Delaware Speedway
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| Canada's Home Town Track | ||
|---|---|---|
| Location | 1640 Gideon Drive, Delaware, Ontario, Canada | |
| Capacity | 7,000 (Estimated) | |
| Owner | Arlen Scherba | |
| Operator | Paul Houghton (Operations Manager), Jeff Wilcox (Race Director), John Houghton (Public Relations) | |
| Opened | 1952 | |
| Former Names | Brodie's Delaware Speedway Delaware International Speedway |
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| Major Events | APC 300 Street Stock Showdown Truck Challenge Twin 75's Enduro Nationals Enduro All-Star Race
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| Egg Oval | ||
| Surface | Paved | |
| Circuit Length | 0.8 km (0.5 mi) | |
| Banking | Turns - 5-7 degrees (Estimated) | |
Delaware Speedway is a half-mile paved race track that is one of the oldest continuously operating tracks in Canada. It is located a few minutes west of London, Ontario northeast of Delaware, Ontario. It hosts stock car racing every Friday night during the summer. The track opened in 1952 as a quarter-mile dirt track and was later expanded to the 1/2 paved oval of today.
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[edit] Divisions
The track hosts six different divisions as part of its home classes (Late Model, Modified, Street Stock, Truck, Enduro, Junior Late Model).
[edit] Late Model
Late Models are purpose-built race cars. They are the fastest weekly class at the speeday. Late Model teams commonly travel back and forth between Delaware Speedway and Flamboro Speedway for large invitational events promoted by the Weekend Warrior Series. The signature event for the Late Models is "The Great Canadian Race" held on the long weekend in September.
[edit] Modified
The modified class is similar to the Late Model class but are open wheeled. The maximum speed of the cars is slightly slower than their late model counterparts. The class struggled for drivers in the early 2000s, but has bounced back in recent years with the introduction of a more aggressive body style, as well as increased participation in invitational events.
[edit] Super Stock
This class is made up of mid 1970's through mid 1980s North American vehicles. The cars are sometimes described as "The Late Model of Yesterday" in reference to their similar look to the old Late Model class. The cars have been modified with safety and performance in mind but still retain a stock frame, body and many chassis components. The division was known as the "Street Stock" class until its name was changed to "Super Stock" several races into the 2007 season. The change occurred as a result of gradual improvements to the quality of the cars in recent years and the signing of a new sponsor to the division.
[edit] Trucks
An entry level class that is a proving ground for future street stock, modified or late model drivers. The trucks use automatic transmissions to be easier to drive. The trucks were the largest division at the speedway in the 2005-2006 seasons before being regularly overtaken by the Super Stock class.
[edit] Enduro
The endurance division runs on a separate day from the regular divisions with an emphasis on staying out and making as many laps as possible. The division sees upwards of 80 drivers competing at the same time on the track. The minimum length for an enduro race is 250 laps. Once a year the top drivers face off in a Friday 25-lap format "All-Star Race". The at it's height in the mid-90's the enduro class boasted races of almost 200 cars competing in a single race. Today's enduro car has evolved from the original in significant safety strides. Many drivers and fans have offered different explanations for the decline, but many see the decrease in cars a result of lower availability of affordable used cars that were available in the early 90's. Speedway officials hinted during the 2008 season that steps were going to be taken to correct imbalances in the class.
[edit] Junior Racing League
The Junior Racing League races on Wednesday nights on a special roadcourse in the infield. The drivers (aged 8-17) years old race 1/2 scale late model stock cars. The program was formerly known as the "CASCAR Junior Program" and was founded in 1997. Racing is divided into two divisions - Junior (8-12 years old) and Senior (13-17 years old). The program has seen many drivers graduate to higher divisions in racing, including J.R. Fitzpatrick.
[edit] Chaos Cars
In an effort to create an easy entry level and add additional entertainment value to the track, the speedway announced in the 2008 Rule package the introduction of a 4-cylinder "Chaos Car". The class ran in "Novelty" type events before Enduro races and occasionally at the conclusion of the Friday program. Over ten different vehicles were entered into competition in the first year. Race courses included "barrel turns" where drivers had to drive 360 degress around a barrel before continuing, weaving cones, stop boxes as well as small launch ramps in the season finale.
[edit] History
[edit] Super Modifieds
The 1/2 Mile asphalt surface is said to have been specifically built to accommodate super modifed racing. The "Supers" raced at the speedway from the 70's through 80's before being dropped from the racing card and replaced with Super Late models. Super Modified racing did not return to Delaware Speedway until 2006 when the International Super Modified Association (ISMA) touring series made a stop.
[edit] CASCAR Era (1986-2005)
The history of CASCAR and Delaware Speedway are very closely connected together. Delaware is widely recognized as the “Birthplace of CASCAR”. The promoter of CASCAR, Tony Novotny was simultaneously promoter of both CASCAR Operations and Delaware Speedway before selling the track in 2001.
The track hosted CASCAR Super Series races from 1986 until 2005 when Delaware Speedway dropped CASCAR from its schedule in the same year the track left the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series after a two year membership. The reason for the drop was delays in the delievery of the CASCAR schedule, prompting Delaware to fill the 2 annual CASCAR dates with its own events. Observers also cited strained relations between the track and CASCAR over the series' operations being controlled by its impending buyer NASCAR. All of the CASCAR Super Series' races in 1986 were held at the track.
[edit] NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series (2004-2005)
Delaware Speedway became the first Canadian track to be member of the Nascar Dodge Weekly Series in the 2004 season. At the conclusion of the 2005 racing season the speedway cancelled its NASCAR sanctioning at the same time as it dropped its CASCAR Super Series events. During the period after a series of rainouts and under the NASCAR rules at the time, the speedway was forced to run a number of double feature nights to make the minimum number of races required under the NASCAR program. With double feature nights increasing the weekly payout and not increasing the number of fans, the speedway reconsidered its place within NASCAR.
[edit] Independence Period (2006-2008)
Following the end of NASCAR Sanctioning the speedway management set about a focus on building the profile of its weekly racing programs. The track worked with the Ontario based inter-speedway organization Weekend Warrior Series (WWS) in an attempt to increase travel between Ontario-based speedways and also introduced new Late Model events such as the annual Canada Day PartSource 140 and giving the former CASCAR 300-lap Labour Day race to the division.
At the beginning of the 2007 racing season the track General Manager and Operations Director resigned from the speedway. Jerry Wilcox was put in place as Operations Manager was and the 2007 race season went ahead as scheduled. Wilcox would remain operations manager until the conclusion of his term at the end of the 2008 racing season.
[edit] New Ownership & Return to NASCAR (2009- )
On January 21, 2009 the speedway formally announced that one of the business's part owners, Arlen Scherba, had bought out the other business partners to become the sole owner of the speedway business. In the same release the track announced its return NASCAR weekly sanctioning under the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series banner. The release also indicated that the speedway land lease was no longer a concern.
A new operations manager had been put in place before the new year, Paul Houghton, who had previously directed the track's Junior Racing League (JRL) program. Jeff Wilcox continued his role as Race Director, and John Houghton continued as Public Relations manager.
[edit] External links
