The Dale Jr. Download - 498 - Business of Motorsports (Part VI) - Owning & Operating The Local Short Track w/ Ashly Burnett

Episode Date: October 11, 2023

Kelley Earnhardt Miller sets out to learn the fundamentals of operating a race track as she sits down with Millbridge Speedway owner Ashly Burnett. She and co-host Mike Davis interview Ashly about her long family history in racing and how it led her to take over a speedway herself. Ashly explains that after growing up in the St. Louis area, her father Darrell forged a path in dirt modified racing that took her to many Midwest short tracks every weekend in her formative years. His pursuit to become an engine builder eventually led the family to North Carolina, and her brother Nick has since become an accomplished dirt racer in his own right. Ashly and her husband Jeremy Burnett came to own Millbridge when its former owner decided to get out of the sport. She recalls the process of learning how to manage a speedway as they went along, from acquiring the necessary equipment like tractors and track graders to keeping events organized and on schedule. She also touches on how the track remained open during COVID and actually experienced a boom in popularity that it continues to thrive from. Finally, the interview discusses how Millbridge has played home to not only NASCAR Cup stars, but their children, and how the speedway could very well be a training ground for the next generation of racing superstars. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. Welcome to the Dell Jr. Download. It is yours truly, Kelly Earnhardt Miller. This is actually a little bit different segment. The business of photo sports. This is something that I've wanted to do with you for a long time. Do business-related podcasts. Do business-related episodes.

Open chats, right? Open chats about the business concerns of our industry, which there are many. Hope this series opens people up to the broader, bigger picture. Welcome to the Bojangles Studio. It's another episode of the Business of Motorsports under the Dell Jr. Download. Dell's out again.

So it's my time to shine once more. I'm enjoying it. And my co-host, Mike Davis, we're here for Part 6. Can you believe this? No, this is so fun. I mean, I'm having fun with them. It doesn't feel like six episodes already. I know.

It's wild. It's just been incredible. It is. It's been fun. So I'm excited about today's guest. Our ally guest today is Ashley Burnett. Ashley is the promoter and owner of Millbridge Speedway, which is a local track here in our area. And, you know, we're going to talk track promotion.

And, you know, one of our episodes was on how do you, you know, work with your driver on branding and representation. We get to ask her the opposite. How do you work with the parents? That's going to be a fun conversation. But no, I'm really excited about it. The business of local racetracks, it can't be easy, right? I mean, you see, I heard a production company made a television series about abandoned racetracks. I don't know who that would have been, but, you know, you don't have abandoned racetracks without difficulties in the business of operations, right?

So this is a fascinating one for me. You came up with this idea. I thought it was fascinating from the moment you mentioned it. Ashley Burnett is someone from a racing family. I've never met her, but I've heard a lot about her, particularly from you guys, because you race out there at Millbridge. And one other thing I just, you know, it occurred to me was when Dale and I had Hank Parker here at the table a few weeks ago, Hank Parker was talking about back in the day going and

racing out at Millbridge. So I'm like, whoa, Millbridge has been around that long. So this is a success story, Milbridge. Now, the Burnettes have not owned it this whole time. So I'm just curious about how they keep this thing going. And by the way, Milbridge feels like it's caught this wave with all this next generation racers, one of which is your son. And I'm curious on how that's affected the business of this racetrack.

Yeah, Milbridge has been around for a long time. Ashley and her husband Jeremy have certainly brought it back to life over the last, I don't know, 10, 12 years. And, you know, I think when we, in another 10 to 12 years, years when we're here in the bushes and the Harvicks and Wyatt and so on and so forth in the NASCAR series, whatever they may do, we're going to hear about Milbridge then because this is where they're at, right? This is the roots. And it's not just the names you've heard of.

There are so many fantastic racers out there. So this next wave and generation of racers, wherever they may go, whether they go dirt car racing or asphalt racing or whatever it might be, Milbridge is going to be in their storylines for sure. 100% listen I hope out of this episode people who frequent local racetracks and I hope you're doing that like I know our listeners love their local racetracks. Dale and I went up to Learnersville just a week or so ago with the Kyle Larson sprint car race. Supporting the local racetracks is just, it's just imperative, right? Like if you want these things to survive, you've got to be putting people in the stands. That's one thing. Two is I hope that the drivers get something out of this.

Like, you know, if it's some sort of appreciation, you mentioned, parents a little bit ago, you know, it just can't be easy. And I think Ashley's going to confirm a lot of that stuff, but I can't wait for us to ask questions. But I just, I hope that drivers, fans, other track owners, listen, they're all out there. There's racetracks everywhere. And I hope that we can glean some stuff from Ashley on just maybe finding a new appreciation for what they do to just put on an event every single week. Yeah, I think when I leave this episode, I'll have a new appreciation because I see it from the racer side. You know, I see it as a participant there. I see it. as a fan there and a spectator there.

So I'm anxious to hear from her too and get a different appreciation for it and a new appreciation as well. So let's get to it. Let's bring in our ally guest, Ashley Burnett. Hey girl, come on in. Welcome to the show. Don't be nervous.

It's all good. They said it's just Kelly. It's easy. It's easy. This is the easiest part. You'll have all week, I promise. Yeah. I hope so.

Welcome to the table, Ashley. It's good to have you here for our six. This is our sixth episode of the business of motorsports. And Mike and I, this is my idea to talk about this subject and track promotion and everything. So we're excited to have you here. And so I'll let you, I know a little bit about you and a lot about you. I'm going to get a new appreciation, though, I think, from your point of view because I have my point of view as a participant out at Millbridge. But Ashley is the promoter and owner of Milbridge Speedway, along with her husband, Jeremy.

and so why racing how did you get involved in racing tell us a little bit about the backstory there well i grew up in um the st louis area um when i was born i was born into racing so i was at the racetrack every weekend um with my dad he raced my uncle raced um so every weekend Friday Saturday Sunday we were at the racetrack dirt tracks all around the Midwest and um we moved here to Carolina. My dad was an engine builder, so he wanted to pursue engine building here in North Carolina. And we kind of wanted to get my brother. He was pretty young at the time, but we got him involved in the legend cars and bandalero. So it was kind of, we wanted to get in the middle of it. So we moved, I think I moved in the middle of my junior year of high school. And we moved here, and it's just racing. I mean, it's been there.

Yeah, I mean, it's been in my blood since I was born, so. Yeah, I was telling Mike, you came to work and ended up working with my daughter's grandfather, Terry Ellage, your dad, I think they worked together. And your brother, you can't skip over Nick Hoffman, an accomplished dirt racer as well in the family. So what led to Millbridge? Well, funny story is when me and my dad, we were driving down 150 one day, and I, there was a racetrack sign, overgrown weeds. It was closed at the time.

I don't even know if there was a for sale sign or not. But I looked at my dad. This was before Jeremy was even around. And I looked at dad and I said, we should buy a racetrack. We should buy that one. And he said, Ashley, you are crazy. You know how much work that is? And I said, I'll do it.

And he said, no. So we laughed about it. And it's weird that I remember that story because then it's probably five, 10 years down the road that Jeremy came around. And we got involved with Milbridge. It kind of just kind of fell in our lap. And it's been taken off ever since. Now Jeremy's also his background from a racing family.

Jeremy's brother is Randall Burnett, who is Cobbush as crew chief. Yep. Yeah, they were asphalt. They were more of asphalt late model racing family. So my first couple of asphalt late model races were with them. So, but obviously I wanted to go back to my dirt race. and I wasn't thrilled about the asphalt late. I don't like waking up early and having to go to the race track.

There you go. So I'm assuming that the track back in St. Louis was dirt, right? What was the name of that track? We did a lot of Belclair Speedway and Belleville, Illinois, I-55, Peebley, Missouri. And then there was a track on Sunday that we went to called St. Charles, which is not there anymore. And that was in Missouri as well. But Dad was really big into U&P modified. So we would go everywhere.

We went anywhere, you know, Paducah, Red Hill. So wherever there was a race, we went. Oh, yeah, you were in the deep end. Y'all were in the deep end. Yeah, all of us. That's right. Okay. So that's where the roots were sown, right?

