track SPOTLIGHT THE FUTURE OF SKAGIT SPEEDWAY A SIT DOWN WITH PETER MURPHY

WORDS BY JOANNE CRAM

WITH THE RETIREMENT of Skagit Speedway’s owner and promoter, Steve Beitler, the future of Skagit was a little up in the air after the 2021 season. This Pacific Northwest icon has hosted decades of dirt track racing entertainment. Born in 1954 out of a parcel of cleared stumps, the 3/8 mile track has been racing jalopies, modifieds, several classes of sprint cars for just shy of seven decades. With only nine dirt tracks currently in operation in the state of Washington, the thought of another iconic track shutting down was just not something anyone wanted to see. Luckily for Skagit Speedway, loyal backers were ready to step up and take on the challenge of seeing the speedway through to several more decades of dirt track racing.

Skagit’s Crown Jewel of races is the Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup. The event originally was a three track event held between Skagit Speedway, Sky Valley Speedway (Monroe, WA), and Elma. After Elma dropped out and Sky Valley closed down, the Dirt Cup was officially all Skagit’s. With one of the biggest purses in the country, Jim Raper’s vision for The Dirt Cup was realized and the race became one of the nation’s top nonsanctioned open wheel events.

PHOTOS BY DON LAIDLAW

Former racer turned California promoter Peter Murphy now joins a short list of dedicated Skagit Speedway promoters: Steve Beitler, Fred Brownfield, Jim Burrow, the Green and Lemley families, and Jim Raper, to name a few.

Here are some questions and answers with Peter Murphy as to what’s in store for the future of Skagit Speedway.

Dirt Empire: You’re from Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia. Before we get into your vision for Skagit, give us a brief rundown on how your career and transition to California. Peter Murphy: My home town is just outside Sydney, about thirty minutes away. I started racing compact speeders in Australia, then moved into compact speed cars and 3/4 midgets one year, then moved right up to sprints back in 1990. I raced eleven times in Australia. Then had the opportunity to head to America, my 12th night out in a sprint car was at Knoxville Raceway. My 13th night out was against the World of Outlaws at Knoxville. It wasn’t the race I had hoped for; the right front fell off, the night didn’t go super well! Sprint car racing has always been my dream. I grew up in Australia reading Open Wheel Magazine, then I stepped into the pages myself- it was pretty cool for me. Sprint car racing is something I always wanted to do. Back in 1988, I worked for Steve Kinser in the Coors Light Gambler and had the opportunity to tour the country. I fell in love with the life of traveling to race. I remember thinking that this is something I want to do. I then worked for Barry Lewis in 1990, then I joined the Beaver Drill and Tool 12H Bob Vielhauer car. I stayed longer than I should have. I ran a 360 in Sedalia a few times. After that, I went home and got a ride back home and things were good, going in the right direction. It’s been a great race career; I’ve raced in three countries - New Zealand on the north island, my home country of Australia, and of course over here in America. I’m honored to be able to say I’ve had a win in all three countries, a career of over 70 wins.

DE: What is your new title in this stage of your life as a racer?

PM: Race promoter at Hanford and Skagit Speedway

DE: What is your current role in racing?

PM: As of now, I am the promoter of two different tracks. Because of my crash in 2013 at Antioch, I ended up with a severe head injury, and was told could never race again. It happened on my youngest boy’s birthday. My recovery was really long and I kept thinking, so what next? Someone suggested that I put on a race. I just knew one thing for sure, I wasn’t done with sprint cars. With all of the injuries, dealing with depression, blood on the brain, it look so long to learn how to do simple things like telling time and simple math.

It was a frustrating recovery, but I knew I wanted to do something more. The first race I promoted was in Tulare in 2015, where ironically I won my first 410 feature. Oddly enough, Skagit was my last win in a sprint car. I really liked promoting that first race and decided I wanted to keep putting on races. I now own the lease at Hanford Speedway, I am only able to do special events because of current fair board regulations stating that we can only have so many events. But next year there are plans for more as I work closely with the fair board to bring more sprint car races back to Hanford.

DE: How do you balance this new stage of life with your family life back in Clovis, California?

