RENO, NV (Dec. 10) — In Part 1 this reporter covered the high points of the recent RPM Workshop when it visited Reno. In this part I’m focusing on three people for a closer look at what they are doing within the short track racing industry.
• Josh Holt – My Race Pass
The first subject was the first speaker at the Work Shop, Josh Holt one of the founding partners of My Race Pass. Several tracks in Northern Nevada use this service.
Asked about the difference between My Race Pass and My Laps he said, “We’re two different companies and My Laps works on the transponder system. We can use that information and we work very closely with My Laps.
“What we do is our race management process program that helps doing online registration, getting driers entered into the event, drawing a pill number, creating your heat races and features.”
He added that while they work with My Laps they have live timing on the My Race Pass app and a track can do results and points. His company can also print the checks and payouts.
Asked about the response he said, “It’s been great, January is our 16th year and we’ve had the My Race App for a little over five years. We work with 800 promoters across the country and have been at it for a long time,
“The other thing we do is websites for a lot of racecar drivers, a lot of race tracks, race series and sanctioning bodies. It doesn’t just stop there as we also do online tickets, we have a couple of hundred tracks that use our online ticketing platform but the App is the biggest thing.”
Asked about the App he explained the NFL and NHL have hundred of apps where they have all their information. Things like stats, player stats, schedules and other things.
“The world of motorsports didn’t have a App so we looked at that, probably six or seven years ago and we said this industry needed an App so that’s what we did. We launched it at the Chili Bowl in 2018 and it’s taken off from there.”
He added they are just shot of a million downloads and people all over the country rely on My Race Pass for results, news, live timing as well as live information on race day.
• Brad Sweet – High Limit Racing
Sweet and his NASCAR brother-in-law Kyle Larson formed High Limit Racing that has many of its events mid-week. Recently they bought Tony Stewart’s All Star Series.
Asked about this Sweet said, “I think with the High Limit Series in mid-week there was an opportunity for us to grow. Tony’s All Star Series has a decent size footprint as a 410 series in the United States. Obviously we didn’t think there was room for three series and Tony’s series presented us with a good starting point.
“With some of the infrastructure he had, some of the big events he had and relationships he had, it just made sense to take his All Stars and rebrand them. Then we’ll try to grow that series to something that’s a national series for High Limit.”
He added this is the second year for the series and they only did 11 mid-week races but they saw a lot of success and feel there’s a lot of room go grow.
“With the change I think you get some negativity as people don’t love what we’re doing. But I think over the next three to five year’s people will get to see a lot of our goals come to fruition. And hopefully we can all look back and be excited to what High Limit brought to the table.”
The High Limit group is SLC Promotions, which is Brad Sweet, Kyle Larson and Colby Copeland. This next season Sweet will race in all the High Limit events while Larson races in the mid-week events.
Asked about his future Sweet said, “Right now I’m definitely steering the ship but I’m trying to hire a really good team around the High Limit Series. To be successful definitely takes great people and a great team. I’m using a lot of my relationships and things I’ve learned over the years to hopefully put that team together.
“Once the team’s together obviously that allows me to maybe keep driving but I really enjoy promoting, really enjoy what we’ve been able to accomplish at Silver Dollar and with a lot of events we’ve built across the country. Who knows, I certainly don’t want to say right at this moment but I’m certainly enjoying what’s happening in the next chapter that I’m starting here.”
Two or three years ago Sweet and Larsen bought Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California. The track has a varied program but is also home to 410 Sprint Car racing.
Asked about the track Sweet said, “It’s doing really good, it’s a challenge owning a racetrack and is probably the most challenging as dirt track are very challenging. We’ve got a lot of work cut out for us.”
One unforeseen situation they’re dealing with is the loss of Lowell Moural to a biking accident this year.
“That was extremely sad for us,” Sweet said. “He used to own Cycle Land and did all the track prep at Chico and he’s a mentor to Kyle. That’s been a challenge and this year will be a challenge without him.
“We keep digging and obviously my wife does a lot of work behind the scenes with ticketing and all types of stuff. Hopefully we’ll have a good successful 2024.”
Sweet is traveling to Australia right after Christmas. He’ll be there for about two weeks and race in five sprint car events.
• Joe Skotnicki is the publisher of Racing Promotion Monthly and promoter of the RPM Workshops. Late on the Work Shop’s final day this reporter had a chance to interview him,
Asked how the Work Shop is going he replied, “There’s always room for improvement but we’ve had a good two days, we’re late in the afternoon of the second day and we’ve still got some people around. For Reno, considering all the things that are going on in the motorsports world that people are traveling to this weekend, that’s a good sign for RPM and a good sign for the sport because there are some dedicated people wishing to learn about it and make their businesses better.