Like when you go, even if it was half joking, half serious, whatever it was, like, hey, we should buy a racetrack. At this point, and I don't know how old you were, but you're feeling like you could do this already. You've been at racetracks. You know what the ones that do it well, the ones that don't. You feel like you know that, right? Yeah, well, when you grow up in the Midwest, you just, the racing is so much different than all over the United States, especially dirt racing. It is so different. Yeah, I know.

Just explain that because I feel the same when we go out there. I go everywhere. So I've been everywhere, really. Just the talent level and then the way that they take care of their racetracks, you know, I grew up going to Eldora and Tri-City and Peavely and every one of them, they just take care of their racetracks. You know, I grew up going to Eldora and Tri-City and Pevely, and every one of them, they just take care of their facility. They roll a fast show. The dirt is so much better.

I know that sounds weird. No, it doesn't. It doesn't. The brown dirt is so much better than the red clay that we have here. So it produces better racing than what we have here with the red dirt. That makes that makes total sense. And by the way, everything you just mentioned are the parts that I'm fascinated about of like the concerns that a track owner must consider and deal with that we don't.

even we take for granted frankly yeah so like an asphalt track obviously you just open the gates and go you know uh with dirt you know there's so much that goes into it and we've even discussed trying to get brown dirt over here all the midwest dirt and it was just so far away and we would have to train it over and it was like millions of dollars we we became a bit educated on this when we were doing lost speedways and i think it was actually when you know metrolina went back and forth from dirt to pavement. And it was all about the Carolina red clay and how it was a bit problematic and at least what some folks weren't used to. And so that is where you're right. That's the thing that you have to deal with here. Yeah. There's just there's no, you know, when you watch Eldora or

anything, you know, the big tracks in in the Midwest area, the brown dirt, just the dry slick and the good race. And we, you know, the red clay does not get dry slick. It gets dusty. So it's like you have to work the bigger cars you know we were uh it was better for us to have smaller cars so it didn't it didn't affect it as much you know we could get as much water as we needed in the track but when there's big cars on the track it's just impossible i love this you know when we were at pennsylvania at learnersville a week or so ago Wyatt your son wyatt was educating me on all like the very thing you're talking about i'm on you know putting water in the track that had just had a big rain and all the implications that come with the big rain, right? You know all too well about it.

And we want to know about it more. But Wyatt is, by the way, doing the Lord's work when it's coming, educating us about racetracks. He's trying to spring them over to the dirt world. Yes, he is. He's doing a good job. Yeah. Yeah, so let's take it back to, you know, deciding and how, you know, the track came together at Millbridge. I know that you raced and we raced around other tracks that are in the area, the goat cart tracks here. So take us back to that. and how that kind of came together. So we had with the SKE cart group, we traveled all around with SKE and QRC at the time.

And Milbridge was one of our stops. We were just a series. I think we had two or three classes, the open class, the intermediate class, and then our box stock class. And at the time, the box stock class was just beginners. It didn't matter your age. We just wanted carts.

So it was like I was racing Carson at 20-something years old and she was what. Yeah, nine. Yeah. So it was like, I've never raced before. So they were like, well, we need a cart.

So they threw me in a cart. And then I ran all season long. And it was funny because we were very competitive, me and Carson together. Even with the age difference and everything. Yeah. So we just, Milbridge was one of our stops and it was our favorite track.

And in the middle of our season, they decided that the promoter didn't want to do it anymore and it was going to be shut down until another promoter was found. Well, without me even around, Jeremy and two friends signed the lease and he came home and said, I signed a lease on a racetrack today. I said, you did what? Feels like that's a conversation that the husband and a wife out of half. And he said, yeah, we signed a lease on Milbridge. I said, I'm not working at your racetrack. I said, I want nothing to do with that. And he said, okay. And I said, all right. And him and two friends got ready for their first race and the two friends said, that's a lot of work.

You think? So I said, well, if they're not going to put in the work, it's going to just be us. So we kind of made that it was just us. So they signed everything over to Jeremy and I. And we basically, we had no equipment. We had no idea. My husband, he's not a farmer. I had no idea about tractors or graders. I mean, we grew up around dirt tracks, but hell, we didn't know how to prep a racetrack. And we just learned from the beginning. I mean, we basically got thrown out there and we figured it out. This sounds like a husband thing.

I can relate. I do that same thing to my wife, actually. It sounds like some things I've heard before, too. Yes, yes, this is familiar. God bless you all. It was a lot of learning. but I wouldn't take back another day. I mean, it was, it's a lot of learning.

When you go in there and have to learn what equipment you need, and you don't have money to buy a grader or a tractor or a water truck or it didn't come with a lot of things, so we had to make what we could with what we had. We'll expand on that. Let's see here. What's the first thing when you acquire a racetrack, a dirt track, let's be specific,

What's the number one thing you guys realized you needed? Well, I mean, the number one thing you need a water truck, but if you want to make it smooth, you need a greater. And then if you want to get the water in the dirt, you got to have a tiller on a tractor. And so it was like every year or every couple months, we would just throw all of our money back in just to get to where we're at. And there was times where I remember walking up from the gate just crying because I'd go down and say how many people are here. and there'd be 90 people in there. And it's like, I need 100 people to pay my bills. Like, not, you know, you know, so it was, it was tough for the first couple years.

I was, I don't want to do this. You know, I didn't care about the money situation. I didn't want to lose money. But obviously, nobody wants to work for nothing for who knows how long. So it was a tough couple, probably the first two seasons of trying to get acquired and get people to come. And at that time, we still only had probably, what, five box stocks. And I mean, 20 cars. Yeah, let's say, 2540 cars. Now, this is 2011-ish. Is that when you guys started leasing? Well, yeah, yeah, because we, I was just going to ask, like, alongside, I mean, I remember you guys having

different jobs and other jobs. Did you have to kind of keep that? Like, what was that right? Yeah, at first, yes. Yeah. Jeremy is grateful that his, um, his father had left him with a, a teller. communications business. So we have the telecom business. I was a massage therapist at the time, so I was doing a lot of sports massage for a lot of the race teams. So I kept on with the massage stuff because I had to have a job. And I don't know, it, it, I probably went five, six years of working different jobs and stuff before we're completely now both of us full time at Millbridge. Wow. Okay. So walk me through. I, I, I, I, at so many questions. Let me try to prioritize these. First of all, making money in those early

years, I'm assuming entry fees and gate. Am I wrong? Am I missing something? Well, entry fees, no. Because I just give back everything that comes in. So if you pay me money, I pay it right back out to whatever comes in. Oh, in purse. In purse money. Yep. We didn't really have a lot of sponsors. I mean, Jimmy and Kyle at QRC and SKE were probably my first two sponsors, not necessarily big sponsors, but they were my sponsors. But it, when you start out with something like that, every dime just goes right back to it. And thank God it did, or I wouldn't be in the situation I am right now. But I think that's with any business. You've got to struggle before. How many years do you really feel like that it's taken for

you to get, I mean, I have seen the transformation. Yeah. And the transformation from the track and its appearance and what you guys have added from, you know, you talk about the sponsors and now we're lined on the backstretch with billboards and you've got events that are sponsored and each series is sponsored and so on. So how long was that process? I think it probably, where do you feel like you're at in that process? It probably took, I would think it took me probably three or four seasons to feel comfortable, not successful, but comfortable. And then I think about lately, I mean, probably right around pre-COVID. is when we really exploded or maybe during COVID is kind of weird that most businesses

kind of struggled during COVID and we skyrocket during COVID. Why do you think that was? Yeah, why? They just wanted to get out of the house. And you stayed open? Yes. Deliberly. Absolutely.

You have to. I had a business to run. It would have killed you, right? I mean, it would have. Yes. You can't go that long. So can we go into this now? Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. So when we, when COVID came about, we stayed open for a little bit and they kept, the actual mayor had sent us a letter and said, you cannot race during COVID. And I sent a lot of things back saying, well, I have this much land. How many people per acre can I have? Well, nobody could give me that answer. I said, so you can go into a restaurant. and they can have 100 people with this much square footage, and nobody could give me an answer on that.

