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New Ownership at Manzanita Speedway |
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(August 14) Manzanita Speedway, the oldest continuously operated sports facility in the Phoenix area has changed hands for only the fourth time in its 56 year history. Local business man Mel Martin and his son Bobby assumed control of the track located at 35th Avenue and West Broadway today (Wednesday) and immediately announced their plan for improvements for the track. The first project started today as crews will remove the front straightaway safety fence and install a new one that will be about five feet higher than the current one. Mel Martin has a background in racing that goes back to the first days of racing at the present location. He was part of the group that met with the owners of Manzanita Park, a dog track that was closed down. The owners, Rudy Everett and Lawrence Messkimens, agreed to convert the facility into a motorsports track but admitted that the did not have the funds to get the job done. Several Sand & Rock businesses volunteered their services as did many who owned race cars and wanted to leave South Mountain Speedway. With all the help the track was completed in a short time and opened the gates for its first race on August 25, 1951. Everett and Messkimens continued ownerships with several different promoters until 1965 when Keith Hall purchased the track. He operated it until he leased the track to Harry Redkey in 1975 but was back in control the next year. He owned and operated the track until midway through the 1984 season when he sold it to a group headed by local businessman Bill Krug who owned several sprint cars. The group included Jim Hill and Roger Johnson who were the promoters. For some reason the group forfeited their rights to the track and it was that a local bank reportedly foreclosed on the property. Hall ran the track until it was purchased by Joe and Millie Kimbro in 1992. Hall continued to operate the track until the Kimbros assumed control midway through the 2004 season. They hired Dennis Wood, a former owner of Phoenix International Raceway as their General Manager. Steve Dunn, a former sprint car owner and driver who has been assisting Wood for the past couple of years, has been named as the new GM. The Martins plan to remove all the wooden bleachers during the off season and replace them with aluminium seats. They also plan to coat the parking lot with crushed asphalt and that project will be started in the very near future. The first special promotion will be a free T-Shirt giveaway to early arrivals for the Friday and Saturday night Anniversary races. The Friday night card has Factory Stocks, Bombers and Dwarf Cars running trophy dashes and any necessary semi mains. Saturday night's program features Sprint Cars and BTS Dirt Modifieds on the half mile track, Midgets and Mini Sprints on the short track. |
