The Great Race Place
Racing, as seen in this 2020 photo, takes place on Friday nights at AlbanySaratoga Speedway.
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Inside Motorsports | April 2021
lbany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta, New York, is distinguishing itself as a dirt track with determined leadership. During the pandemic caused by the spread of COVID-19, organizers at Albany-Saratoga persisted, saving the 2020 season and earning track promoter Lyle DeVore “Auto-Racing Promoter of the Year” in early 2021. The “ARPY: ‘Without Fans’ Award,” DeVore noted, was the first of its kind, as it recognized promotional gains despite a fanless season resulting from COVID-19 restrictions. “I won ‘Regional Promoter of the Year’ for the Northeast the past three years,” he said, “but I just won the national promoter of the year … for not having any fans — we weren’t allowed — so the track has become more nationally known.” A December 2020 article at albany-saratogaspeedway.com called the facility “an oasis in the pandemic wasteland.” “Under the direction of DeVore, and with the help of a dedicated staff and some very generous corporate sponsors, Albany-Saratoga completed a 14-week schedule, running five divisions every Friday night, giving drivers and owners alike the weekly diversion they needed to get through an uncertain summer,” the article states.
Steering Toward Success
DeVore, 49, credited ingenuity and sponsors with saving the 2020 season. “We never worked as hard just to be able to make it a go from week to week,” he said. “One of the hardest things was that we didn’t cut our purses. We were fortunate that we got some sponsors to help out with races and purses and so forth, but it was a struggle, because we didn’t know what was going to happen next in the world.
Albany-Saratoga Speedway Carries on Tradition of Friday Night Fun story: Allison Collins, FOR INSIDE MOTORSPORTS Photo: Provided
“It’s been a big financial struggle, because we weren’t allowed to have fans and you need to have fans to survive,” DeVore continued. “The fan part is pretty big and, with this situation we had last year, we weren’t able to. We couldn’t really ask our sponsors, because there were no fans in stands to advertise to. That’s why we moved to payper-view and we did utilize that for some of our sponsors. We followed the protocol of what we needed to do to race without fans, with regard to the safety of the racers and their pit crews, and we averaged 151 cars a night. That’s why we got that national award.” DeVore said powering through the challenges of last year has him hopeful for the 2021 season, expected to start in April and continue through September. “Moving forward, we’re pretty optimistic that everything is loosening up and that we’re going to be able to put capacity fans in our stands,” he said. “We’ll still follow whatever health guidelines we need to in order to make it work. “And I think that (optimism) is going to be industry wide,” DeVore continued. “There are some promoters that are more optimistic than others, but you’ve got to maintain the right frame of mind and be positive that we’re going to be able to