I said, okay, so we at first stayed open for a little bit, and then I got a little nervous because I was like, it's government. They can do whatever they want into my business. I don't want to be closed forever. So we closed for one month. We figured out that if we did three track rentals a day for a month, we could pay all of our bills and get through,

because at the time, we didn't know how long COVID was going to last. We thought it would be a couple months. And so we said three track rentals a day. day and we started the very first day of COVID track rentals three a day nine in the morning testing not in the morning 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. and went three a day for an entire month just to stay open and pay our bills now she's resourceful when we came back um when we came back we said okay we're going to have these races but when you drive by you can see millbridge you can see the whole pit area so I said it's all just what they see.

So let's let so many people in. We'll make sure that each trailer is so far feet apart from each other. And not let anybody conjugate anywhere. So I put the little stickers on the ground, like stay back. And I did everything that any business did to stay open. And what we did was before COVID, we were one day. We raced Wednesday and then we race Saturday. Well, during COVID, we were like, okay, let's do the kids on Tuesday and then the adults on Wednesday.

That way it's less people in the pits. It looks better. So we did that. And when we, that was the best thing we've ever done. Awesome. Because it went from Tuesday, Wednesday to now there's no way I could go back to just one day. Tuesday, I had 96 kids under the age of 13. And that's a regular Tuesday.

For four divisions. Four divisions. Yeah. Four divisions. And then Wednesday last night we just, we had five divisions and I think we were at 60 to 70 with the micro sprints or a bigger trailer. So there was no way I could go back to just one day. Wow.

That's amazing. It's crazy what COVID did for different reasons. Right, right. Good and bad, right? Right. This is a example of some good. This is fascinating. Do you guys mind doing kind of a sweep through the classes so we can kind of like frame that up?

Because I know box stocks are the beginning class, right? Well, no. No. It used to be. Okay. It used to be to where we just had the open, intermediate, and box stock. Well, we found that we couldn't throw all these kids in one class. So we started a beginner box stock and had that for a while.

And then we found that it started getting a little too big. So we opened up a cadet, which cadet is basically just teaching them how to hit the gas, knowing the flags hit the gas, no one to start, pass. that's it. And then they move up to beginner box stock. So cadet would be five, six, seven years old, basically just getting in a cart. They usually start out at five. And then you move to beginner box stock, which will go up to nine, and then you move up to box stock. In box stock, every class, there's 25, 30 of them every week. And then after, we just started a new class called Junior Wing, which is just like the box stocks, most of the box stock kids run junior wing as well, but it's a little faster motor.

So just to kind of prepare them to move on to whatever they would. That's on the Tuesday side. The Wednesday side, we started the microsprints a couple years ago, wing and non-wing microsprints. We do a restricted micro-sprit. And then we also have our intermediate division, which is our 250-125 division, which is what we had for, it's an OG class. We've had it from the beginning. So when she talks about the box talk and cadets and all, those are outlawful, all carts. So that is this S-K-E that she's speaking of, QRC, which is what Jimmy owns. These are the carts that it's basically a goat cart with like a frame, sprint car frame and wing. Yeah. So when we first started, we had go-carts, just flat carts for a while. And it was a

good revenue. You know, there was a good group that came through with it. I just did not like them kids in a go-cart with nothing over their heads. I didn't like it. And when they'd go flipping, they'd flip out of it. So we, I said, no. more. So we got rid of all that. We do have a series that comes that's go-cars, but it's all adults. If a kid is on the racetrack, I want them full containment seat, seatbelts, everything. So they have everything. She's a fantastic goat car series, the D&Q series, which runs. Yes. And that's very popular. There's another 100. They'll run on Wednesday nights when we're not running our normal stuff. And they'll get about 100 in five classes. They'll get 100 entries.

Wow. Okay. So that is, that's a lot. Thank you for doing. that because honestly that's something that I think if you know if there's anybody like myself I just you there's so many different classifications and everybody's doing this stuff so so going back to the COVID year you were able to separate the days separate some classes and that ended up being a good business yeah opportunity for you that you guys stuck with yeah experience the thrill of the racetrack like you're in the driver's seat with draft king sports book bet on your favorite racers and feel the rush of every pass, pit stop, and victory like never before. Right now new customers can turn five bucks into 200 instantly in bonus bets. Bet five on anything to score big no matter what goes

down on the track. The stakes are high as the round of eight kicks off this week in Las Vegas for the Cup Series and a win here for a playoff driver locks you into the final four. And with so much on the line, you need to tune in to Dirty Mo Doe as they handicap the field. and recommend bets to watch. With props, parlays, and more, they'll be action to follow all race long. The racing action doesn't stop till the checkered flag drops.

Download the Draft King Sportsbook app now and join with Code Dail. New customers can bet $5 to get $200 instantly in bonus bets. That's Code Dail only on Draft King's Sportsbook. The crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit www.1-800 gambler. for state-specific disclaimers, check the show notes.

21-plus age varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. C-DKNG.com slash auto-racing for eligibility, terms, and responsible gaming resources. Bonus bets expire seven days after issuance. Eligibility and deposit restrictions apply. Talk about Ashley, you know, just running the racetrack, right? So employees, volunteers, what happens during the week, what do race nights look like, you know, sponsorship. I mean, there's just so much to it.

Yeah. I think the average person doesn't understand. When Jeremy and I started to do this and really got, really got involved in this, we said, if we're going to do it, it's going to be me and you. That's it. When you get too many hands on it, there's problems. So we said from the beginning, it's me and you. That's it. We just recently, maybe this year, hired a maintenance person that just picks up trash and cleans the grandstands. But other than that, you'll find me cleaning bathrooms after the races. You'll find me at the payout window. you'll find me at the sign-in window, you'll hear me on the receiver. Jeremy does the scoring. So on a normal race day, he'll go do the track. I'll do everything to set up to get ready for the races. And we'll have about probably 15 employees on a race day that'll come in right about

race time, work and go right home, and then I do everything after that. And what do they do? They'll be, you know, I have concession stand and gate people and just normal officials. Track officials? Yeah. Wow, okay. Which will see her family involved in that part of it. Yeah, dad'll be in the infield with mom racers, dad racers, you know, depending on what's going on.

She doesn't let any of us officiate, but no. We can help make hot dogs. Oh, that's, sure you don't want parents of the racers helping you officiate races? I mean, that seems like such a great idea. They already do. They already do. In their own mind, they're officiating nonstop. Let's talk about that.

Let's not. No way, I want to know. I need to know. How do you, with all of those things that you're having to basically run it, right? You know, all those things you're talking about. And even when your employees are there, you're still, they got a, they get someone they got a report to and you're the one running this whole operation. 100%.

What are the unexpected things? And I'm thinking, like, because I'm a parent of a kid that plays soccer. And soccer parents are notorious for being assholes, right? Yeah. I mean, like, so. Racing parents are too. So like what are some of the unexpected things? And if parents, you know, arguing with an official or something like that,

what are some of the unexpected things that happened that you have to deal with? It's every night. But it's gotten a lot better because Kelly can... You just speak. I just, they know that they're not going to get anywhere with me. Yes. So it's... You run it with an iron fist.

Yeah. So they don't... They don't even come to the tower anymore. It got so bad to where every race day, I'd almost have to lock the door because they'd come in the tower or they knock on the window or while I'm trying to work.

And I have to focus on what's happening on the racetrack. I'm a very important piece of the racetrack. So, you know, like I'm on the race cever, which is a one-way communication to the drivers. So if there's a wreck, I have to be watching that racetrack to tell them there's a wreck, slow down, yellow, whatever, especially if kids are out there.

I take that to heart, you know, like if they're all on my shoulders. So if you're knocking on the window or coming in, you know, I hear you. And I got to focus on the racetrack. So we got to where when they'd come up there, we'd scream at each other back and forth. And they don't get anywhere. Yeah, nothing happens from them. Nothing happens. So they've all realized that you might as well not even try.

What's your time? Don't even. Don't even try. But you've got to be that way. Yeah, you do have to be that way. And the beauty of it, and I hear this going around to other racetracks, the beauty of it is that, you know, every, a lot of tracks are compared to Millbridge.

And Millbridge has an outstanding reputation for that, for fairness. I mean, people can call her a lot of names. And I've heard a lot of names of people call her because they didn't get their way. But she runs a fair. It doesn't matter who you are, what you are, where you are. She runs a fair show. She runs a fast show.

