The Saturday June 21st rain out at the Oswego Speedway had an emotional impact on die-hard race fans who wanted to see some racing action after a week off on June 14th. Clearing skies as the night wore on is not what the radar indicated when the racing was called off. The cancellation was a difficult reality for 1,102 guests that already had tickets in hand before the Box Office even opened up on June 21st.
The Oswego Speedway works very hard in the off-season to promote “Corporate Nights” for the up coming season. Each year the “Kids Autograph Nights” are at the top of the list for corporations to take advantage of group rates on admission tickets and to pre-buy food vouchers for their employees. On June 21st, there were 1,102 fans who had already circled that date on their calendar to enjoy a night at the Oswego Speedway with family, co-workers, friends or classmates.
Fans that paid in advance or were invited guests on June 21st were parts of groups from Solvay Paperboard, Waste Management, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Parents of Special Children, Oswego Middle School, Dunkin Donuts, Constellation Energy, Entergy Northeast, Novelis, State Farm Insurance, Snap-On Tools, Rise & Shine Gulf and the Millwrights Local #1163. That’s 1,102 fans that planned on a night at the Oswego Speedway in addition to the walk-up fans purchasing tickets and all of the competitors and pit crew members for the Novelis Supermodifieds, Pathfinder Bank SBS Series and the Tobias Slingshots and Tobias SpeedSTR’s.
When the races were cancelled, it was announced that fans in the stands and pits would be able to use their ticket stubs for the July 5th race night. That announcement affected all fans that purchased tickets on that day for the grandstands or the pit area. The “Corporate Night” guests and all VIP and Sky Deck ticket holders have other options by the nature of how their tickets were issued.
Corporate Night guests have issues such as shift work that can preclude them from selecting a date that is “assigned” to them. VIP and Sky Deck guests have to be added in near the end of the season when space is set aside just for this very purpose. All group activity coordinators at all businesses were contacted on the Monday following the June 21st rain-out and new tickets have been issued to those coordinators for all 1,102 guests.
The other business to take care of is to have the Hal LaTulip and Terry Solazzo crews come back on July 5th as the first two winners of the Eagles Fan Club “Four Pack” of Pit Pass contest winners.
There were six fans that walked away with sponsor prizes even though the races were rained out.
The Kids On-Track program awarded Kiandra Love a Lighthouse Lanes Birthday Bowling Party. Anthony Woolworth won the Subway Kids Fresh Fit Meal and Timmy Woodard won a new bike from Galloway Realty and Murdock’s Bikes.
The "Snap-Up $180" gas card contest began. The contest is sponsored by Snap-On Tools, Rise & Shine Gulf and The Eagles Fan Club. The Snap-Up $100 Gas Card winner was Melissa Matterson from Syracuse. The Snap-Up $50 Gas Card winner was Tracy Peddler from Oswego. The Snap-Up $30 Gas Card winner was Barry Bivens from Oswego.
All fans will be winners when they come back on July 5th with their June 21st ticket stub. The schedule includes the "Kids Autograph Session", a Novelis Supermodified 50 lap feature, a PathFinder Bank SBS 35 lap feature, the Mid-State Antique Car Club, and announcers match races.
The highlight of the night will be two announcer match races. “Reckless Roy” Sova and “Dangerous Dan” Johnson will battle it out in the "Firecracker 4" driving the Outdoor Power Team Cars #01 & #10. The winner of that race will take on “Joltin Joe” Marotta in a drag race down the front stretch with cars courtesy of ESTA Safety Park Dragstrip.