It was a challenging year for the Estevan Motor Speedway, but the racing organization still had highlights from its racing season and emerged in a solid fiscal position.
The speedway held its annual general meeting on Nov. 15. The meeting allowed members to reflect on accomplishments, review financial statements and elect a new board.
Aaron Turnbull was elected as the new president, replacing Byron Fichter, who had held the role for the past three years. Brad Pierson will be the vice-president, Lynn Trobert is the treasurer and Jeremy Istace is the secretary.
Other board members are Danny Blackburn, Chris Hortness and Eric De Ruyck.
Fichter and directors Jeremy Swanson, Blake Penna and Gregg Mann will not be back on the board for 2021.
“I’ve gotten to work under Byron and seen what goes on, and him being the president the last three years will make it a lot easier on me, because of the position the club is in right now, which is a positive position, and he’s laid out a lot of ground work for me,” said Turnbull.
Turnbull characterized 2020 as a successful year, thanks to the work of the board, and a fun year getting to race with and against Manitoba and Alberta friends.
“That part of it was a little bit of a blessing in disguise,” said Turnbull.
Several programs were cancelled early in the season, but the track was able to have several doubleheader weekends, and they had more than enough races to crown their track champions.
Some nights the racers competed for free, and other nights there were limited payouts. Still, the track attracted 60-70 drivers most nights, and those drivers still spent as much money on their cars as in the past.
“We have to run the track like a business, and make sure we’re not digging ourselves into a hole,” said Turnbull.
Turnbull noted they started the year in the hole from the previous year, but they turned it around and it put them in a decent spot going into next year.
“Even before the year starts … we’ll have bills rolling in, so it’s good to be sitting in a position that we don’t need to worry about it as much, like we were last year,” said Turnbull.
Turnbull, whose father Ed was the speedway’s second-ever president in the early 2000s, said it’s good to have some new people on the board to go with the returning members. The board is a little smaller than what they’ve had in the past.
“Hopefully by next season we’ll be rounding the corner on all of this pandemic stuff, and hopefully we can still put on a season next year,” said Turnbull.
Among the challenges for next season will be the uncertainty of the Canada-U.S. border. The border will remain closed to non-essential traffic until at least Dec. 21, and a reopening date is not in sight. Scheduling the 2021 season will be a challenge, as they will have to work with American tracks in case the border opens up, but they also have to respect schedules of other Canadian tracks for the first time.
“We’re definitely looking forward to having the border back open and welcoming our American friends back, and vice-versa, we look forward to going to their tracks and supporting them as well,” said Turnbull.
In the meantime, the track looks forward to continuing to work with other tracks in Canada.
The speedway is also looking for volunteers. In a press release, the track noted that many volunteers are still able to enjoy the racing.
“There’s plenty of jobs that need to be done out there, whether it’s preparation for races or on race day or cleanup afterwards,” said Turnbull. “The more volunteers we can find the less of a burden it is on the volunteers we do have, so more volunteers are always welcome.”