You get it done. we get in and out and you're I mean you're happy maybe you're not happy with the particular instance or whatever but in general you're happy because you know everybody's treated the same and that's all you can ask for because you can go to a lot of racetracks where you know there's favoritism you know this person gets away for that with that or whatever her rules are her rules if she says it's 30 seconds in the hot pits it's 30 seconds it's not 31 whatever she says it's the way it rolls so you know it going in that's the other thing lot of tracks. We've been to race tracks where you don't know the expectations. Yeah.

You know the expectations when you head to Millbridge. It's hard with us because our location, we have so many NASCAR routes. And it's so hard because Joe Blow will come in and say that I'm, we'll take Brexton Bush, for example. I favor Brexton Bush. Okay. Oh, somebody don't accuse you of that. But then Kyle will say that I'm picking on them because he's Brexton Bush. So it's like, I don't win. So it's funny because people say that. And I'm like, my brother ran an open one time.

And I've parked my brother before. I mean, black five get off the racetrack. I don't care. I have rules. I stick by them. I had somebody the other day that was, I don't even know what they were yelling at me about. And I said, is it in the rule book? And they said, yes.

And I said, okay. I just walked away. You don't get anywhere. So it's got a lot. I'm no different than a coach. I'm no different than a student teacher. No different than anything. You know, so it's, it just comes with the job, really.

I've realized that after so many years that people are going to hate me. Sorry. They're going to come back next week. So, you know, I'm sorry. This is fascinating. fascinating. Do you, Kelly suggests that you hear some of the things that people call you. Is that true?

Like, do people call you names? Like, do you hear that? Oh, I hear. So then my question to you is, how do you not want to go rip someone's head off? I mean, I want to rip somebody's head off every day. So you show so much self-control in those situations. I didn't used to. She's grown a lot in that.

Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I've come a long way. I can say I've come a long way in those situations. I think that's just something that has. happens when you're owning a business and you realize that there's a bigger picture than just that one situation, right? I mean, that's part of it. I think the biggest problem is social media.

Yeah. How so? Well, I deleted my Facebook. You had to because you didn't want to see the comments. Yeah, I have Facebook to where people can message me, but I will not go through and scroll. Because I would get, I would get in bed at the end of the night, at the end of the race night, and scroll through, and somebody would post on there about a call that was made or something. And that would eat at me. Not only the adults. are different, but it would eat at me that they would say that I ruined a kid's race, or I didn't, and it ate at me for a while. And I said, you know what, I, I'm done with that. So I don't read it anymore. What Kelly said, though, when she says that Milbridge has a reputation

of being fair, do you understand that? Do you notice that, hear it, all those things? Yeah. Good. Yeah. I, yeah, I've come a long way. And I'm proud of what we've, what we were all the way to what we are now, but it's been a long, grueling road. There's been a lot of times where I'd just go home and cry, or I'd go home and say, all right, who wants to buy this place? Like, I, that's it. And luckily, I just, that lasted about 10 minutes and then that was back to doing something else. So it's rough. I think you have a good support system and your family and what I've seen as it has grown is that you're in charge and you you run the business and then there's Jeremy who people can feed off and back and like he can feed you information like he's a good

head just to like share something with right and then you've got and I think you have to have that it's no different than in this business right you've got to be the boss and you know handle everything fair and the way it needs to be and then you know they can all go and talk amongst themselves and it'll feed back a little bit here and there whatever. So it's kind of like he does a lot of the tech stuff, the racetrack stuff. He'll randomly decide he figures out the big shows. We all have our jobs. Like I don't touch his job and he doesn't touch my job.

But then we, anytime that there's something big going on, we get together and talk about other than owning a racetrack. That was not discussed. Didn't discuss that one, did you? I think he learned after that maybe I need to start discussing with her. Yeah, right. So what about the experience, you know, what kind of focus do you put on the experience for the racers? And then I also want that perspective from the fans and events and things like that that you do because she does a lot of great fun stuff for. Yeah. Well, if I had time, I would love every single race to be something special. I just don't have the manpower or the time to do something.

But I always want somebody to come there, whether it's their first time or whatever. I just want them to enjoy, you know, we're a big family environment. My mom runs the concession stand. My dad's in the infield. My brother will be there helping. I'm up on the race cever, and Jeremy is right next to me at the computer running all the scoring. So I just want, when I walk through there, I want people to remember the racetrack just like I did. You know, I've remembered hanging out at all of my Midwest dirt tracks.

So I want them to have an experience with their family. That's the big thing. Everybody tells me, why don't you sell alcohol? You can make so much money selling beer. Well, I don't want to. You can bring beer and enjoy by yourself, but I'm not, I want to stick with being a family environment. And I want to always stay that way. Your identity is the best thing you got, the thing that's most worth protecting.

Yeah. Right? without considering revenue or anything like, how much does it cost just to run an event, a race? Like, what is, in ballpark? Yeah, it depends. It all depends on payout, really, how much you're going to pay a purse. Because when we, Jeremy has a spreadsheet that if he wants to do, he comes up with these off-the-wall ideas, which is great. But he'll say, I want to do this race, but you got to find a $30,000 sponsor.

Again, it feels very familiar for a husband's suggestion. Well, that's not easy. And then you've got to look into if a series comes in, you have to pay sanctioning. We do the extreme midget tour, and when they come in with the extreme series, you've got to pay a sanctioning fee. So there's a lot of variables that go into that. If I want to do a big race, like we're having our first big open race, which was the 500s. We haven't had the 500 C.C. opens in 450s in a while except for a series that come in. We haven't had a big show and everybody's

been pushing us to do a big show. I got a $3,000 sponsor and that's what it was. So it just depends if we're doing a weekly show, you know, a couple thousand dollars is what we need. But like our big show that we do, we do right, that leads up to the world finals, you know, sometimes they're, they can be $20,000 to $30,000 for everything with purse and, you know, you know, you have to rent light towers and port-a-johns and have more employees and more food. And so it just depends on how big of the show you're doing. Owning, I mean, there's tracks everywhere, right? They're in the middle of whatever, wherever, however.

And so, you know, I would imagine that you have neighbors that, you know, complain from time to time. And then you have neighbors, I know that you have neighbors that are really happy to have a race right there and that come to watch. but what is that like you know just in terms of how you operate because milbridge has been there for a really long time i know that you probably have aspirations of growth and and all of those kinds of things so what does it look like for you and i'm sure other tracks you know have this same thing right yeah we well we were very fortunate we went forever without having any problems um we started the micro sprints we're a little louder than the five hundreds which i don't understand because they're not as i mean the five hundreds were still noisy. Probably not as noisy, but we're just so busy now and there's so many cars that,

and then they built a neighborhood about a mile down the street and everybody came together and said, we got to get this racetrack shut down. What? Yes. Well, years ago before we had the racetrack, when I told my dad we were going to buy it, it was shut down because there was a, they were going through a court case on trying to keep the track open. And, and, the way court cases worked to where to make up for that lost revenue that the owner had within that court case I think it was like two years they gave them a grandfather so you have a grandfather you have no curfew you have no noise ordinance you have nothing and it sticks with that racetrack as long as it stays that race exactly what it was yeah exactly what it is at the time yes yeah so

like a grandfather clause so we have a grandfather so when we took it over we still have the grandfather so The neighbors got mad because they wanted to shut it down for noise and they said we can't touch it. Like they have a grandfather, we can't touch it. Well, how about curfew? They don't have a curfew, which we don't, you can attest for this. We, 10.30 max. I mean, I make sure everybody's out of there. So we have been in this big hoop law with the neighbors of trying to figure out a resolution. Well, there's never going to be a resolution because their resolution is shut it down. Yeah. And that's not going to happen. It's not going to happen. So the resolution with the neighbors was mufflers on the micro sprints,

which is not something you can do overnight. You know, there's a lot of testing that goes into that. And when we do find a muffler, you have to make sure there's 100 of them in stock ready to go because that's how many teams we have. So we're working on that. They want us to be done at 10 o'clock, which the curfew in Roan County is 11,

and they gave us a curfew of 10, which we've been doing really well. We've been almost every night right at 10 o'clock. And then they're just, you know, like they wanted our tech shed down because we didn't get proper permits. So we took it down. And then grandstands took it down. So we did everything that everybody told us. We leased property next door to park big rigs for big races.

