Dirt track racing part of Niagara family’s DNA
Melissa Stevens committed to keeping playing field level for all race classes
“For me, I’m going to strive to provide a fair and unbiased environment, so no favouritism. No driver racing will be favoured or above the rules.” MELISSA STEVENS MERRITTVILLE SPEEDWAY INCOMING RACE DIRECTOR
Please excuse accountant Melissa Stevens for counting down the days, even if the final number has yet to be determined.
While the St. Catharines native doesn’t know exactly when auto racing will get the green flag from the Ontario government, she can’t wait to begin her duties as new race director at Merrittville Speedway.
Stevens — whose father Brian and grandfather Ray are both on the Thorold track’s wall of fame — didn’t have to think twice when speedway owners Don and Lorraine Spiece offered her the demanding job.
“I accepted right away. I’m actually really excited to take the position and to work at Merrittville,” she said.
“I’m a third-generation Stevens. Racing has always been a huge part of my family. I basically grew up there as a child.”
Being the ultimate referee and having final say in the tower on race nights is one of the few hats Stevens hasn’t worn during a long involvement in the sport.
In New Jersey, where she lived for 13 years until a family emergency brought her back to Niagara last September, she worked in a support capacity with a professional race team that competed on the 358 Modified and Big Block circuits. Her myriad duties included office work and scoring, scheduling, qualifying procedures, verifying rules, as well as merchandising.
“I’ve been involved in racing my whole life in a few different aspects, from the fan side but also from the pit side as well.”
Serving as a race director — essentially, making sure all the cogs mesh smoothly on race nights — has been charitably described as a headache waiting to happen. But after years growing up in a racing family, followed by years with a race team, Stevens knows what she is getting in to.
Over the years of following the sport as a fan in the stands and part of a team in the pits, she has come to appreciate that job No. 1 for a race director is ensuring a level playing field for drivers across all racing classes.
“For me, I’m going to strive to provide a fair and unbiased environment, so no favouritism. No driver racing will be favoured or above the rules,” she said. “It’s important for me to be consistent and fair.
“There will be no tolerance for favouritism.”
Bob St. Amand Jr., Merrittville race director for 27 years before stepping down in 2014, will be in the tower working with Stevens for a while “in the beginning.”
“Hopefully, we’ll get started here soon,” she said.
Former assistant general manager Jim Irvine, whose father Bryant Irvine owned the speedway before it was sold to the Bicknell and Williamson families, described race director as a combination of “traffic cop, high school principal and everything else mixed into one.”
Traveling the circuit with the race team gave Stevens a first-hand look at different procedures and rules at all the different tracks and how they operate.
“I think my skin’s thick enough for the job,” Stevens said. “I handled quite a bit with the professional race team for 15 years and dealing with different types of people. “I think I’ll handle it OK.” Race directors get together with race teams at the beginning of the season to go over the rules. COVID -19 threw a monkey wrench into that tradition, with the cancellation of the 69th season opener in late April. But the ground rules will be covered nonetheless.
“There will be a drivers meeting in the pits the first night. Usually, you touch base on the rules,” Stevens said. “There are always going to be intense rivalries on the track — that’s always going to happen at any race track, and I’m sure it’s going to be the same at Merrittville — but that makes it exciting for the fans.
“My job will be to make sure that it’s controlled and everybody is safe and nobody is stepping out of line and enforcing those rules.”
As race director, Stevens intends to encourage an open dialogue with race teams and track officials.
“Everyone can always feel free to come and talk to me and express their opinions or issues. Just like any track, it’s always kind of an open-door policy,” she said. “If you have an issue, you come and talk to the management.”
Her experience making nothing but left turns on a race track is limited to a ladies race at Merrittville “years ago.”
“I think I might have been about 25 when I did that, but that’s it,” she said with a chuckle.
Stevens isn’t worried that her gender will be a problem in the male-dominated sport.
“I’m sure there may be some people might have their concerns with a female race director at the beginning, but I haven’t really had many thoughts about that,” she said. “I feel more like, as a third-generation Stevens at the track, a lot of people there would know my father and would know my grandfather.
“They know how the Stevens family was always very well accepted, friendly and always willing to help anyone who needed it.
“I think a lot of that will be seen in me.”
In announcing the appointment on the track website, the Spieces said Stevens “brings a lifetime love of stock car racing to the race director position.”
“Racing at Merrittville has always created a family environment,” Don Spiece said. “Yes, there are intense rivalries on the track, but Melissa knows first-hand how great the friendships are in the pits and in the grandstands.”