Since his publication is focused on the short track industry Skotnicki has a broad view of the sport as a whole.
“The sport overall has become just like the regular business world, the strong are surviving and flourishing and the weak are falling off and probably need to be here,” he said. “We all face challenges, the economy, the time span someone’s attention lasts, everything right down to being able to access a digital ticket because someone doesn’t have cash any more.
“It makes a challenge for anyone that’s a promoter including myself. But if you come in these rooms there’s a lot of solutions and ideas to help. Overall I think the sport’s healthy.”
He did mention there are some conflicts with different series and something needs to be worked out.
“Hopefully we end up in a better spot than we are today. Who knows what that better spot looks like but hopefully it is better and we’ll find out next year. When I grew up my grandfather taught me, ‘take something and always leave it better than you found it.’
“I wish more people would live by that because sometimes I think they think their ideas are grand then we have a misstep or whatever. There’s no industry or business in the world that can afford missteps.”
Looking toward the future, he said, “We’ve got a lot of dedicated individuals that this is their future. If you take a look around there’s a whole lot of people, for a while there was a big turn over of people that were getting older, retirement age.
“The average of the room has come down quite a bit and that’s encouraging for the sport because that projects longevity that we have. Short track racing is going to be around for a long, long time, as long as there is an interest in vehicles and an interest to compete in those vehicles we have a home.”
While everyone gets a brief break during the holidays the Work Shop, now in its 51 first year, starts up again in Daytona, Florida.
The 2024 dates are, February 11 to 13, during Daytona Speed Weeks. Besides what is going on at Daytona International Speedway, there are a bunch of short tracks events in that area happening at the same time.
Then next year, during the first week of December 2024, the RPM Work Shop returns to the Biggest Little City.
OTHER RACING NEWS:
• This Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Trucks and Tacos will meet at Reno Public Market Place on Plumb Ave. The place to park is by the Boy Scout’s Christmas Tree Lot.
• Rattlesnake Raceway has released the track’s 2024 schedule. Looks like people will start working on their cars if not now then right after New Year’s Day.
• For those wanting to attend the 38th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals the ticket information has been released. Now is the time as the event begins the second week of January.
• Daveys American Racing is found on Face Book. His focus is on western oval tracks as well as national series.
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• Our newest sponsor is State Farm agent Kelby Schoorl, who was a racer in his younger days. He has some supplemental insurance that racers might be interested in checking out.
There is medical that covers visits to the ER, ambulance rides and if a person has to stay in a hospital. In addition trailers as well as tools and tools in shops can be covered with additional policies.
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• One of our sponsors is General Transmission and Power Train Specialists owned by former motorcycle racer Pete Attashian. The shop is located at 2515 Sutro Street in Reno, a few blocks below Hug High School.
The shop services older and new transmissions and now has a section for high performance units and those used in towing. Phone number is 775-786-5888 and the shop’s website is www.generaltransmissionreno.com.
Two of our sponsors are first class motorcycle shops located in Reno.
• Our first sponsor is Reno Motorsports (RMS). Not only do they have about anything a rider might want or need and the store also has a full service shop.
Their location is at 964 Terminal Way, by the intersection with Mill Street. Store’s phone number is 775-322-1499 and the site is, www.rms-renomotorsports.com.
• The next shop is Moto-Source located at 3180 Mill Street. Once again they are a full service shop plus the showroom has about any thing a rider might need or want.
The phone number is 775-856-3855 and the website is, www.moto-source.com.
• Concours Body Shop, located at 250 Telegraph Street in Reno, is another sponsor. The shop does quality collision repair for cars and trucks.
Owner Brian Saul is a car enthusiast himself and is committed to continuing the shop’s reputation of quality work. Phone number is 775-329-4557 and the website is, www.concoursbodyshop.net.
• Hungry, want a great place to eat, then try PJ&CO for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and it’s a great place to watch your favorite sports. Wednesday evenings, starting around 5 p.m. is Bike Night, good time to meet fellow riders and have a great dinner.
The location is 1590 South Wells Avenue, just north of the round about. Phone number is 775-323-6366 and their website is www.pjandco.net.
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Once again, an excellent story with awesome photos. Wish everyone who was at the workshop could read this.
Thanks for the compliment. You might want ask Jon if he would mention it
and put the URL where both parts could be read.