And the county said, nope, you can't do that and took it away from us. So we're very confined in a very small area. But we made it work. Yeah, we're making it work. I just can't have anything real big right now. Wow. Yeah. That seems like a hassle.

Especially if you predate the neighborhoods. Like if the track predates, I mean, I'm assuming that's the point of the grandfather clause. I mean, like, you know, but still, it's like you're right. This feels like almost every local race tracks fight, right? It does. I mean, because I know that when, you know, Dale was so emphatic about trying to get the fairgrounds in Nashville back, that's the big thing that Marcus is fighting. And he's building walls and building all these things just to help pacify, you know, an entire community.

And, yeah. And it's sad to me because I want the neighbors to be proud to live there and come see what we've built and come see the kids and the excitement on the kids face. And it's like, you know, when I have 98 kids off the street getting involved in racing and you want to shut that down. You know, it's upsetting. And it's like, come see what we're doing. We'll work together on the noise or whatever you want to work together on. But don't take this away from these families. I mean, Kelly, how long have you been with me?

Yeah, I mean, since, well, Carson's 23 and that was nine. So a long time. And my family's raced at Millbridge prior to that, you know, my brother. And, yeah. I had Carson. I've had Kennedy and I have quiet. All three of my kids have run there. So, and she's not the only one.

You know, I have ones that I've, I've had that are now on to bigger things. And I just wish that they, you know, you can come to Millbridge and sit right next to Kelly. You can sit next to Kyle Bush. You can clip lawyer. It doesn't matter. And they're just, and what I want is I want those people to be able to come sit in the

grandstands, enjoy being there with their family. No one really bothers them. They might get an autograph or picture or two, but there's not a big upward when they're there. We're doing the same thing that you're doing at the soccer game. They're the same person. And that's what I've always told my employees that we don't bother them. They're there.

They pay at the gate just like everyone else and they sit in the grandstands with their kid and enjoy racing. That's all I want. You should have that deal with them. You won't bother them if they don't bother you. Yeah, don't bother me. For every one of them that comes in. I actually wanted to ask you both that question about it feels like to me that it feels like to me that there's a new brand lift with Milbridge based off of the fact that the bushes are racing out there

and, you know, Wyatt Miller is out there, you know, the grandson of the great Dale Earnhardt, and then you've got the Larson kid and the Boyer kid, and it's like we all feel like we're looking at the next generation of, you know, NASCAR Cup stars, right? Yeah. Hopefully. Is that, in fact, true that this has been a lift for Milbridge? And also, do you see that impact in the books? Yeah, well, I've still not where I want to be as far as fans yet.

I don't know if we're just still just a little quiet. You know, I just want to be that quiet racetrack that everybody goes and has, like, I don't want thousands of people, obviously. You don't want a spectacle or a circus. Absolutely. but I also the kids now but I also had kids before that that are off to it's just amazing the things that they're doing as well and not only the kids that are racing on Tuesday Wednesday the Toyota and Chevy have a deal with micro sprints that they get their Chevy drivers and their Toyota drivers and micro sprints on Wednesday nights just that

reaction time and the micro sprints really help and they found that. So like last night, Daniel Suarez was in a car. And it just, you know, not only the little kids, but the, you can come on any day and see the, you know, any of them. You know, Jesse Love, very prominent in the ARCA. He's there every week. So you can, it doesn't matter what day you come. I mean, and then the D&Q carding series, like we were talking, half of them people are just crew guys. guys. That's what I was going to say too is like I think, you know, and I don't even know did we always race on Tuesdays when you started? I can't really remember.

Wednesdays, right, Wednesdays. But it's been a ground where the NASCAR community, the motorsports community around here can take their kid to race because they're obviously going on the weekends, right? And you would never get that opportunity. So it's, you have the driver kids who have the names and all of that. But there's pit crew people. there's people that work at Stuart Haas. I mean, you walk around there, you see a NASCAR community there. And then, which that gives the opportunity for those that are not in the NASCAR community

that are, there's flat cart racers that come and run the outlaw carts, you know, the kids. And it gives everyone that community to race against a competitive group of people, right? So it's not just this one group or it's not that. This having it all come together like that, I think is really awesome. I don't like for them to point out, oh, this is Cowbicious Kid or oh, this is. I got it. Yeah, and me too. I don't like that.

Because, you know, when Wyatt's out there, there's seven other kids out there in the heat race or there's 20 other kids out there in the car. And I'd like for them to be able to find things to talk about all of them. Right. And that's what I'm big on too. Like, I push on my announcers. Like, I have Steve Post. He's amazing. And he'll know, you know, he may talk about Wyatt Miller, Wyatt Miller, Wyatt Miller,

but he also knows other things about kids that even they don't even have a racing background. And he'll talk about every one of them. I want all of them to be stars. I don't care what their last name is. Take their first name, make them a star. That's all I care about. Will say.

And that's what Milbridge is. And racing against the people like the bushes, Earnhardt and stuff like that, when they go anywhere, our kids can't, and I'm not just saying this because it's my, they can't be beat. The talent level that I have right now, and what I've, I just want to brand them into, like, just send them off.

We have a brand. It's called the Millbridge Mafia. Yes. Yes. So we go to the West, you know, when I'm gone the two weeks in August and we're out in the Midwest, racing various outlaw races. And we have one track that we go to and we have T-shirts with the Millbridge Mafia and all the kids.

All the kids on the back. All of us on there. So this one lady makes T-shirts for the whole families. And they don't like to see us come. No, no. And I fly, I'll fly. I'll fly out. The last maybe three or four years, I've flown out and I go.

And we, this last time, we had this big Millbridge family brunch and we all ate at the racetrack together and we all pit together. And they absolutely hate us. And we will win every. I think we won almost every division. Every division that we were entered in. And it doesn't matter where we go, even when Wyatt goes anywhere in his micro-sprint. I mean, and I keep.

I'll, you know, I keep tabs on as much as I can with them. Even my bigger kids, you know, like Ethan Mitchell, Little Bundy, he's in midgets. And Max McLaughlin, he's in Modifides. And, you know, I stay with them kids. They're not kids anymore, but they were my kids. And I stay with them. And whatever they decide, I always tell them, whatever you guys decide you want to do, even if it's not racing, you just keep me, keep me there.

Does why, tell me a little bit about this. When you guys go out and do those tours that, which, you know, I love it. I love hearing. I love watching your videos, by the way, Kelly, when you go out and y'all go do that Midwest run and that kind of thing. But do you experience a little bit of that treatment of biases? I mean, we experience for a different reason. I mean, you know, being an Earnhardt or being a Bush or being the Larson's or whatever that looks like. Okay.

But also from a Millbridge perspective, we experience it because, I mean, we're we are looked at as a premier facility. and the racers there are competitive. They're good. Ashley runs a great show. And, you know, you go to these other places and, and it's sometimes it's so-so. And when you're not a local, people just don't. Yeah, they just don't like that. They don't like you coming in and, you know, on their territory.

I want to switch gears a minute and talk about, like, streaming. I know that your races are streamed on Dirt Vision. Prior to that, you had a streaming on Speed 51. What is streaming? Has that helped you? Does that hurt you? What does that look like for a local track? I think it depends.

That's a really big subject right now. I think it all, there's a lot of aspects you got to look at. You know, is it cold outside? Well, yeah, streaming might hurt the race track if it's cold outside. And you want to sit at home on your couch and watch TV. Is there a chance of rain? Well, I'll just sit and watch it on DirtVision instead of going out. So I think it just depends.

If it's a beautiful sunny day, you can't take it. away the action of being at the racetrack than watching on your TV. So I think that it was great for us. The move, when I had, I was really close with Bob Delner at Speed 51, and he had helped me a lot from the very beginning. So when he stepped away from Speed 51, there was no connection there, and I had to have a connection. I mean, and they're very important. They're a very important piece of a racetrack. They're displaying all of my product. So when, He stepped away. I kind of, it was really weird how it happened.

