Lake County Fair Board cancels Lakeport Speedway contract with NCRA; work underway to resolve issues
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Fair Board has canceled its contract with the Northern California Racing Association for the Lakeport Speedway, a move that the fair’s CEO said is meant to allow the fair to pursue a new contract for the track’s operation.
Fair CEO Sheli Wright said the Fair Board of Directors took the action at its Sept. 8 meeting after reviewing the current contract with NCRA for operating the Lakeport Speedway.
Wright said that the fair board, taking into consideration NCRA’s ongoing complaints about the speedway contract, voted unanimously to cancel the contract “in the hopes of meeting changing times and current needs.”
Dan Camacho, NCRA’s president-elect who takes office on Jan. 1, said the fair gave NCRA a 30-day notice on Tuesday.
He said the contract between NCRA and the fair has had some issues that need to be resolved and that the fair is trying to figure out a way to work with the association.
The news of the contract’s cancellation has upset local racers and racing enthusiasts, including Mike Sullivan, the speedway’s 2020 modified champion, who on Facebook criticized the decision, noting the work he and others have put into the facility.
Sullivan said he, his employees and “a very dedicated group of NCRA members as well have all busted their butts to make everything so much better after it was left and such state disarray,” referring to change in track management that took place in 2019.
On the NCRA Facebook page on Friday, the association posted an update in response to community concerns, explaining that it had requested the fair extend the contract. However, “due to the way the contract was written and errors that were beyond our control unfortunately the best option for the fairgrounds was to null the contract and given [sic] us our 30 notice. At this time the fairgrounds is working with us to get the situation resolved. We appreciate everyone’s support right now! We will keep everyone posted as the situation changes.”
Wright emphasized that the Lakeport Speedway is not closing, noting that the fair board waited until after NCRA completed its race series before voting to give notice.
“The directors believe this is the first step in the process of acquiring a new contract that could be beneficial to both the fair and appealing to the local racers,” Wright said.
She said canceling the contract does not preclude NCRA getting another contract, it’s just a cancellation of this particular contract which was scheduled to end in December of this year.
Race season is usually through October. This year, however, NCRA gave notice that their last race of the season would be Sept. 12, Wright said.
The speedway’s season didn’t get underway until late May, when Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace let them go forward with “test and tune” practice sessions, as Lake County News has reported.
Camacho said that the speedway wasn’t allowed to have anyone in the stands this year, but instead live-streamed the races on Facebook.
Over the summer months of racing, Camacho said viewership grew until, by the last race, they had 3,600 viewers.
“It was actually a lot of fun,” Camacho said of the live-streamed races.
The challenges NCRA faced this year due to COVID-19 followed major changes in 2019, when the speedway underwent a change in promoters.
As for next steps, Wright told Lake County News that the fair board isn’t yet sure of what process it will follow.
Camacho also said he didn’t know when talks might open with the fair for a new speedway contract.
However, there appears to be plenty of time to work out a new contract between the fair and NCRA, whose season in 2021 is expected to start in April or May, Camacho said.
“I think we have a good relationship with the fairgrounds,” and there are just a few things that need to be worked out, Camacho said.
At this point, Camacho said NCRA isn’t getting indications from Public Health about whether they could once again have live audiences when the racing season opens in the spring.
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