Casa Grande Dispatch
For more than four years, Central Arizona Raceway at the Pinal County Fairgrounds has sat quiet on Friday and Saturday nights. But that is about to change.
The speedway is holding a grand reopening this weekend, hosting about 100 race cars that will fight for first place from Friday to Sunday. The races will feature IMCA modifieds, super stock cars and factory stock cars.
“We’ll run everything from a $2,000 to a $200,000 car,” said track partner Benji Lyons.
The races begin at 7 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.
Because typically the season ends in late November, no more races are planned until January, when a two-week show is scheduled.
Lyons and his partner, Arthur Lacy, had operated the raceway since 2005, running races every week in front of a loyal fan base. But then the economy started going downhill and a change in the county’s operation of the fairgrounds left Lyons and Lacy as bystanders as they saw their track shut down in June 2008.
But recently, the county appointed an active fairgrounds board, which entered into a lease agreement with Central Arizona get in trouble at school.”
The partners expressed their commitment to involving youth in racing, from
sponsoring young people in a race to bringing the experience into the schools.
To emphasize their commitment to youth, children younger than 12 pay no admission fee this weekend.
