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Owners may sell track in wake of resignation

Friday, July 06, 2001

By Chris Dolack, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Motordrome Speedway's general manager is leaving after this season, prompting the track's ownership group to consider selling it.

Chip Rowan's resignation at the group's quarterly meeting came as a surprise and led to discussions among the six owners about selling the half-mile asphalt speedway in Smithton to someone who would keep the track operational.

Motordrome has two divisions that compete in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series -- the late models in the top level and the pro truck class in the ShorTrack Division. Seven times, including the past two seasons, the track's late model champion also was the NASCAR Northeast Region champion.

"Since I had them all together, I knew that was the appropriate time," Rowan said yesterday. "I had known for about the past month that I was ready to do something different. Basically, I'm just looking for a change. I don't know what that is yet, but I told them I will not be returning in 2002 as general manager."

Rowan, 39, has agreed to stay through the end of the season and work as a consultant through the end of the year. He admitted the six rainouts this season, including four in a row, helped him make his decision.

"I don't regret coming here. It was a good thing, it was quite an experience. I think we accomplished a lot," said Rowan, who sold a restaurant he owned in 1990 to take the job. He worked at the track from 1990-95 and then returned in '97.

"After all the rainouts we had this year, there are just so many things that are uncontrollable in this business and it just starts to burn you out after a while."

The ownership group of Bob Arsenberger, Ted Beahr, Senneth Kesler, Bill Krause, Dale May and Dan White bought the track in 1990 and has worked with Rowan each year but '96, when he left to further his education.

"I could tell these rainouts and stuff were having an effect on him," said Arsenberger, who will retire from driving after this season. "The trouble with Chip, if there is a downside, is that he gives 200 percent all the time. After a while he just burns himself out. He can't quit until everything's done and some days you have to walk away."

The ownership group is considering walking away when the season ends Sept. 14 if it finds a buyer willing to keep the speedway operational.

"We need to look for a general manager, and there's a chance now that if we could find a buyer that we would maybe sell at this time. Somebody that would take the place and keep it running," Arsenberger said. "We wouldn't sell -- and nobody would buy it -- if they weren't going to run it."

Arsenberger said the group would like to find a buyer soon after the season ends.

"We'd like to do it this year, but we would not sell it until the race season is over because we have sponsors we're committed to," he said.

For Rowan, leaving now is a matter of practicality more than anything else.

"I thought it all out," he said. "Basically, I'm going to be 40 next year and I can't imagine doing this when I'm 50 and keeping the pace up that I'm doing right now. I know it's going to be more difficult for me to find a job when I'm 45 than it is when I'm 39. That kind of helped make the decision, too."

The likelihood of Rowan, who lives in New Stanton, taking a job in a motorsports-related field is slim.

"Now, you never say never. If opportunities come up I'd take a look," he said. "My desire is to stay in this area. If I would stay in motorsports it would probably require me to leave. With my family being in this area and I'm active in my church, I would really hate to leave all that."

As general manager, Rowan and his crew helped grow Motordrome into one of the most respected racetracks in the region.

"We've seen an increase in our attendance," he said. "Our marketing programs have always grown, as well as our sponsorship packages and the number of marketing partners we have involved. Probably the biggest thing that I've done -- it's always been a team effort -- facilitywise we've made major improvements over the years. From the grandstands and the rest rooms, things on the property such as the landscaping, a lot of that's happened the second time I've been back.

"The racing program has improved, and I give a lot of that credit to [race director] Ron Brutt. Ron has really worked with the rules to get them to a point where we have full fields of cars in almost every division and good, close competition.

"It's like a big puzzle. All the pieces have to be there. You've got to have a good racing program for people to want to come see it. You've got to have a good facility for people to be comfortable when they're watching it, and you've got to have a good staff in order to pull all this off. You've got to have all these pieces of the puzzle."

Working with six owners can be trying at times, but Rowan's departure will be amicable.

"I'm not mad at anyone," he said. "Some people think it's because there's six owners and it might be difficult to work with them, [but] we have a good relationship there. I only actually meet with them four times a year. Other than that, I take care of everything as needed. There's not any hidden problem, it's just, 'Chip needs a change.' "

In usual Rowan style, he made sure the owners would have plenty of time to find a replacement before his departure.

"I'm not going to leave them stuck, but I'm also not going to be here in 2002 so they need to do something."

Arsenberger praised Rowan for bringing the owners' dream to reality.

"There will never be anyone who can take his place in my eyes," he said. "There will be somebody to do the job, but I don't think we'll ever find a replacement. He brought Motordrome to where it is today. I'm sure we were all in the background, but he was the guy in charge of the day-to-day operations.

"Some of us guys when we bought it, we had a dream about what it could be ... I believe it's gone beyond our dream."