Mid-Season Report Card for Berlin Raceway

ATTN: Drivers and Crews

This weekend marks the 59th Anniversary for Berlin Raceway and the 14th weekend with me as promoter of Berlin Raceway. To say that this year has been a challenge so far would be an understatement. Dealing with these economic times for both the drivers and the fans has made this a year to remember. At the same time, we have had a lot of positives thus far.

Thanks to all the drivers and crews for their patience and understanding with me as I work thru my first year. To tell you that I have not made mistakes this year would be wrong. I have made a few. I have made a few good decisions as well.

So if I had my staff grade me on my first year, this is what they gave me. Some may not agree with the grades but I agree with a lot of areas that I need to work on and I assure you that I will.

Facility improvements: New Grand Stands-A
Pit Road- A
Victory Lane- A

Rule Changes: Double File Restarts- A (Fans love them!)
Rotors (All Divisions)- B
Late Model Weight/Spoiler Etc.- B (Multiple Feature Winners)
Fast Car Dashes- C (Even though I love them, racers are having a hard time adjusting to them)

Young Guns- A It has been fun to watch the young kids improve week to week. I remember the first week Dalton Haney came out to race he was shaking so badly and now he is competitive from week to week.

2009 Schedule- D-
Going off what the previous owners have done, I have found way too many out of town series, and not nearly enough local divisions racing weekly. That will definitely change for 2010.

Staff- B
I like to surround myself with the finest people that I can, I am only as good as my staff is! For the most part, we have a great staff. There are areas that can be and will be improved for 2010.

Ticket Pricing- B
The $5 night on the 4th of July was a huge hit! I am putting coupons in the Grand Rapids Press every Thursday to make our average ticket price only $10. We will always try to get more fans! The more fans we can get in the stands=better pay outs and pay offs!

Racing- B
For the most part, racing has been very exciting this year. Late Models have been more exciting this year than they have been in a long time! Every division is filled with passing and close finishes. The only downside is the crashes, we have had too many bad crashes this year that have caused our car counts to drop almost weekly.

Customer Service-C
We need to work on our customer service. We are slacking in a few areas such as scheduling and keeping up on things that we have said. We need to keep up on our emails, phone calls, and recommendations to make Berlin the prestigious racetrack that it has been known to be for 59 years.

Drivers Meetings- D
I came up with the idea for drivers meetings every week with the intentions of making them informative and not negative. I have brought some negativity to some of these meetings and I apologize for that.

Tech- B-
Because of some of the rain outs and scheduling we have not been able to keep up on the tech area; I want to be more consistent in this area. This is an area that I will work on for the remainder of this year and the years to come.

TEMPER- F
Any kind of temper is too much. This is definitely something that I have been and will continue to work on. I have made my fair share of mistakes this year.

Average Grade- C+
This shows that I have a long winter ahead of me. There is a lot of work to be done but it is a work in progress and I am looking forward to the challenges at hand.

Extra Credit- F
I have failed to get Tim Devos to clean his car once this year.

With all of this being said, let’s all go into this weekend with a positive attitude and make the 59th Anniversary of Berlin one to remember for a long time! Let’s hope that the future will be as exciting as the last 59 years!

Michael Blackmer