PA Won’t Work With Selinsgrove; Refuses To Allow Racing; May 16th Event Cancelled Per Governor’s Office

Story By: SHAWN BROUSE / SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY – SELINSGROVE, PA – A late morning call Tuesday to State Representative David Rowe from the Pennsylvania Governor’s office has ended any hopes of racing in the near future at Selinsgrove Speedway and therefore the “Posse Unleashed” 410 sprint car, non-spectator, non-social special slated for this Saturday, May 16 has been cancelled.

Despite the best efforts of Representative Rowe and others in the legislature, no reasonable response could be achieved from the governor’s office that would permit racing at the speedway under the already installed state and CDC “aggressive mitigation” guidelines that the oval was fully instituting as a preventative measure against COVID-19.

“We are extremely disappointed at the heavy-handed approach and response by the governor’s office to our good business practices in an effort to race at the track,” says oval co-promoter Mike Heffner.

“Not only did the state lead us on a wild goose chase by approving our plans and then reversing course mid-stream which caused us significant financial loss, but then when faced with a reasonable and flexible request to see the event completed, the governor’s office simply refused to show any interest or workability in remedying the issue.”

“We are very dissatisfied with not only this decision but with how the entire situation was handled. It is a glaring example of failure in leadership by the state during this trying time,” Heffner summarized.

The cancellation of the event means that ALL entry fees previously collected for the event will be fully refunded by the speedway in the coming days.

Questions can be directed to promoter@selinsgrovespeedway.com.

Slated to be live streamed via pay per view on The Cushion, all pre-purchase event view tickets will be refunded by the broadcaster.

“We have no choice but to honor state directives in order to protect not only Selinsgrove Speedway and its future but to also protect DH & L Fire Company, the majority stakeholder in the facility,” says track General Manager Steve Inch.

“Both the speedway and the fire company are reliant in one way or another upon state awarded contracts, licenses and funding in order to keep operating and to lose that support would be devastating to both places in so many ways.”

Selinsgrove Speedway remains optimistic that it can and will see a return to racing action during mid-season and indeed plans are in place to see the historic oval resume action as soon as possible.

The speedway is currently evaluating a plan for hosting conservative practice sessions during the coming weeks and will make announcements about that plan in the near future.