Flow and DirtVision came to me at the same time. And I wasn't even looking. And they both came to me at the same time and pitched what they wanted to pitch to me. And it just made a good fit for DirtVision. They're right here in Concord. I have three. They bring one producer and two cameramen every single race. And it's a full-on production.

every race day. And that meant a lot to me that they would take, to me, it's my little go-kart track and put it on a platform like DirtVision. You know, I grew up, you know, when we, my brother, race in all of World of Outlaw, you know, late models, and then a lot of times they do the stuff at Volusia when we were in the modified. So to be on that platform and to put these kids on the platform was really big for me. I was very happy to kind of, to kind of, You know, you'll sit and watch a world of Outlaw Sprint car and there'll be a ticker at the bottom that says that Milbridge is racing on Tuesday.

Right. You know, to me, that's just, I mean, that's, it's very important to have people like that behind you. Yeah, I would assume that helps, like in the sponsorship find and those kinds of things, right? Yeah, and then we did the extreme, it was on CBS Sports Network. They filmed it in May and then replayed it. And that was, you know, stuff like that, you can't,

the stuff that we've been presented with is, is amazing. Is this just how I would assume, and that's just like a license with the racetrack, when these streamers come around and they just want to pay for a license? Or is, you know, like when we talk about the Cars Tour, the streaming is done with the series, right? It's done with the entity of Cars Tour. So like, I guess that's why I'm asking. Is it with the track?

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So they'll just pay me for a yearly. to be there. An annual license, right. And we do a deal with Dirt Vision as well. They put a door bumper clear, one of our other podcast on, which I'm eternally grateful for these types of opportunities. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. To be on that kind of platform, especially with it's crazy. I think my biggest thing with flow against Dirt Vision, flow is amazing too. I mean,

obviously I watch a lot of flow events as well with late models and stuff. But the best thing, about Dirt Vision was there's only like eight tracks on the platform. So to be one of eight and nine racetracks and they're all sprint car tracks. They're not a go-car track. So it's just amazing to be on a platform like that against all them, you know, big race tracks. Okay. I'm curious if if I said, Ashley, I think I want to own a racetrack. I'm wondering if Ashley would talk me out of it? Or talk me into it. depends on what day it is and depends on where it is right

if it's right down the road from yours no you don't want me to do that yeah no it's it's a I'm very grateful for everything I feel like if I wasn't in the area that I'm in I wouldn't have been as successful I've taken a lot of things from my race tracks that I've learned

in the Midwest and I've put that into my go-kart track you know Tri-City Speedway they're one of my I look up to them and I take a lot from them and bring it over here. Eldora, I still go there to watch my brother, you know, two, three times a year. So when you go to the big tracks, a lot of promoters aren't race fans as far as like I still go out when we're not racing. I'll block stuff off on my schedule. This is the dream weekend or this is the world weekend.

And I go there and I sit in the grandstands. I don't go in the pits. I sit in the grandstands. I see what they're doing. And, oh, that's cool. Let's try that. Or that didn't work so good. Let's, you know, let's not try that.

But I think our area is what really, and being Tuesday, Wednesday, like we had said, we race on Saturdays just because it gives people that maybe are far away and can't race on Tuesdays. And our Saturdays were not that big until recently it's blown up and it's just as big as a Tuesday, Wednesday. What happened? Why did it blow up? Hell, I don't know. I really don't know. It's just people, I get more people from out of town because they just want to be there on track.

They want to say that they race there. So they'll travel on the weekend. And a lot of the NASCAR people, maybe you'll keep somebody back to let, you know, their driver race, you know, on a Saturday. And I make it two different series. So it's a Tuesday series, Saturday series. So you can run for points during Tuesday Wednesday versus Saturday. Separate. But I think my location is what really blew me up and to be a Tuesday, Wednesday, midweek.

When we first started, you know, all these big sprint car races and late model races that are midweek, there wasn't a lot of that when we first started. I mean, I could only think of a handful of places that would even try a Tuesday or a Wednesday event. Yeah, we toy with that just thinking through the cars tour. whether that works or doesn't work. Yeah. Yeah. And it all depends on location and who you got racing with you.

You know, we looked at it and said, look, we've got, and not only NASCAR people, you know, we've got people that run, you know, modified or any, you know, to be able to let them come run and that way dad can go race on the weekends. So it just, it, location really helped us and in the group of people that, that I've had. You know, Kelly's been by my side since the beginning. in the people that kind of push us to do more. How important has Milbridge been to the racing careers of your kids? I mean, because I can't imagine now that we're talking about it.

I can't imagine how the trajectories kind of are different if you don't have this track close. Well, it is different. That's what I was thinking through as Ashley was speaking, is that, you know, this is one, if not the only place that you can race in this area. There's another outlaw track down near the coast of North Carolina. but you have to travel. There's a lot of goat cart tracks, right? But not outlaw cart racing tracks.

And so she's hit a niche for this community and a community of racers that really, if you want your kid to race and do something, that they can do it there. And I think that's definitely what's helped you. And like she said, when Carson started racing, the outlaw carts were huge in California and West. and then Kyle, I guess, got into it. I don't even know how long the SKE business. Kyle Beatty has been in business, but he does so many different things

between Legend Cars and Banderos and all kinds of stuff. And so, you know, when it started, when Carson ran, there would be six or eight kids out there, but they were still NASCAR kids. You know, Carson's group of kids that she ran with were... Ford Martin. Clark Houston, whose dad is Gil Martin from the Cup series. Clark Houston,

whose dad is Andy Houston. And so, you know, it was NASCAR kids then too. Macy Sears, her dad, Mike Sears, works in NASCAR. And so it was kind of the same community that, you know, wanted to do this. And it is just grown. You know, I have my own concerns about racing and asphalt racing and, you know, what's happening and what's going on. But then you go to Millbridge and you see, and I'm not kidding, 30, five and six-year-olds in the cadet series. Yeah.

And 30. beginners box stocks that are kids who are you know six seven eight nine and thirty nine to thirteen year olds and then the junior wing i mean there were 17 there's so many you know 17 to 20 of them we started the junior wing two years yeah yeah this is the second year i feel like yeah yeah and it's it took so long and then within maybe two or three months now it's like we're almost at a B main we're right at a full field of 16 17 yeah it's like well and then you've got the microsprints you know which have come into play and that's what Wyatt races and the 600 CC microsports. 20 to 30 of them weekly.

And then, you know, she has the beauty of like she spoke of the Chevrolet programs and the Toyota programs of bringing their drivers out there for that extra experience, you know, between. And, you know, I think that was kind of a Josh Wise thing, right? Josh grew up in the dirt car world and he does the program for Chevy. And so that's kind of where that's came from. But, you know, there's a lot of opportunity out there to, to, and, you know, we've laughed about it, why it raced against Kyle Bush and we're doing sliders out there. Where can a 11-year-old now and Kyle Bush do that together? Right. Right. You know? Weekly. Yeah. Weekly. Yeah. And have

fun with it. And it's funny because, you know, Kyle's an outstanding racer, but he's not a great dirt racer, you know. And so it's fun. I mean, they're coming out there to find a new skill, like she said, with reaction times and, you know, different things like that. You know, Milbridge is relatively small compared to like a micro sprint track. So you're in and we're really banked. So you're all the way against the wall, hammer down and the reaction time. I mean there's 22 of you out on the racetrack at once.

So you know when you know so you can think about the reaction time that they're learning to be out there. And that kind of blew up when NASCAR decided to go to dirt. We kind of blew up of people coming to test and yeah. What are the track specs? We should have done this at the beginning actually. But what, how big is? I think it's like a, it was between a seventh or eighth mile.

Okay. Like it was flat when we first got it, completely flat. And we were like, we're going to put banking in it. So now completely bank all the way around and it's, it's fast. Yeah, it's fast. You're talking about those car counts. How do you keep a quick schedule or a run? Because Kelly mentioned that.

Like that's, it sounds like a Bieber concert with all those kids. Like, what are you talking about? It's not. How do you keep the schedule moving? You need to come to the tower and sit one day. I'm afraid to, Frank. I won't yell at you. Okay.

