MOUNT VERNON — The 2019 drag racing season is upon us and Pacemaker’s Dragway Park will soon be ready to open in April. This season, there will be some new changes afoot at the historic quarter mile.
Pacemaker’s has joined with the Knox Community Hospital Foundation and will hold a celebrity grudge race on May 11. Area business leaders and well-known personalities are expected to take part.
“That will be a pretty big event for us,” Pacemaker’s owner Rod Zolman said. “There will be a lot of business owners and civic leaders, who will grudge race. They’re out getting sponsors, right now. Our goal is to raise $20,000 or $30,000 for the KCH Foundation.”
Local racer Larry Morgan is expected to be on hand. Mount Vernon native Joel Riley, from 610-AM WTVN, is expected to be driving. Also on hand will be Travis Mazza. He will take part, along with some familiar faces in the Mount Vernon and Knox County community.
“Bringing on the Power Wheels brought in a whole new group of people,” Zolman said. “These kids bring grandmas and grandpas, aunts, uncles and school teachers that maybe didn’t have a clue about what was going on out here.”
The key for Zolman is getting people in the gate. He’s counting on the good, wholesome family entertainment to keep them coming back.
“I hear it all the time,” Zolman said. “When people come out for the first time, or they haven’t been out here for years and years. They say, ‘I can’t believe the family environment out here.’ There are kids from 3-years-old to seniors, up in their 80s, who are still racing — and they’re competitive.”
Power Wheels racing attracts the youngest fans, who may want to drive youth dragsters. There is even a class for junior street cars, where a 13-year-old can drive a regular street car, with their parent in the passenger seat. Zolman is hoping to spread the racing bug among the community’s youngest members.
“Our youth program cultivates more racers,” Zolman said. “If they’re not doing it when they’re young, I can’t expect them, when they’re 20, to decide to start racing.”
Zolman tried to reach out to motorcycle groups, in 2018. Unfortunately, Mother Nature played havoc with the racing season. “We’re going to try again on a couple of those,” Zolman said. “We have a big money bike race and we have bike nights on Friday nights.”
Pacemaker’s — America’s second-oldest drag racing venue in continuous use — will continue to grow into the future, expanding their virtual presence on the Internet.
“Our relationship with Roman Atwood has been extremely successful,” Zolman said. “He has come up here on a few occasions and plans to come up a few more times this summer. He is literally a YouTube megastar. When he comes up and does his videoblog, it’s pretty common for several million people to view it.”
Zolman will continue to try to draw groups that don’t usually frequent Pacemaker’s.
“We’ve been reaching out to some car clubs,” Zolman said. “I’ve got an American Motors group that’s coming up here and renting the track for a day. I’ve also got some sports car clubs coming in. Maybe, they might do something at Mid-Ohio, but they just want a day at the dragstrip to have some fun.”
Also new for 2019, will be a team points concept. Each team will have five members from all different classes. A super pro car, a pro car, a sportsman car, a junior car and one ‘wild’ car. With the points system, drivers from different classes will be more aware of what drivers from other racing classes are doing. Even if a racer is not doing well against other racers in his class, his team may be close to the lead in the team standings and he may need to get out to the track to help his team.
Not so new this season, will be the old public address speaker system from Mount Vernon High School’s Yellow Jackets’ Stadium, which the school upgraded. Zolman is going to utilize the old speakers to improve the sound system at the track in the near future.
