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Topic: Historic Musakogee half-mile makes return Friday
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David Smith Jr
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June 04, 2017 at 11:14:48 AM
Joined: 11/20/2004
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Historic half-mile makes return Friday

  • By Mike Kays/Phoenix Sports Editor
  • 8 hrs ago
  •  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Randy Gass’ first track to own is also the first track he ever raced at.

The Mounds electrical contractor raced at Thunderbird Speedway in the late 90s, in a factory stock car he picked up earlier that evening. 

 

“Picked it up in Ponca City, drove it straight here and missed the heat races. The B feature was on the track and I jumped in the car, took off and raced it,” he said.

And now Gass has come full circle. It’s his operation as he prepares to re-open the historic half-mile Stockyards oval on Friday with a multi-menu of racing.

“I wasn’t looking for it, but after I was approached, I thought. hey, it’s a 100-year-old track. It’d be cool to bring back something that people have forgotten about,” he said.

Some might have forgotten that early part of its history — one that has had its ups and downs. It began as a horse racing track in the first few years of the 20th century, then in the 1930s shifted to four-wheel races. 

Beset by tugs-of-war over the years involving some of 17 promoters and the city’s Fairgrounds Board over facility upkeep, costs and lease issues commenced, it eventually led to the facility’s closure in April 2003, just as Outlaw Motor Speedway opened and the discovery of faulty structural issues at the old race facility was made. Then-promoter Charlie Fulton filed a $600,000 breach of contract suit against the board that was settled out of court.

Fulton, who died in 2011, bought the lease from Harold Leep in 1998. He tried to buy the facility before, as did Gary Clay before he built the Outlaw track on U.S. 69 on the north edge of the Oktaha city limits. That facility too went through multiple ownerships and has been moth-balled, with no definite return to operations in place.

Stanley Slader hasn’t forgotten about the track. He jump-started the track again in 2010, but a stroke forced him to cease operations as promoter in 2013. That was the last time racing occurred there. But Slader is back as the promoter for Gass. The two have spent countless hours along with scattered volunteers, getting the track ready since a deal was reached to re-open the track in March.

“This place has always been a part of my life,” said Slader. “I started racing there in 1972 and took over promoter reins in 2010. I’m happy I could help Randy and I’m glad Randy is here for the racers.”

Gass has another vested interest — his son Noah, now 13, has been racing in some form since he was 6, according to his dad.  It’s Noah’s connection to sports in a sports family that was active in multiple sports. At 6, he developed a heart condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which impacts blood flow in the heart muscle. Doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital told the family Noah couldn’t play sports.

“His mother and I were huge in sports, so that was tough,” Randy Gass said. “I asked the doctor ‘what about racing’ and he said Noah couldn’t do that either. I remember him asking me what I was going to do when he’s in a tight race to the finish and his heart gets to beating hard and I was like ‘what is going to happen if one day he gets mad at a girlfriend or wife and his heart is beating out of his chest? He’s going to live life.’”

Thunderbird’s first night will include five classes — the MARS Dirt Car Series, USRA A and B Modifieds and also Pure Stock and Grand National — in what is being billed as the Michael Hornback Benefit. Hornback, a local racing veteran, was critically injured in a vehicle accident at Peak and York recently and remains hospitalized. 

“He’s a Modified driver whose dad raced. It’s a racing family and we’re going to do some special things for them,” Slader said. “I think we’ll have anywhere from 120 to 150 cars.”

Tate Cole will be among those. The Fort Gibson driver raced in Modified last year at Outlaw.

 

“I like the layout. I think the banking is better here,” Cole said. “It should be a better draw being closer to Muskogee and it’s good to see someone care enough to get it back up.”

Mark Martin of Tahlequah, a veteran driver who like Slader started racing Late Models in the 1970s, has been part of the group of volunteers getting the place ready. 

“It took three weeks of cleaning and mowing before we could start getting it in shape and it looks great, compared to where we started,” Martin said. “It’s great compared to what it looked like when we quit racing the last time. The roof from the old fairgrounds is gone,which looks odd for those who have been out here for years.”

He plans on resuming racing Pure Stocks.

“It’s full of memories for me. I met my wife there and we’ve been together 34 years,” he said. “My best memory racing was not as much me as it was the days Stanley Durrett was promoter and we had Larry Phillips, the Ballards. ... this was a heavy-hitting place back then.”

A converted 40-foot-storage container has replaced the old press box. Finishing touches have been made of late on fencing going down the straight away past turn four. Within weeks, fencing around turns three and four will be completed.

Racing will continue on Fridays through the summer, Gass said. He had hoped to open a micro track on the infield of the existing track but those plans have hit some hurdles and he said that phase won’t likely be completed this season.

“Some of this is going to take more time than I bargained for,” he said. “My idea going forward is to do specials, including tractor pulls and monster trucks. I’ve even had people approach me to do a rodeo. I’m just not sure how much of this will occur this year. Right now we just want to get racing  resumed.”

Test and tune day is today starting at 1 p.m., weather permitting. Racing will get underway ay 7:30 Friday. Gates will open at 4 and hot laps get underway at 7.


David Smith Jr.
www.oklahomatidbits.com

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