According to Brainerd International Raceway’s new General Manager Rodney Wolter, there are no plans to close the Northern Minnesota racetrack in the near future. “From my standpoint (the track) is looking pretty good,” Wolter told Roadracingworld.com in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon. “I think that by midway though the year, into the last part of the year, I’ll have changes that I want to do to bring more racing here, whatever it is, and show them (the track owners) that that’s where they really need to make money.” Regarding the rumors that the racetrack was going to be turned into condos, Wolter said: “See (the rumors) all started with the other condos they already built (which are located inside the track at the entrance of turn nine). I mean, you don’t need condos at a drag strip for crying out loud. But, at any rate, because of the tourism draw up here they thought, ‘well, we can have condos that we can rent out’. Yes, they do rent out for the national events, but let the condo business be out there down the road, and let them run the condos. We’ve got to concentrate on racing.” As far as an AMA road race coming back to Brainerd, Wolter said it is a possibility. “I need to see some changes there in the way they (the AMA) run their business. But if I could see that and be satisfied with that, I wouldn’t be against it at all. It’s gotta be promoted right, so people know what they are looking at.” Overall, Wolter sounded very upbeat about the future of the track, saying, “It’s a great facility and I can’t help but think that if we get things straightened out a little bit, and do what we need to do, we are going to be in great shape.” Wolter, who is a former construction worker and weekend drag racer from Nebraska, oversaw the rebuilding of Gateway International Raceway and served as General Manager of that facility. He also oversaw the construction of the paved oval at Memphis Motor Speedway and has done consulting work for various other tracks both in the U.S. and overseas. Wolter told Roadracingworld.com that he came out of early retirement to run the Brainerd, Minnesota facility.
BIR Open For Business, And Won’t Rule Out An AMA Return
BIR Open For Business, And Won’t Rule Out An AMA Return
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