CanadianRacingOnline.com

I think he is talking about the whole thread?

No one ever said the Nascar Canadian Tire Series Race was canceled.

The OSS & NCATS races are on. Wonder who is calling him. I guess people don't follow the whole thread. If people don't check with the track and think it is not on and the race is which it is this not our fault as we never claim to be an official source for track schedules.

CRO- Take this link off of the site... everyone is calling me and telling me this weekend is cancelled !!
ITS NOT FOLKS- OSS and NASCAR at CAYUGA THIS WEEKEND- BE THERE !!!!

I'm not sure if you are referring to my link but I changed the post to highlight the fact that it's from last year so that you stop getting phoned just in case.

I found the documents that they handed out at the press conference. I can scan them if anyone is interested. In the meantime, I did a Google search on "cayuga speedway baskerville" and I found this: http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:W4-q4WW6Yd0J:www.cayugaspeedwaypark.com/index.php%3Fmodule%3Dnewser%26func%3Ddisplay%26topicnum%3D%26nid%3D2%26writer%3D0+cayuga+speedway+baskervill&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=ca

It's Google's cached version of the press release that was on the Cayuga site before they took it down. In case it gets removed from the Google cache, here is the whole thing: (in response to MidAmerica's post below, THIS IS FROM LAST YEAR!!!)

BIG PLANS UNDERWAY FOR CAYUGA
BASKERVILLE

Saturday, July 8, 2006 - 04:55PM

Hagersville, ON (July 8, 2006) – For more than 40 years, Cayuga International Speedway has hosted some of the largest and most popular auto racing events in Canada, and that legacy will be kept alive as the new management team starts the rebuilding process.

After the September 2-3 running of the CASCAR Super Series “Hot Head Henry 200 Powered by Griddly Headz” stock car race, the 5/8ths-mile oval and grandstand will undergo a complete transformation into a state-of-the-art racing facility with a larger racing surface and seating for up to 60,000 fans.

The new ownership team has retained the services of Baskervill Motorsports Design, one of North America’s premier track designers and builders, and Cooper Construction of Oakville, ON, to start construction of this exciting project in September. The new facility is expected to open in 2008.

The upcoming Labor Day event will feature not only a CASCAR Super Series race, but also races in the CASCAR Sportsman Series, and support races from Southern Ontario racing clubs. The weekend will also be a reunion for fans to share in the heritage of the track, with some special names from Cayuga’s racing history that helped give the track its international reputation. A special tribute to long-time Cayuga Speedway owner Bob & Leone Slack will also take place.

As Canada’s largest oval track auto racing facility, Cayuga International Speedway has presented the best in racing. Generations of fans have witnessed top racers in stock car and open-wheel competition at this Southern Ontario track for more than 40 years.

With a new team of dedicated professionals, Cayuga will maintain its rich heritage and use this foundation in building an innovative state-of-the-art facility, providing a new stage of motorsport entertainment at an international level.

There seems to be some confusion about Cayuga's original plans. I attended the press conference at the NASCAR Speed Park last summer. The original plan was the run the CASCAR race on the Labour Day Weekend of 2006. Immediately after the race the construction equipment was going to move in, level the place and begin building the new faclility. There would not have been a 2007 season at the track due to the construction. The new facility would be ready for 2008.

In the fall of 2006 people on this site and other reported no activity at Cayuga. I e-mailed the track to get an update and received no response.

Cayuga had a booth at the Canadian Motorsports Expo in April of 2007 and I had a chance to speak to Eugene Croken who was manning the booth. They had changed the timeline of upgrades. Instead of creating the end-product all at once it was to be an evolutionary process over several years. They had intended to build a rodeo arena, a motocross track and an off-road racing track this year. Does anyone know if any of it happened? I e-mailed Eugene after I wrote an article for my site in order to get his feedback. I never heard from him.

At the original summer 2006 press conference Bob Slack was on hand and it was announced that he was acting as a consultant to the new owners. Does anyone know if Bob is still on the scene there?

I really don't know much more than that.

Some problems that I've seen:
-they made a huge announcement and then changed their plans without a follow up announcement
-they don't answer e-mails
-the website is lacking information
-there are no contact names on the site. I have no idea who is running the place. Is there anyone there with any racing promotion experience or track management experience?

