From The Free Press this morning, Tueday Jan 23rd
GM Kevin Bulmer and operations director Amy DuGas have resigned.
By JIM CRESSMAN, FREE PRESS SPORTS REPORTER
Delaware Speedway has lost its top two management personnel and their departure has put the 2007 racing season in jeopardy.
General manager Kevin Bulmer and operations director Amy DuGas both resigned, citing differences with the ownership group.
Bulmer, who replaced Brad McGonigle as GM in September 2004, was with the track for nine years. DuGas began working there in 2002.
"The short answer is I've resigned effective immediately due to untenable working conditions and lack of support from current ownership," Bulmer said last night.
He wouldn't go into details but sources said there's a split among the four-man ownership group and that's what made working conditions "untenable" for Bulmer.
Arlen Scherba of Sombra owns 40 per cent of the track, Dave Meldrum of Stratford has a 10-per-cent share while John Sheppard of Scarborough and Dave McDonald of Freelton, near Guelph, have a company that controls 50 per cent.
The four, along with McGonigle, bought the track from Tony Novotny in November 2002. McGonigle, who spearheaded the purchase of the track from Novotny, was then bought out by his partners in what was not an amicable parting.
Delaware's 56th season is scheduled to open April 28 with a 250-lap endurance race. Regular racing begins May 4.
Race director Jeff Wilcox wouldn't comment on the suggestion the season might not go, instead referring that question to the ownership group.
Messages left for Scherba and McDonald by The Free Press were not immediately returned.
Delaware and Merrittville Speedway in Thorold -- also celebrating its 56th year -- are the oldest stock car tracks in Canada.
"This would have been my 10th year and in that time I've come to know countless people in the business and racing community that have become like family," Bulmer said.
"The dedication and commitment exhibited by the race teams and event staff is second-to-none. These people should expect nothing less from the people operating the race track."
Sources said the track has fallen on financial difficulty and the pressure was on Bulmer to make up for the losses. That apparently created the reported rift that's developed amongst the ownership group.
Many of the race teams said last season the on-track product was making considerable strides under Bulmer's leadership and his willingness to work with the drivers was a reason some had returned to Delaware.
D.J. Kennington of St. Thomas returned last year after an eight-year absence. He continued to run in the CASCAR Super Series, but wanted to get back to his Friday night roots, where he began in 1993. He was track champion in 1996 at 19.
"I thought things were going good," Kennington said last night. "It was fun again at Delaware and they were easy to work with, a lot better than it used to be. A lot of time in the past it was like pulling teeth, but they listened to the drivers and teams and did their best to help us out, and that made it better for us and the fans."
Thanks for the official word.
Wonder where this newspaper and it's reporters were last season. It seems to me they only cover negative stories and are not interested in local sporting events.
Keep up the good work shadowracer you post are very much appreciated.
Not to be smug concerning my comments in the other thread that rasied your ire because it's certainly not good news, but I told ya so. The response I got for suggesting something is amiss at Delaware was exactly what I expected and from about who I thought it would come from, which is, in part, why I posted it to begin with. Just the same, even though my suspicions have been confirmed (the 2006 season apparently DID bomb financially), I don't take it personally. The fact is they lost at least 20,000 ticket sales per year when Cascar slipped and then they booted them altogether to be replaced by shows that failed to draw anywhere near what they need to make it work. Say whatever you will, but Cascar's two big annual events was what has kept that very costly facility afloat for many years I suspect, similar to Autumn Colours giving Peterborogh the means to carry on every year. It's NOT about racing and the racers in the end. It's about business and drawing an audience. That is first and foremost for any speedway anywhere. Passion for a pursuit in itself does not pay the bills. Racers and their fans should maybe understand that better than most.
Please correct me if I am wrong, you state that the track lost $20,000.00 in ticket sales because of the cascar mess. I think the price tag for the two cascar events was in the area of $50,000.00 so based on this and my limited math skills the track is up some $30,000.00. As far as the LD weekend the weather played a very large roll in the poor turn out, and the fact that there was little or no hype from the track like in past years and the management group needs to be accountable for this.
Based on the quote from the race director, and the fact that the ownership group is neither returning calls or making a statement to their racing partners ( yes the racers are partners in spite of you business beliefs) is not ggood and I can see some of these finacial strapped individuals getting a little restless. I wonder if the clasified list over at Mike's shop just got bigger.
Lets hope that the management, staff, and owners are meeting to ensure that we have a racing season in which to attend. if they pull the plug then so be it, just allow the track owner the opportunity to put on the show as he has both the money and deep pockets to get this place back to where it needs to be.
There is the problem on these boards. People DO NOT read. I NEVER said anything about $20,000. I said 20,000 ticket sales. That is based on the historic record of audience counts at the two major Cascar races held at Delaware for so many years. Read it again. We are talking about numbers far larger than $20,000 or $30,000 or even $50,000.