I'll be your bodyguard. Everybody knows my schedule. I hand out a schedule at the beginning of the night. And that schedule does not change. Does not change. And when I say we're on track at 615, we are on track at 615. You've ever been lined up at 16. Me and Jeremy, we're like, we'll be fighting.

If he's on the racetrack still packing the track, say it's 615, 16, I'm out there doing this to him. It's an equal opportunity to ass ripping. You don't discriminate on anybody, even your husband. Oh, absolutely. And it is 615. I should have cars on the racetrack. They're right here, let's go. And he'll know that means got to go.

But we start and we do not, we stop for the national anthem. That's the only thing I stop for. and there is something on the racetrack every second from the time you get there from 615 and we are done by 930 10 o'clock but if you get one of those singers that take a long time to get to the anthem you're gonna rush them through that too right I mean we just have alan Jackson on record Alan Jackson oh is that what we do yes that's what we do yeah well okay so that's how you keep I mean because the the schedule listen when we were at learnersville I don't want to put them a blast or anything that we went to that high limits thing but they were an hour and a half behind and we were all kind of going, how did that happen? We're like, we don't know how it happens, but you're right. It happens. Hey, it wasn't a month ago, and thank goodness we were not at this race over Labor Day weekend.

They raced at 5 a.m. Why? And they started at like 6 o'clock. Wow. The division that Wyatt would have been in would have been racing at 1.30 a.m. What happens? How does that happen? Yeah, how does that happen?

Asked the wrong person because I've never done it. It doesn't happen. I've never done it. Track prep. I mean. Maybe not having enough people. People, I don't know. Literally, it's hard to explain. Like, at Millbridge, I have, you know, a lot of race tracks you go to, this guy will do this,

this, this and this. No, this guy works here. This guy works here. And that guy is only responsible for this. This guy's only responsible for this. So, like, they know, the competitors know that when you're ready to race, if you're not there, you get left. I will leave them.

I don't care if he's five or 30. You will get left. And they know that. So we, you know, we call them up there. We roll on the racetrack, check the lineup. We're back green before we even come around. We don't make pace laps. The race cever has helped a lot, the one-way communication.

Anytime there's a caution, while they're cleaning up the caution, Jeremy and I are going through the lineup, getting them lined up. So when the caution's cleaned up, we're back green. Lineups take a long time at some racetracks. So the race-saber, she's speaking of, the kids or the competitors wear a one-way radio that only the tower can speak to. them so they can tell them whatever they want to and getting in line, get behind this car, whatever. Some tracks don't have that and they literally stop them on the racetrack and they're

like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Can you imagine doing that with five-year-olds? No, no. It's hard enough to probably talk to them. Yeah. And their parents would be worse. Yeah. Get behind the orange car. And I think my employees, too, my staff that work in the infield are, I mean, amazing. We have a system and it's just a system to where, like the cadets, we do stop them and line them up. But they know when there's a car. caution. The pace car goes out on the back straight away and stops. The cadets stop behind the pace car. My guys line them up. And like I said, by the time we tow off a car or whatever needs to be done, we go right back green right when they get to turn for it. Okay, but, okay. But weather,

there is that. That happens. It happens. Yep. So we have a plan. You have a weather plan. Yeah. Most of the time we can get it in. Jeremy's really, Jeremy's very smart. So he can tell me to the minute. Like I need 30 minutes. Go tell them what's going on. and tell him I need them in staging in 10 minutes. And people are looking at him going, there's no way. And I'm like, look, if he says be in staging in 10 minutes, we're going back on track, you better be ready. And sure enough, 9, 10 minutes, we're on the racetrack.

Y'all do sound like an awesome team, frankly. We really do. There's a big group of our team, you know. Even though some of them just come on race days, I mean, obviously we can't do, you know, the girls at the gate. I never have a line at the gate, you know, like everything. concession stand we never have a line at the concession i mean everybody just has their job and they just all bust ass to get i mean they know how i run it and how i want it ran and that's

you know i may be tough on them absolutely but they'll never make that mistake again well and they the other thing is is that they they're loyal i mean it's it's the same faces um there yeah for the most part i mean i you know maybe there's a new track worker here and there but it's the same faces at the It's the same faces. Concessions. It's the same faces doing the lineup and getting you out on the racetrack. You know, and don't people.

People want to complain about being tough and fair, but they love it. In the end of the day, don't you want it just to be treated fair? And it's like a... And know what is expected of you. And no, not never been in a position of not knowing something.

That's the worst thing. The biggest part of it is, I think the hardest part of my position is, and you'll know this, I'm a female in motorsports. Not only am I a female, but I'm a superior. So I've had a lot of people that quit because they're like, she's not telling me what to do.

They don't know what to do with you. I'm your boss. So that's why. And a lot of the parents and stuff, they don't know my background. So they think they know more than me, even though I've probably been to more racetracks or more races and more than they have. So it's really hard. And I'm very involved in racing.

So I do all the lineups. I do all the calls. you know I do I do all of it so I've gotten you know 14 years of making calls scoring lineups you know so I just the people need to understand that I I know what I'm talking about you know I grew up in a racing family my dad build engines my brother raced I've been around all these race tracks I've seen what happens at race tracks you know this isn't my first time at a race track so it's hard to to show

than, you know, to get that respect that, well, she's no different. You know, I don't like throwing that female thing out there. You know, I'm a promoter. I'm not a female promoter. I'm just a promoter like everyone else. So you're going to treat me like you would treat any other male promoter. Yeah. I'm just a promoter.

Yeah. It's the other people that throw the whatever on you, a female or whatever they want to do. So what's the funest, the absolute funnest thing that comes out of having Millbridge and throughout the year? Kids night? Kids night. Yeah.

Tell us about it. Kids night, that's my race. Jeremy has all the races. Kids night's my race. I don't even know. We had over 100 kids. We have a kids night in August, July or August. It's kind of my back-to-school night.

I make programs with all the kids' pictures in it. They do autograph sessions. I line every kid up and do a driver intros for every season. single kid. And that lining up. That was long this year. It was very long. And I even did two at a time. And Jeremy's like, how do we cut that down? I said, well, you're not getting rid of it. So don't even think about it. But it was funny because we were standing there lining the kids up and I'm lining them up and Jeremy was sending them out. And he's yelling my name and we go at it bad. I mean, there's been times where we live on property. There's times where we would get in fights and one of us would go to the house.

I'm just because you can it's right there right it's happened it has happened so he's yelling at me and I'm like what he said I don't know who these kids are

you have to stand here so that you can send them out I don't know whose kid is who and I know I pretty much know just about every face name and car number

because I sign every one of them in I think that's the best thing I always tonight she has scooters I mean she has all kinds of giveaways yeah and it's it's fun for the kids like they look

forward to my race. You'll me tell you what she does for the moms? Let's hear it. The Easter. Oh, the Easter egg class. So she, at Easter, she does like candy drops for the kids and all that kind of stuff and the eggs, but she does it for the moms too. And you know what?

She drops miniature bottles. Brilliant. Get them drunk before we start raising. It's actually hilarious because the moms line up, you know. She gives us all a go. It's hilarious. It's fun. Yeah.

But everybody has a good time. I try to. incorporate I want everybody to have fun but I always say that as long you know somebody would say that they don't like me and I said well your kid like me yeah so I care about you're the only one they're trying to yeah they're the other as long as your kid likes me I don't care but it is a hard job but it's a job it's no different than being a manager at a store or or being a everywhere you go people are involved right yeah people are the toughest thing to deal

with yeah and the best thing for your business at the same but I mean as long as them kids are enjoying it and they They have, I mean, Carson still comes out. And, I mean, she's got a lifetime of memories at that racetrack, and that's all I care about. So what's next for Millbridge? Like, what do you guys, you know, how long can we count on this? I mean, listen, there's a lot of people listening to this right now that are like,

all right, I'm definitely going, right? If they haven't been there already. But, like, do you guys see, how long do you see yourself doing this even? I don't know. I didn't expect it last this long. You didn't expect to last this long. I mean, I hope for as long as I can just keep going. I think it all depends on what happens with the county situation,

because I can only do so many. I mean, our weekly events are fine. I don't have to do any big events, but I really like doing national events. I like seeing big guys come from all over the United States and meet there. We have fun. We always do a concert.

and world finals week we have a race that leads up into it I think this year is Monday Tuesday because the world final starts on Wednesday and we have a big party on Monday and I feed everybody and alcohol and concerts and all free and it's just fun to bring everybody together and celebrate what we did all year long there is something else I forgot I wanted to ask you okay there's local racetracks all over the country, right? You know, the small racetracks, they can do a number of different divisions, late models, street stocks, whatever it is.