CRO,First of all ,they never said it would be ready for the first Nascar CTS Race at Vaughan or anywhere else. They were not even going to hold the first race last labour  day.So where you got that from? Who Said they don`t know what it would cost? Funny stuff about people saying things that work there,AHHH the truth like they know,everybody thinks these owners are stupid but they are the ones with all the money and success. That is the problem with keeping past employee`s from a company that was dead, who do you think had a hand in helping the track be in that condition it was in?The people from the past!. They all know the right way to do things to make it a success,Yeah NOBODY did anything for almost 10yrs.Now someone spends time and money and now everybody out there is now an expert,haha And seeing as i am a new user here and being told i don`t know the facts, and don`t come on here to make a statements which means this is a waste of my time, If i was going to shed some light on things now you can continue to have a site that is full Rumors and crap instead of the truth. Thanks for your warm welcome,So good luck in your RUMOR WORLD.

tc a word of advice from one who has been at the sharp point of the stick with building a track. NEVER over promise and under deliver it will destroy any fan,team, corporate,investor and media credibility. in 06 due to the wettest year in memory in sask. we had to delay opening by two weeks it was only with a open and honest relationship with all involved that led to a great first year.if you wish to see what a club with a ton of help and buckets of volunteers can build in two years go to autoclearingmotorspeedway.ca and see the fastest short track in Canada,ps done with out $ 1 of public money local, prov, or federal.

Well I for one am willing to cut the new management some slack, after receiving a letter from them in the mail today. I truly believe they are trying their best, and am willing to give them the benefit of a doubt.

I think they need constructive criticism, not negativity.

Yeah...I got that letter too. If there's a 2008 and 2009 season at Cayuga, the current season ticket holders should be quite happy.

Though I had to laugh at the part where he said they were hoping to be able to attract Craftsman Trucks, and maybe a Bush series race. (that's how it was spelled in the letter.)

Quite frankly, its no nevermind to me that the track doesn't seem to be destined to ever look like the artist sketches that were floating around at the beginning of the season. Gimme clean washrooms and a concession stand where the lineup moves and I'm good, as long as the racing is there. I only got out for the ASA/Biederman race, and from what I saw, the track seemed like its in pretty decent shape. They need some announcing, but otherwise I was glad I went.

Personally, I think they made two big mistakes. Running on Saturday night being one of them, and scheduling too many events. If you recall, back in the "glory days" of Cayuga, they maybe ran 4 or 5 events total. IIRC, there was your 2 Molson ASA races, your Big Rig weekend, and a Tractor Pull. The main event was pretty much always on the Sunday. And all of those events had huge promotion. I can remember seeing posters and hearing commercials for this stuff here in London. Oval racing hasn't seen that kind of promotion in a long time, and the events were HUGE.

(sidebar: Labor Day weekend is coming up. The only motorsports ad I've heard in the past week or so, on a station people actually listen to, is from one of the drag strips. So there ya go.)

I think this season they spread themselves too thin...too many events and not enough promotional dollars. It was like they blew all the promo money on the first NCTS race, and hoped it would be enough to keep people coming back to other events at 45-50 bucks a pop. Its been proven that race fans will pay top dollar for a topnotch show...but they probably won't do it twice a month.

And the jacking the price up in the final week before an event was kinda dumb too.

Anyway, I wish them well. I also wish some common sense for them.

What don't I know ? The new management said they would start on the new track this year and they didn't deliver. They also cancelled quite a few events. You will never get a fan base with a start like that. The Ontario racing community has been given alot of broken promises in the past. I know I am very critical of things on here at times but am sick and tired of the same old same old. If you can tell me how Cayuga has done anything to encourage me to come back to the track, show me. High prices and cancelled shows !!! I would like nothing better than Cayuga to return to it's glory days and was very hopeful that the new ownership group could do that but truth is they'll have a hard time doing it after the results of their first season. If they can present a feasible plan for the next three years at Cayuga over the off season it may be a start but please don't tell me the "NEW RICHMOND" will be built by 2009. I don't need any more broken promises.

BTW I know only 4 cars registered for the LM event but the promotion in my opinion was very poor and besides how many cars preregister for an event anyways? I know of a few cars that were going but weren't registered. Some simple info at the tracks could have rectified that.

In the end I hope Cayuga returns to the Crown Jewel that Bob Slack built it into, it would be a shame for all of the Slack's hard work to go to waste.