Is Pennsylvania Speedweek Stale?

With the beginning of the offseason finally upon the racing world, the 32^nd annual Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek schedule was released Monday. The grueling 10 night tour around area tracks in Pennsylvania and Maryland could use some freshness, I believe. Yes, I am grateful that we as fans in Pennsylvania are extremely lucky to see this much 410 sprint car racing throughout the year and through 10 straight nights while many throughout the country travel hours just to see one World of Outlaws show per year. I think the schedule could take on some very realistic critiques that could make all parties happy.

First, I will give you my tracks followed by my reasons why. These are all visited once during the week in no particular order: BAPS Motor Speedway, Bloomsburg Fair Raceway, Grandview Speedway, Lincoln Speedway, Port Royal Speedway, Selinsgrove Speedway, and Williams Grove Speedway. 

To avoid the track repeats, shortening the length of Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek would be the first step. One of the biggest complaints during the end of week currently is the lack of cars still left running into night 10. This change could possibly attract a couple more cars to run the whole week and race fans that want to attend the entire duration of it. 

Substitute Hagerstown with Bloomsburg. Indiana Sprint Week doesn’t go to Eldora and Ohio Speedweek doesn’t race at Lernerville. We have plenty of tracks within Pennsylvania to keep it an actual Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek. Not to mention, Bloomsburg is a really nice facility, and it seems like that was overlooked by lots of race fans that didn’t have the chance to attend during its short inaugural season in 2021. 

Adding Bloomsburg and bringing Path Valley back on the schedule to join Grandview as the short tracks on the schedule adds some diversity. Not that Port Royal isn’t an exciting half mile, there is a reason why Grandview is nearly sold out each year. Fans love the novelty of seeing 410 sprint cars on bullrings in Pennsylvania. 

Once again, I know that we are lucky to have the quality of tracks we have now with the sponsor backing, but I think these changes could solve most of the complaints that are heard on a yearly basis. Pennsylvania is filled with cool tracks, so let’s use more of them.