The secret to success at Painesville Speedway is not that secret.  But has apparently eluded the current management for some time now.    They are certainly not DUMB, I realize in order to put yourself in a position to purchase the speedway, they must be intelligent businessmen.  In my humble opinion mistakes are just that mistakes, if one learns from them, they will make a better person out of you.  One that recognizes what went wrong and makes the necessary corrections to prevent the same outcome.   The definition of INSANITY is-- doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.   STOP doing the same thing!!!!!!    

1. Admit your mistakes

2.Decide if you truly want to be in the Race World

3. (this one maybe tough) Be Honest!!!  Be fare,  be firm

4. get to know your clientele, drivers, crews, fans

5. appreciate what they bring to the table IE. heart, dedication, desire,  family!!!

6. DO NOT i repeat DO NOT talk down to anyone, they are not beneath you (the balance in there checking account has no bearing on there character)

7. get some rules,   make them clear, stick to them!!!

8. Maintain your facility,  if you expect folks to be proud of racing at your track,  SHOW some pride yourself!

9. accept constructive criticism,   with a smile    not  "if you don't like it you can load your shit and go"

10. lastly make your apologies, (lord knows they are owed) ask for forgiveness   and move forward!!!  I humble man is a smart man  

Painesville Speedway can and will be full to capacity every weekend.  If and only IF management  truly wants it to be.    The drivers, crews as well as the fans of PS,  in my experience, are truly some of the finest people i have ever had the privilege of knowing.             get to know them!!!!!!!!!!!!!      you just might like them.

HONESTY will breed respect,  without  respect you will fail  garanteed!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe Painesville ought to think about doing a fan appreciation night...everything 1 doillar...that seems like a good idea.  www.sanduskyspeedway.com  for all the local racing fans..they have one tomorow night. 

What the hell are you people talking about? I want specific examples!!! Comment now by using the comment reply from this blog. I don't want a bunch of new blog entries, I want comment replies!!  Who exactly are the drivers that have problems with Jimmy Cohagen and why?

Let me tell you something: If one guy keeps you from racing, then you should go somewhere else. If all those drivers hate Jimmy Cohagen so much that they can't seem to race at Painesville Speedway then they have no real tie to the community and they really don't care about Painesville Speedway. There are quite a few happy drivers at Painesville Speedway. Granted, there are various issues that need attention, but holy moly, if one person affects you that much, then don't come back. Go race at Lorain County Speedway where everything is perfect and there is never a fight or disagreement about the rules and all the cars are legal. Wow, if you believe that then you are even dumber than I thought.

I read what "sisappy" or whatever his name is wrote and I agree with a lot of it, but the Jimmy Cohagen thing, just sounds like another ridiculous claim. Its like the Jimmy Cohagen fever epidemic. I think people hate Jimmy Cohagen because other people say they hate Jimmy Cohagen.

Example:

Idiot: Hey did you here Painesville Speedway is closing?

Dumb Listener: Oh really? Why?

Idiot: Because Jimmy Cohagen is a jerk and all the drivers left because he is a bad person.

Dumb Listener: Wow, I hate Jimmy Cohagen too!

See, the talking just goes on and on, now isn't that stupid. Jimmy Cohagen did not kill Painesville Speedway, so quit the bull crap. Get on with it and get on the track. There was a great show just this last Saturday and great attendance and I didn't hear one fan even mention Jimmy Cohagen. I believe Cohagen was there and he didn't keep fans out last week. Hmmm, "wake up America".

Oh hey, remember that time when Jimmy Cohagen shot the tires out of that one car just so his favorite driver could win the race. Ooh, how about that time when he put sand in the point leaders gas tank just so his favorite driver could win. The best of all, was when Cohagen made up a new rule that only his favorite drivers could run Chevy 350's while the other cars had to run moped engines. That was a real bamboozle!!!!

There are my example , please share yours!!!

First off I would like to state that I am a fan of Painesville Speedway. I have been going to the speedway for almost 30 years now. So anything that I may say in my blogs are based solely on the desire to see PS return back to it’s glory days of the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s.

 

I do not think that as stated by management on the paragraph titled “Fan Blogs….” That a person must sign their “real name” in order to have an opinion. They have stated that one who does not sign their name is lacking in “courage”. I disagree. Drivers and family members and anyone else for that matter ought to be able to have an opinion and state it without the fear of penalty because they signed their name. PS management has not yet proven that they can be trusted. I think who ever wrote this paragraph totally misses the point of what a blog like this is all about. It should be used as a sounding board and a tool for management to hear what the fans/driver want and have to say. Not a place to try to intimidate someone for not signing their name.

 

I would like to say that the turn out Saturday night was awesome. It was such a great night of racing and the staff and management did a great job of putting together a really fun night of racing. It just goes to show that small track racing is not dead as some have tried to convince us it is alive and well. This can be an every week occurrence with the same kind of consistent efforts every week.

 

On to the drivers… I personally know about 8 or 9 drivers who have said that they “will not return to PS until the ownership/management (namely Jim Cohagan) has changed”. Now we all know that is more than likely not going to happen anytime in the near future because to get rid of or change a management member in the eyes of  PS would be a sign of weakness and therefore will not happen. So what we all need to do is to speak out against the management and ownership and express our desire for a more consistent and stable operation. Revolving divisions and the ever changing rule books are not fair to drivers who are trying to play by the rules. I have also heard past drivers state that the owners/management of  PS like to act as though “we (the drivers) are their employees”. This must stop. The drivers should be looked at as a product. You want to supply your customer (the fans) with the best possible product, not belittle and demean the drivers until they can no longer take it and leave as they have often times been told to do by management. Just remember that just as any Ford and GM’s automobiles are a direct reflection of the ownership and management of the company. PS drivers are a direct reflection of PS ownership and management. If Ford or GM were having a problem with the way their cars were being built would they just throw them out or would they try to fix the problem?

 

I will have many comments (good and bad) in the near future in hopes of encouraging PS ownership to take a little more pride and interest in their company and not to look at PS as an annoyance and nuisance. Also, I would like to thank Wheels (Mark Allen) for inspiring me to write this blog. I know he was part of the former ownership/management (which I didn’t always agree with either) and some may look at his postings as “sour grapes” but to me if I didn’t know better he sounds like your everyday passionate, diehard PS fan who wants to see PS succeed.

 

As my brother would say…….. Lets Race…….

  

Sincerely,

 THE FAN

First things first--- I just wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS to T.J.!! Fantastic driving young man. It was great to observe this fine driver go out and kick some butt with the big dogs!!! This goes to show you what happens when you put the desire, heart, and drive back into the track. This young man is a great example of what a lot of the drivers are missing.

Painesville Speedway is a small local track that we have all come to love in some way or another. I love to see the look in my sons eyes when the anthem is played and the engines fire up. I brought my brother to the track (his first time) Saturday for the camper pull. It was nice to see the excitement of a first time observer. We need to see some more of that. It seems to me that we are all, including myself, loosing sight of why we come here in the first place.  Why did we all start coming here? Tradition, love of racing, cheering on our husbands, counsins, uncles, etc... I don't know about the rest of you, but I like to know that my husband is safe and having a great time out there on that track. I used to be able to watch the races and cheer him on laughing and having a great time. Now I am watching out for certain cars to be near him, wondering what they may be out there to do. I have seen the intentional hits, spin outs, and excessive rubbing. This is getting to be a bit much don't you all think?

I just want to say what a great nite Saturday was. It made staying up till 5am Saturday morning with the team working on our cars worth it. Thanks to Jason and Nelson and Grandpa for helping me, dad & mom get the new car going. It's sad to see Grandma (I mean Grand Am) go but I love the Cav! Can't wait till next week. Hey Luke- don't throw a rod out in the field. btw nice job out there TJ. GO OG!

Are the rules different for the Regular Figure 8 than the Street Stock 8?

I found this rule in the Regular Figure 8 rule book...

e.      AT ANY TIME YOUR CAR GOES FOUR TIRES OFF THE RACING SURFACE DURING THE FEATURE FOR ANY REASON YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED, NO MATER IF YOU ARE PUSHED OFF OR DROVE OFF UNDER YOUR OWN POWER.

I didnt even put that in bold lettering, it was clear as day in the rulebook and meant to stand out. And yes, it was missing in the street stock rule book.

rules?

"no car can compete in two divisions"  ammend.(unless the owners run the place into the ground and blame the economy for the lack of car count)

"you must keep your car clean and neatly lettered" amend. (or paint weeds on the sides so it blends in with the fence so noone can read your number anyway)

"rules are subject to change" ammend(oh wait, there is no ammendment for that one...)

  Bobby Fatica showed my wife my latest blog ten minutes after posting it, while they were on break at work.   Bobby thinks I can't let go of the past, and my wife thinks I'm better off to keep my opinions to myself.   "Get over it", she said.   However, I would like to voice my opinions.   I've waited a long time to see improvements, giving the powers to be ample time to get back on track.  The future is always dependent on the past.

I thought of a good analogy...remember Charles Dicken's Christmas Carol?  You know Tiny Tim, Ebenezer Scrooge, and those three scary ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future.   Well, if 'ol Ebenezer (Jason and Jimmy) don't listen to the ghosts of the PAST (myself), PRESENT (you all), and FUTURE (depends on them)....... Tiny Tim (the track) and Bob Cratchit (us)...well, no one is going to like the outcome of the story.

Note to the Web Administrator.  Show everyone you care about Painesville Speedway.  Updating data on the website should be your first priority every morning.  The internet is a great tool to promote your track!  Here it is Tuesday PM, and you're still advertising last week's event.  If you are too busy to be bothered with the work, hand over the responsibility to someone who cares.

This week was the first time at  Painesville all year, but i've been reading all the posts staying updated on all the ongoings.  To my surprise who was there, MEL!!!

I was worried he was hauling his car all the way to Lorain to race out there after all the bad mouthing, but he was at Painesville!!!  What happened?