RPW Column: Woodhull Raceway Announces New Ownership In 2020
Column By: ROBERT SYMONDS / RPW – WOODHULL, NY – The 2019 Racing Season ultimately ended for the Woodhull Raceway at their annual awards banquet to celebrate a successful season with drivers, fans, and employees. The banquet, taking place on Saturday night at the Watson Homestead in Coopers Plains NY, was also an opportunity for the current owners Ted and Brandi White to address their drivers.
“Tonight is the night that I would like to introduce the new owners of the track,” Ted White mentioned in front of 300 people in attendance. “This next year it will be Nicky and Terry Brewer who will own the track. Brandi and I will stay on in 2020 to help with transition.”
The White Family welcomed the Brewer family into the ownership publicly for the first time on Saturday at the banquet but the Brewer Family has been known for a long time at the Woodhull Raceway and in the area. Terry and Nicky Brewer both owned a motorsports program which was driven many years by Steve Hartman Jr at the Woodhull Raceway. The Brewers also currently own two other businesses, High Up Trucking and the Nikk L Brew Restaurant in Canisteo NY. Brewer has also sponsored many race teams throughout the year across all divisions.
In a quick speech to the drivers at the banquet, new owner Nicky Brewer said that they do not plan on changing anything major for the upcoming year.
Ted and Brandi White had taken over ownership from Vern Wasson in 2010 and added several new additions to the raceway in their tenure. To start, White added a brand new concrete front stretch wall to replace the failing guard rails which was very helpful to the drivers as well as the safety to the race fans. That next year, White replaced the wooden flag stand with a new bigger and more sturdy metal flag stand.
White also had updated the lighting and speaker system in the pit area, updated the PA system in both the pit area along with the grandstands, installed a fiber network which lead up to a new electronic scoring system in 2019. There was also a lot of changes fans did not see, such as new countertops, addition of new food stands/options for fans at the track, equipment changes for track preparation, countless hours of applying new clay to the surface, and finding the right way to prepare a great racing surface for all drivers.
There is still a possibility that the annual rules meeting will take part in January to discuss small changes for the classes moving forward into 2020, so drivers don’t worry. Also in 2020, a majority of the staff plan on returning as well to have another successful season.
With the tentative schedule set to release soon, stay tuned to WoodhullRaceway.com for more information.
