Dirt
Summit Motorsports Park
Not Opening for 2020 Season
Bill Bader Jr. describes decision
to sit out season devastated
by the COVID-19 pandemic
By Josh Hachat
A
treacherous drag racing season
for everyone thus far in 2020 dealt
a sudden and unfortunate blow to
Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports
Park in Norwalk, Ohio, as the track, long
considered one of the top drag racing facilities
in the world, announced on social media that it
was officially closing for the 2020 race season.
Track owner Bill Bader Jr. gave the official
verification on June 2 on Facebook, officially
ending a year that never got started due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The final blow likely came
after NHRA announced it was postponing the
start of its season, cancelling its annual stop at
the track.
The national race had become one of the
top races on the circuit, drawing big crowds
and a huge racer count. Bader also announced
earlier this spring that the track’s annual Night
of Fire, which draws the biggest one-day crowd
at the track – and generally considered one of
the top specialty races in the nation – had also
been cancelled, as well as a number of other
smaller races.
The track still had the likes of Street Outlaws:
No Prep Kings, the PDRA, and NMCA still to
come during the summer and fall this year,
but that wasn’t enough for Bader to open the
track in 2020.
Bader fully explained the situation in an open
letter distributed to media outlets and posted on
the track’s website on June 3. DI
While planning what was to be a standout
season of racing at Summit Motorsports Park
in Norwalk, Ohio, the Coronavirus hit.
Our country halted and hunkered down, and
yet, I was hopeful that I would be able to open,
as soon as possible, the facility that has been the
source of pride and passion for my family for
more than 50 years.
I was prepared to do whatever I needed to do
to ensure that every guest who came through our
gates would be safe while still experiencing everything
that has helped Summit Motorsports
Park stand out in the motorsports industry for
so many years.
I was eager to present the fast cars and fireworks,
the entertainment and excitement, and
most of all, “The Norwalk Experience.” My team
wanted the same.
I was confident that this year’s offerings, including
the highly anticipated 43rd Annual Kelly
Night Under Fire, would help us reach
record attendance as we have so many
times before.
But it was becoming apparent that I
was not going to be able to accomplish
all of that, as our country was still so
adversely affected by the Coronavirus
pandemic.
While faced with trying to produce
events that would not, under current
circumstances, hold up to the high
standards that I set years ago when I
took over the family business from my
father, I was well aware that we had
already lost 83 percent of our revenue
for the year, and we wouldn’t be able
to make the money we need to make to
successfully sustain operations if we
opened. In fact, we would lose money,
and I can’t responsibly take that financial
risk.
So I decided that I owed it to Summit
Motorsports Park racers, race fans,
sponsors and supporters to cancel this
season, and start planning to make the
2021 season the most magnificent and monumental
yet.
The majority of my team — whom, like you,
I consider to be family — is laid off, so please be
patient as I work to regroup and plan a most
remarkable rebound that will show racers, race
fans, sponsors and supporters why we’re America’s
Racetrack.
From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for
your support and for standing by me, my family,
my team and Summit Motorsports Park in these
turbulent and trying times. Here’s to a tremendous
2021 together.
May God Bless you and your family, and God
Bless America!
— Bill Bader Jr.,
President of Summit Motorsports Park
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30 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated.com Issue 157