What is the number one problem that they have that they have to overcome to be able to survive? Like, what is it that the local racetracks have to thrive and succeed and be able to have, not become one of these other tracks that shut, lost speedways, right? It all comes down to schedule, like time and like time management.

I mean, there's been racetracks like around in this area that I will not go to because I know it's 3 a.m. by the time I get in my car. And they have four divisions with 50 cars. In track prep, obviously, you know, with dirt is so much harder than asphalt. You know, people think that, oh, we'll just buy a dirt track, open up the gates. And there's a lot that goes into it. You know, it's got to be smooth. You got to put water in it.

You know, if it's dusty, people aren't going to. don't want to come. If it's rough, they'll tear their equipment up and they don't want to come. But time management is the big thing, you know, in the fighting, you know, obviously I've been around a lot of racetracks that, and they know I do not put up with that. I don't think I've had any problems at all. That's, I, I might know your last problem. Yeah. Probably not my last one. Wait a second. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Does he have initials in his name? Yes. Yeah, LW has been sat out a race.

Yes, he did. You've had to banning. I'm sure you had it coming. Guess what? I've never heard a peep out of a mascot. I love it. I love it. Maybe that's what you need to do, Kelly.

Just sit them out. Maybe they're right. Go to the doghouse. I love that. Time management is the big thing because it's like when a lot of people maybe like that. But if I come to a race track, I want to be, you know, we want to, we don't want to see a tractor or a water truck making laps. You want to see race cars. That's what you paid to go.

So our big thing is you better make sure that track's ready to go because as soon as we roll, you don't see anything, you know, but other than scraping walls and maybe packing the track for five minutes, that's all you get. You know, these race tracks that want to go out and till it up and, you know, put water on it and do this and do that. It's like, you know, people don't want to sit there for an hour and wait, you know, to go race. and they pay to watch race cars. It's customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction 101, right? Like in the schedule is the biggest thing that you think that really kind of can hamper that experience.

Joe, what the big thing is, too, we joke about, my dad always yells at me. If I have a break, he'll be like, oh, I want to sell more hot dogs in the concession stand, which is true. You do sell more, and, you know, that's a big thing. But I would rather just people leave happy and get out and come back than sell a $3 hot dog.

I mean, ultimately, they don't come from. the hot dog. Exactly. So I just want to have. It is nice to have. So that's, that's, time management is a big thing. Yeah. You know, you don't.

Yeah. And in this day and age, there's so many things for people to do. And attention spans are shorter. Yeah. You know, and I think that, yeah, you have to, you have to run a good succinct show. I mean, we open the gates at 4, 35 o'clock, depending on the day. And by, you know, 10, 10, 15, you're loading up your trailer. Yeah.

to go home. Going back to something, you said, how do you prevent fights and how do you prevent your husband from being in them? How do y'all both prevent fights? Well, I think I'm the reason why we don't fight anymore.

Because I would just get in the middle of it. And you don't come back. They know you do not come back. If you throw a punch, you would not come back. Forever? And I've stuck by that. Oh, so there's some lifetime bans? And I think when you're talking fighting,

you're talking whether it's words or physical fights, right? Words are words. I've not seen a ton of physical fights at Millbridge. No. I've seen a lot of word fighting. Yeah. It seems like it comes with racing. And it does come with racing.

And it comes, I mean, you know, you talk about it yourself being a soccer parent. I mean, parents get passionate about their kid. They want to protect their kid. You know, they want to protect them from other people. But or you see, you know, a lot of times what I think you see another parent saying something to your kid or, you know, about your kid on the race. track and then you as a parent are like going to go take care of that parent. Yeah. You know, and then you get in the middle of it.

And then you make it bigger than it is. And, you know, she doesn't, it's a zero tolerance. And I think before, if you engaged in it, it makes it worse, right? Yeah. And so now it's like, just no. Yeah. For a while, I was hiring a police officer to stand right at the scales. So as soon as they exit, there was no, there was nothing.

Like because by the time you get back to your trailer, you're over it, right? So it's just the heat of the moment exiting the racetrack. Once you get back to your trailer, most of the time you're over it. Yeah. So that helped for a while. And then it was like we weren't having anything. We're just all a family. And I tell them that. Like I'll have driver's meetings where I'll send the kids on and keep the parents.

And I'll be like, look, guys, you know, I did not build this racetrack around this and, you know, knock it off or you'll just stay home. And I, yeah. I think it's, I mean, I think it's been cured for a while. To be fair to LW, he didn't get in a fight to get that. He did not get in a fight. He got in a word fight. A word fight, right. With the wrong person.

The entity's here. Yes. Got it. Yes. In the tower, which it happens. I mean, that's just what it is. I mean, it's part of my job. So, you know, and a lot of people, it's funny, they'll be like, oh, well, now she's going to take it out.

I'm like, I don't care. You know, I'm over it the next day. And the people will send me text. so sorry, and I don't even respond back, because once it happens, it's over, I'm over it. You know, you're not the only one. You're not the only one texting me. You're not the only, I'm over it. Like, just let it be. Move on to the next. Hey, listen, I have that in common. My only regret is that I didn't have a camera there to document LW getting the boot for a week. I love it. It's hilarious. It's not good.

It's hilarious only because we love LW. And he also, I mean, he has a reputation for that for going way back. He's a modified driver. He's a modified driver. He's a modified driver. Monopied drivers are a rough bunch. And now they're procreating and having, you know, these little modified babies. These modified babies, you know, yeah. That's when it's really challenging is that when you see your kids out there and you want to go, you know, square up against somebody.

But wow, this has been fascinating. I have enjoyed this so much. And you, by the way, you should be a consultant for companies. Forget race tracks. Like, I mean, listen. want to get things done, it feels like you would be a great person just to be able to like, here's how you run it. Here's how you run a business and don't have a lot of this gray area. It doesn't seem like there's a lot of gray area, but that's also, I understand now what you say,

Kelly, this reputation at Millbridge's fairness. And man, what else can you ask for? What else can you ask for? And anything that you do, you want to be treated fairly, right? Yep. Yeah. And when people come, they do get intimidated to pull in the racial. track and see the names that come there. But it only takes a couple weeks for them to realize that they're just somebody else that's there. All right. Good stuff.

I want to get my kids in racing now. That's fascinating. Thank you so much. Thank you. This has been awesome. Does Mason have a, so Jeremy and Ashley have, how old's Mason now? Nine. Nine?

Yeah. Does he have an interest in, I know he's there every day because you guys live there, but does he have an interest in doing stuff with the track or racing or? Definitely not racing. Yeah. He loves racing. He loves video going racing. He'll, yeah, he's a really, really good on eye racing.

And he will tell you about anything, you know, who's moving, who in sprint cars and who. Did you see that last night? No. But as far as straight, he's never strapped into a race car. He wants nothing to do with it. So whatever he decides. You're cool with that. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Is Melvin John Ryan Racing, by the way? It's we've scanned. Okay. Yes. We're waiting. That'd be cool.

We're waiting. I got the boot. What do you mean? How'd you get the boot? From, um. Oh, something else came up, getting it, I remember. Forget which one, but yeah. Yeah.

I got the boot. It was supposed to be this, this year, and I got the boot to next year. Yeah. Oh. Well, that's coming. But they are scanned. Anticipation. Not a bad thing, right?

Anticipation. How can people actually, you know, if, If they want to go to Milbridge, I mean, hopefully that people are intrigued by what they've heard today. How can they support your racetrack? Dirt Vision. You can watch if you're not local. You can, Milbridge speedway.com will have our schedule to see if, you know, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday events. I'm really big on social media.

So Twitter, Facebook, you can just type in Milbert Speedway and see all of our, I pretty much post almost every day about what's coming up. Do you read the replies? