Last Saturday, Arena Racing had its eighth race of the season and saw a record crowd for the season. “We had many new spectators joining us last Saturday to witness indoor car racing at its best and many, if not all, left with a night to remember”, says Rich Baylie, Executive Director of Arena Racing.
Along with the regular indoor auto racing racers of Arena Racing who are competing for the $10,000 first place Pennzoil Cup Series championship prize, the Deltaplex Arena invited numerous quarter midget drivers from all over the Midwest to compete in a relatively new one of a kind in America indoor quarter midget racing series racing on an indoor, high banked race track. This series is to compete at a minimum of five race nights (in conjunction with the Arena Racing Pennzoil Cup Series) this season between now and Championship night, March 25th. “We had well over 40 quarter midget entries for last Saturday competing among five race heats, all coming from all over the Midwest including Michigan, Ohio and Indiana” says Peter Jackson, General Manager of Arena Racing Grand Rapids. Peter continued… “Adding the quarter midget series definitely elevated the excitement level even more and it offered a one in a kind night of entertainment, especially since spectators now got see two different racing series for the price of one.”
However, as the Arena Racing Pennzoil Cup Series progressed through the night, it was obvious to spectators and officials of Arena Racing that the competition had become extremely fierce among racers and their teams. So much so, that during the Top Dog Race, the final race of the night where the chase for first, second and third place of the days racing take place, numerous incidents occurred on the track (before, during and after the racing) as well as in the pits. A melee broke out that resulted in numerous altercations that prompted officials to immediately interject and remove participants from the track and in some cases, from the building. “We take these actions very seriously and absolutely don’t tolerate any unsportsmanlike behavior among participants and their crew whatsoever” said Jack Gritter, Race Director of Arena Racing. “We’ve never had any problems like this before and I expect that we’ll move forward with exciting, fair, fun and fair competition and good sportsmanship.” Gritter continued.
Further, this week, officials of Arena Racing Grand Rapids have reiterated their desire for good, clean, sportsmanship among all participants. Officials have expressed that they will still expect strong competition among drivers, after all this is REAL race car racing, however, they have communicated to all racers, crew and other participants that unsportsmanlike conduct will not be tolerated. Officials then handed down numerous suspensions that will take effect immediately which will affect all those involved in last week’s incident.