PM: This has been a work in progress this year, trying to find the right balance. Both of my boys and my wife have come up to Skagit to put time into the track. My oldest boy, Tyler, is at Fresno State studying theater and travels a lot to perform. My youngest boy, Bryan, just graduated high school and spends a lot of time working for me, which I love. He thinks he wants to go racing in a sprint car, so we are working on that. My wife, Stephanie, is going to college for her BA and working full time as a teacher’s associate for the deaf and hearing impaired. This is her passion and she also loves racing and comes up to Skagit to help whenever she can. She’s so good at what she does. She’s my rock; that’s all there is to it. I lost a lot of months of memory, and she remembers everything and helps me fill in the gaps.

DE: What other tracks are you associated with besides Hanford and Skagit Speedway?

PM: No plans as of yet, but it is always a possibility. I can never say no, and if I can help someone do something they want to do, it’s a go. I have great people around me at both tracks who make life so much easier. The key is to surround yourself with good people.

DE: Who are the other players at Skagit Speedway and what are their roles?

PM: Kevin Rudeen, John Hagar, myself: we all three own a stake in the track. John is at Skagit every day working on the track. There are so many qualities about him that I cannot come close to achieving; we compliment each other very well. We are both here day to day. Kevin is at Skagit at least once a month when his schedule allows it. He is extremely busy with his other businesses and does so much with his Rayce Rudeen Foundation work as well. We are all three very vested and all decisions are a joint decision between the three of us. My partner at Hanford is my brother-in-law, Preston Cross, who is also a part owner of Corey Day’s car with Jason Meyers. Like I said before, I am surrounded by some amazing people making all of this fall into place.

DE: How did it come about that your group acquired Skagit?

PM: Funny enough, there seem to be varied stories on how it all came about. But basically, conversations between everyone happened at separate times, and it just all came together. I think this partnership is good for the sport and good for Skagit.

DE: What are your long term plans at Skagit?

PM: As with any track, things are a continual work in motion. You can’t just stop at some point and say it’s good enough as it is. You always have to make it better. We as a race community have to adapt to the racing world and make it better. Times are changing, our loyal fans are getting older.

Facility wise, the score tower out behind the back straightaway is over 20 years old. It needs to be fixed but parts are not readily available for something that old. It takes a lot of time and energy to chase down parts, wait on them, then install them. We need to put a new Jumbotron up that is state of the art and following the times. We will get a new scoring tower eventually. The infield needs to be redesigned and we are weighing options for infield pitting but unloading is a challenge. Skagit Speedway has historically pitted in the infield until the last two decades, and the fans love to see the action of the infield pit. We would like to go back to infield pitting in some form, but not sure what that looks like yet. We need to try to make things work for the racers and fans both. We just really want it to possible for fans to be able to see the action and what’s going on; this is what we’ve been told they miss.

Other things we are working on are the campground, trying to make it work better and be bigger. Change is hard and we realize that. But our ultimate goal is to make the camping more uniform so it’s easier to access and the spots are uniform. Electricity and water installation at each site is also down the road. It’s not simple and takes a lot of work with the county to make these sorts of changes to a facility like Skagit Speedway.

DE: What do you think about the health of sprint car racing?

PM: It’s struggling on the West Coast. Our diehard fans are getting older. We need to do something to entice new blood; younger people who can continue the sport. I think it’s worse on the West Coast due to politics probably, they don’t seem to have racing in mind, and there are so many hoops to jump through to get anything done. It’s all about control in

West Coast politics.

People want instant gratification now days. We are all so used to instant gratification on our phones, and I think this is a reason we are losing fans in the stands. So many options are available now via streaming subscriptions, so people don’t have to go to the track. They can watch races on their phone. Somehow we need to compromise and figure out how to balance streaming races with the need to get fans in the stands at the actual events. Live streaming needs to be a balance to retain people in the stands so the sport can survive. Without fans in the stands, it’s a struggle to put on a successful show. We need to change what we do to get the younger people to come to the track in person and experience live racing.

DE: How did your first season at Skagit go?

PM: Change is always hard… the first season was interesting.

DE: What big races do you plan to focus on for next season, besides Dirt Cup and World of Outlaws weekend? Any changes to those races?

PM: We plan to keep the schedule pretty much as it was this season; weekly racing on most Saturdays. Dirt Cup will be a three day event again, we will host a two day Monster Slam event in August, and the World of Outlaws will be back for a three day show over Labor Day Weekend. We will host a two day wingless and 360 show again as well. We are excited to have expanded our big shows to three days so the teams can spend more time at the track and the fans can see their favorite drivers for a longer stretch of time.