MEMPHIS, Mo. (Dec. 31, 2001) - The Scotland County Fair Board is confident it has found it's man. On December 21 the fair board entered into a one-year lease with Terry Hoenig for the Scotland County Speedway for the 2002- race season.

"We could not be more pleased to announce that Terry Hoenig will be promoting races at the Scotland County track in 2002," said fair board president Phil Aylward. "The negotiations went very smoothly and in a matter of a few meetings we had things ironed out in a very workable agreement that both sides are pleased with."

Alyward indicated that Hoenig had agreed to a one-year lease that would pay the fair board $600 per week, with an additional $400 per extra event run. Half of that initial rental fee, $300 each week, will be placed in a maintenance fund to pay for the upkeep of the track during the season.

Just a month after negotiations fell apart with 2001 promoter Ron Anderson, the Fair Board has brought in a promoter with a proven "Track" record.

Hoenig is entering his fifth season as the head of the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, IA. He will continue to run races at that track on Friday nights while hosting the Scotland County races on Saturday evenings.

Two-man cruiser drivers can rest at ease, as Hoenig has plans to run six classes at the Scotland County track, including the popular two-driver racers. He will also schedule late models, both A and B modifieds, stock cars and hobby stock cars.

He stressed that car counts would be the key to maintaining all six classes and noted that stock cars were his biggest concern to maintain high enough car counts.

Hoenig said he does not plan to combine the track points leaders for both tracks for the season. But he added that does offer a unique opportunity for some very entertaining two-day special races between the two tracks with the overall points winners from both nights of racing winning a larger purse.

However both tracks will share most everything else including driver rules. Hoenig said he is in the planning process for the drivers' meetings and will publicize the dates as soon as they are set.

The promoter also noted that he plans to sell season passes and other advance ticket sales which will be good at either track. "We already have sold several season passes at Lee County and I plan to make those good here in Memphis as well if they wish to use them," Hoenig said.

The junior fan club will continue at Scotland County and will remain under the management of Michele Drummond who ran the program in 2001.

Another thing that may look similar at both tracks is the work force. Hoenig said he wants to hire as many local workers as possible, including all the employees that had been at Scotland County Raceway last year. He said that some of the Lee County crew will travel to Memphis and added he hoped that some of the Memphis crew would be traveling to Donnellson to work as well.

It will be the workforce recruitment as well as sponsorship sales that will have to take precedence now for the promoter due to the late start.

"It is coming down to crunch time so I will definitely be scheduling as many visits as possible to Memphis to speak with potential sponsors to get things lined up," Hoenig said. "I want to stress to them that this track has been through three years under different situations and the people have always been there to support them. Now it is time to build a program that will last, and I hope I can count on their continued support."

While much of the car classes and track related items will likely remain the same or very similar to last year there will be a few modifications.

"My number one priority for this race program will be to start and to end on time to guarantee a quality night of fun for all involved," Hoenig stated.

The fair board is planning on installing a new wheel fence in front of the grandstands. The structure will be very similar to the fence built in turns one and two by the fair board last year. Mark Holt Construction is doing work on the fence as well as in the grandstands this week.

The fair board and the promoter agreed to leave the back stretch unchanged this season and begin planning any necessary improvements for the portion of the wall for next year.

However the fair board has numerous other plans for track improvements and the members indicated they are very hopeful that the large numbers of fans and drivers that have publicly indicated they would help with track work will come forward when the time comes to keep their word.

© 2001 Memphis Democrat