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 Horn began by noting that this will be the Speedways 12th year in
Lincoln.
He talked about last season and said it had been a good year for the
race track. He noted that last year Ken Dobson had joined the team
as the promoter for the track and races. Dobson will return again
this year to work with the Horns.
In addition, Horn was excited about the addition of a professional
race announcer. Eric Heunefeld will be announcing the races in the
earlier part of the season. Huenefeld is an experienced announcer
who has worked at a total of 27 tracks across an eight state region.
Last year he was named the 2014 Short Track Announcer of the Year by
a related racing association.
Horn said Huenefeld has a reputation for being an entertainer on the
track. He can get the crowd excited and up on its feet, making for a
more entertaining event for everyone.
 He also noted that in addition to doing the announcing, Huenefeld
will assist in promoting track events, and has, with Horn and
Dobson, come up with a list of ideas for special promotion nights.
At the moment, none of these suggestions have been firmed up, but
Horn is confident several of them will be. The ideas include things
such as giving away free items, holding “town” nights where
residents of a particular Logan County community can get a discount
on admission, and special activities for “Kids Night."
In speaking about his request to the city for this year’s schedule,
Horn re-capped last year. He said the city had given the track 90
minutes of curfew extensions to be used as needed. In general the
track did very well at keeping the racing on schedule last year. In
total, they used 25 minutes of their curfew extensions with 22
minutes being used in one event. He noted that at that one event, it
had been a wild, and exciting night for racers and fans. There had
been four red flags that stopped the races completely for a time,
which is what necessitated the extension.
Horn presented the proposed schedule for the 2015 season. On that
schedule there are two Saturday “Test and Tune” events scheduled for
March 21 and March 28, weather permitting. The first official race
night is scheduled for Friday, April 3rd.
The schedule will run through October 9th. Time off will be taken in
June for the Pigs & Swigs weekend in Lincoln, the Logan County Fair
the weekend of Aug 9 and the Lincoln Balloon Festival the weekend of
August 28.
The last two Friday’s in September and the first Friday in October
are tagged as race rain dates. If no races are rained out, those
three weekends are currently open on the schedule.
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Horn expressed his appreciation to the city of Lincoln for
their support of the race track. He asked that the tentative
schedule be approved and that the city once again allow for a
total of 90 minutes of curfew extensions for the season.
Todd Mourning asked how the 2015 schedule compared to last year,
were there more races? Horn said, at the moment there are fewer
races because of the three rain dates. Mourning also asked
about attendance. Horn said he didn’t have figures to present, but
noted the higher payout races historically bring in more racers and
more fans.
Mayor Keith Snyder reviewed the terms from last year, saying the
track had been permitted 90 minutes of extensions to be used no more
than 30 minutes per night.
Races held on Friday and Saturday nights have a curfew of 11 p.m.
Sunday and weekday races have a curfew of 10:30 p.m. when school is
not in session. During the school year, that curfew goes to 9 p.m.
Scott Copper commented on the promotional ideas saying he was not a
race fan, but some of the ideas on the list given to the council
might be good enough to bring him to the track.
Snyder brought the discussion to a close saying the city would post
the tentative schedule on its website and give the public an
opportunity to review it and make comments. Approval of the schedule
will then be placed on the voting agenda for March 16th.
[Nila Smith]
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