NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series News Release: Contact – ROBY HELM – (865) 207-4157
December 21, 2009
WING IS NAMED NeSMITH CHEVROLET WRS PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
Rodney Wing of Whynot Motorsports Park in Meridian, MS (Left) accepts the 2010 NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series Promoter of the Year Award with his wife Cassie (Center) and the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series Founder and Director Mike Vaughn (Right) at the Annual NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series Awards Banquet at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Tampa, FL on December 9. (Jerry “Goose” Gossel Photo)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CARTERSVILLE, GA – Whynot Motorsports Park Promoter Rodney Wing was named the 2009 NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series Promoter of the Year at the series annual Awards Banquet on December 9 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Tampa, FL. Wing is a pioneer in using the NeSmith Chevrolet WRS Late Models as a top division to the benefit of his race track.
Wing bought an abandon Meridian, MS race track, formerly know as Whynot Speedway, in 2005, and has turned it into one of the premier motorsports facilities in the Southeast. Although the track had been taken over by brush and trees growing through the racing surface and grandstands, Wing said at the time, he would be running in three months time.
“After seeing what Rodney had to work with in late 2005, I figured it would take three years to get it up and running,” NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series Director Roby Helm said. “Rodney, his family, and lots of volunteer help from racers and friends worked around the clock, and had the track up and running by April of 2006. That was impressive.”
In addition to being a race track owner/promoter, Wing is also a championship dirt late model driver. In traveling to race tracks throughout the Southeastern United States, Wing took a lot of mental notes on how the race tracks he visited were operated. He was able to take this knowledge and apply it to Whynot Motorsports Park.
Wing also wore out his telephone talking to veteran promoters across the country, asking for advice, and listening to what they had to say. One of the first things Wing did was to contact the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series and listen to what they had to offer with their new series for weekly dirt late models.
In the past, Whynot Speedway had a rich history of super late model racing, and the area was a hotbed of super late model competitors. Wing could have easily had an impressive field of super late models as a part of his weekly racing show, but it also would have had the expensive purse that would go with it. Wing knew he needed late models, but it had to fit his economic balance to stay in business.
Whynot Motorsports Park was one of the first tracks to sign up with the NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series in 2006, a series designed for dirt late model powered by the economical GM Performance Crate Engines that are built and sealed at the factory to prevent any expensive modifications.
In taking the concept one step further, Wing was the first promoter to make the NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series Late Models his top division. Many of the super late model competitors in the area took out their $30,000 super engines, and dropped a $5,000 GM Performance Crate Engine into their chassis.
There was also an influx of drivers that ran in the lower divisions that saw an opportunity to move up to the track’s top division for an affordable price, and Wing suddenly had a top late model division with a good car count each and every week. And with the top late model drivers in the area pulling into the Whynot Motorsports Park pit area every Saturday night, the fans came to see them.
The first four NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series West Region Champions are regular competitors at Whynot Motorsports Park. Lucky Keeton of Toomsuba, MS has the 2006, 2007, and 2009 titles, and Jim McDuffie of Meridian, MS won it in 2008.
The lessons Wing has learned as a traveling racer in the area of dirt track preparation are also paying off in the success of Whynot Motorsports Park. The 3/8-mile clay surface is consistently conducive to three and four wide flat out racing, a feature that has kept the fans and competitors coming back week after week.
“Rodney has accomplished in four years what many promoters would take a lifetime to achieve,” Helm said. “To really appreciate what Rodney and his family have done at Whynot Motorsports Park, you have spend a week with them to see what they do behind the scenes. Rodney will get up early in the morning and go visit the local media. Rodney does a radio show every Friday morning at a Meridian country station. He then stops by and visits with his sponsors on the way back to the race track. Once he gets back to the race track, he works on the clay surface. And most of this happens before lunch time! Rodney’s non-stop work ethic pays off with what goes on every Saturday night – an organized well-run racing program.”
Helm said Wing has had success in operating a short track motorsports facility during some of the toughest economical times in the history of the industry.
“Over the past ten years, dirt tracks have opened, closed, and changed hands several times in record numbers,” Helm said. “Many race track owners and promoters have come and gone. Only the most established race tracks, or the ones with the strongest promoters, have survived during this time. Rodney picked one of the most difficult financial times in the history of the industry to buy a race track, and he has made it work. Whenever we have conversations with new promoters, we tell them Rodney’s story, and how he works for success.”
Wing’s success has come with the support of his family and friends. His wife Cassie and his mother Peggy have worked along side Rodney and played instrumental roles in the success of WMP. Rodney always has a close circle of friends that are more than willing to help him do whatever needs to be done at the track.
Whynot Motorsports Park had held some of the most memorable NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series National Touring events during the past four seasons, and Helm said the track has always had three and four-wide racing at those events. Whynot Motorsports Park is already on the NeSmith Chevrolet Pro Division Tour 2010 schedule with three events.
“The 2010 NeSmith Chevrolet Pro Division Tour season opener will be at Whynot Motorsports with the Winter Bash on January 7-9,” Helm said. “We’re looking forward to working with Rodney and his staff for this event. A competitive field with a high car count, along with three and four wide racing is going to make for a great way to begin the 2010 season.”
Under Rodney Wing’s direction, Whynot Motorsports Park is still a work in progress. Each year fans and competitors visit the track, they see improvements to a track that laid in ruins just four short years ago. New walls, grandstands, and V.I.P. suites have given the track a new personality.
Another thing people see when they visit Whynot Motorsports Park is a blond-headed guy with an ever-present smile riding an ATV, looking like he is going in four different directions at the same time. That’s the 2009 NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series Promoter of the Year Rodney Wing!
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