Mack at the Track: Season 2, Race 1 9/7/24

by Mack Speed

Hello Valleyans! The Strong River Valley Mower Racing League (SRVMRL) is back for season 2. Season 1 was a success, but there were definitely some things we needed to improve upon, and we believe we’ve made some good improvements. We now have restrooms with real toilets, real sinks, and a real feeding trough urinal for the guys. No more porta potties! Gentleman, we ran out of money for multiple urinals with partitions for privacy. So, you’ll have to pee in a feeding trough next to other guys, but at least it won’t smell like a porta potty.

Also, we have good news for you degenerate gamblers out there. The Valley Motor Speedway now has a sports book, so you can bet on the races! After weeks of talks with the MS Gaming Commission, we finally got it approved. Rusty Moore will be the manager of the sports book, and he will also be our handicapper. So, he’ll have odds for each adult race; there will no betting on the junior races. Rusty will also be the money changer, so y’all be patient with him. He has to wear many hats. I expect the book to be a good revenue stream for us in the future.

We had a great crowd for the first race of the season; I estimate that we had over 1,500 people there. Most were from The Valley, but I saw quite a few car tags from outside The Valley. The Ole Miss fans were back tailgating with their chandelier and fancy catered food. Of course, the ladies were dressed to the nine.

I was happy with our parking guys. We only had a couple minor issues with our parking. I held a meeting with a Powerpoint with my guys beforehand, so we were all on the same page. Some people just don’t like to be told what to do.

Now, to the races. The junior race was a bit of a snoozer. My son, Dale Earnhardt Speed, picked up where he left off last season. He won easily. The other junior drivers are really going to have to step up their game if they’re going to compete with Dale. He takes after his dad, that boy can race.

The main race was a pretty darn good race. Jeff Petty won a very close race. Petty came on strong at the end of last season, and he was really pushing Jimmie Stewart and Tony Johnson. Petty just stayed clean and out of the way of Stewart and Johnson; those guys go at each other pretty hard. Petty has the attention of those guys now, so I expect them to make adjustments for the next race.

Thanks for coming out to the Valley Motor Speedway! We’ll see you again on Sept. 21st.