did the last time...When you go weekly you get a better feel for track prep needs than if you just run a few times a year...etc etc etc..

And an average spectator at a weekly track knows that any Friday night he decides to go have some fun there's going to be a show...other than looking at the sky and forecast there's not much planning involved on his part. A specials only track really has to be smart and thorough with the advertising to insure that casual fans, new fans and hardcore fans alike are aware of whats coming and when its coming.

Bloard and his posse are stepping up for the good of the town, the facility, the racers and the fans in a big way....I hope many many people out of each group do their best to support the venture...

Best of luck guys...even though its a 6 hour oneway drive for me I will try my damndest to make one of the PowrI shows..

Now I just wish somebody would step up and try to do something similar with the track at Godfrey.

Unfortunately Godfrey is now long gone....

I thought that the track at Godfrey closed and warehousing was built on that site?

It is now a concrete batch plant, being used for nearby highway construction on the I-255 extention, among other things.....

If anyone can make Jacksonville Speedway go, it is the people who got MOWA up and going last year. In a very few months we went from the announcement of a new organization to that organization's first few races getting coverage in a half hour weekly TV show, not to mention an excellent web site. Illinois Sprint Week, crowds, excellent fields, nationally known racers and the many talented local racers we have in Illinois, an exceptional first year. I feel lots better knowing they are trying to do something with Jacksonville. Best of luck and may you have large fields and huge crowds.

I didn't mean to imply that it's all the same people between MOWA and Jacksonville Speedway. Many, many people worked hard to help MOWA get off the ground who are not involved in the Jacksonville effort simply because the speedway project is something that primarily requires the involvement of people who live in Jacksonville. But each of the 4-5 primary people involved with opening the speedway were involved with MOWA in some capacity. A couple of us were also involved in some capacity with the speedway last year.

The speedway lost Bobby and Cathy Hawks as promoters who are great friends of all of us involved in keeping it open. We are trying to keep as much as the rest of the team in place as possible and do our best to fill their very large areas of responsibility both at and away from the track.

The July 29 date at US 36 Speedway is indeed correct. The DuQouin sept. date will be in the Southern Ill Center and was finalized the day after the schedule was released. The Knepper Memorial date for a Sunday night is also correct due to a change in Fair dates. The March BV date will be a split show with Modifieds and the May date will be a split show with Late Models. Notice only 1 day at McCool Junction this year and the 2 day show at BV has been moved to cooler weather in October.

Maybe Morty will show at the March show at Little Belleville,so he can be "Mortified". Of course He might have to get "All Mortied up" beforehand!

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I was hoping for the usual Wednesday night for this year only because it would tie in well with other racing plans that week,but thats ok. Come hell or high water I will be there for the Knepper Memorial. At least I wont have to quit my job to be there like I did a few years ago when my boss at the time wouldnt allow me a few hrs off so I could make it there and back and catch 20 winks in between before work the next day!

I was hoping there would be 2-3 shows at Granite City on this year's schedule......

I'm already looking forward to Springfield weekend. I hope more fans do too regardless of weather forecasts which ended up being wrong last year. Lincoln had awesome track prep and the mile was better too. Reminds me of the old little Springfield deal.