Passion for racing comes full circle
Three years ago a crash on the track knocked Dave Bitner Jr. out of racing for good.
Though only 34 at the time, the Port Colborne native knew his racing days were behind them after breaking some ribs, hurting his back and injuring his shoulder.
His suffering did stop there. Symptoms from a concussion didn’t go away for a year.
“Every minute I would to be behind that wheel again,” Bitner said. “I don’t wish for it because if I’m wishing from something, I expect it to come true.
“I know I can’t physically do racing any longer. If it was a perfect world, I would be behind that wheel.”
A fiery passion for dirt track
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“I just hate when there’s dead air. It just leads to boredom, which just leads to people going, ‘Ah, get on with it.’”
DAVE BITNER JR.
New Humberstone Speedway
president
racing wasn’t extinguished in the crash nor was a need to be involved in the sport in some way.
Bitner remained infected by the racing back big time. As president at New Humberstone Speedway, he would like nothing better than to be a No. 1 carrier passing along the bug to others.
“This is the best thing I’ve ever done,” Bitner said. “It’s been tough, but it’s been the most rewarding as well.
“This has been better than any job I’ve ever had because I don’t consider it a job.”
Landing the position in the first place was a job in itself, and his route to the track was, to say the least, circuitous. It included a 40-road trip to eastern Canada and wife Jennifer and daughter Paislee sleeping in the back seat most of the way, all of which gave Bitner plenty of time for soul searching.
“I had a lot of time to think about goals and passions, where I wanted to go,” Bitner said in an interview from his office at the track. “On that drive everything kept coming back to this place.
“By the time I got back, I literally drove straight here and met Linda (Cosco) sitting in this very office.”
He outlined his plans to the widow of track owner Pete Cosco, and he was shown the door.
“Immediately she dismissed me, because she’s heard stuff like this before,” he recalled with a laugh about a year later.
He has been working as the track’s only full-time employee since the beginning of the year. In addition to overseeing all operations, Bitner lines up sponsors and goes out into to the community promoting dirt track racing.
The close relationships Bitner made with drivers in his racing days put him in a “unique position” to understand what is needed to keep car counts high.
“I understand where they are coming from and what it takes to put a car on the track,” he said. “I think that’s a huge aspect of where I can promote it, but also understand where they are com-
ing from.”
His No. 1 goal coming into a business which is very weatherdependent was “making sure it’s not a negative.”
“Making sure I had the proper marketing plans and the proper strategies to bring more drivers in and also more fans in.”
Bringing out more drivers, he added, brings out more fans because they bring family and friends with them.
Fans bringing out other fans, which is why providing the “experience” of race night is important.
“I just don’t try to cater to the drivers themselves, I know that’s a huge part, but one of the big things that we did is be brought back ‘The Show’ this year.”
Bitner introduced a Kids Club as well as NASCAR-style driver entries.
“Every division gets to do this crazy walk,” he said, pointing to a tunnel underneath the grandstand that is filled with smoke and illuminated by a spotlight on race nights.
The drivers, he said, have been receptive.
“It’s one of the best things I’ve ever seen, the smile on those drivers’ faces,” Bitner said. “The fans that get to high-five them as they come through.
“When we have connections like that, we find those are the people that come back every single week because it’s fun, you get to know who the driver is, know what he looks like.
“You understand it’s not just some car out there, there’s an actual person behind it and you get to make friends and root for that person.”
Sunday is not a school night for much of the season but the speedway appreciates people need to get to work the next morning. One of the main goals is to wrap up the show by 10:30 p.m.
Attendance is averaging 750. Whether that is enough to break even depends on many factors, including whether a visiting race series is offering higher payouts to the drivers.
“We know when we gear up for one of those bigger nights, we have to spend more money,” Bitner said, adding the top ticket price will never exceed $20.
Admission is free to fans 15 and younger, but the track does more than that to involve younger fans into the experience.
“Our Kids Club is a huge part of what we do here, and it keeps our kids involved in racing, everything from bike nights to colouring contests to Superhero Night.”
Humberstone always has contests where young fans get to interact.
“They get to go on the track, they get to touch and feel.”
Many drivers run two nights per week starting Saturday at Merrittville and wrapping up the weekend Sunday at Humberstone.
“We’ll get 50 per cent of those drivers anyways, 50 per cent of the drivers are ours already,” Bitner said.
Humberstone’s biggest competition, he suggested, is “awareness.”
“I don’t think it’s another track or anything like that, I think it’s having that experience,” Bitner said. “I think it’s people coming out and experiencing what it’s like.
“That’s what draws them back out. I really feel the biggest competition is me going and finding people and bringing them here for the first time.”
Bringing them back after that is what ‘The Show’ is all about.
“When somebody complains about something, I don’t see it as a problem. I see it as an opportunity where I can fix something to make it more enjoyable for people.”
Bitner said there has to be something for everyone between races.
“I just hate when there’s dead air. It just leads to boredom, which just leads to people going, ‘Ah, get on with it,’” he said. “That’s one of the things they will remember.”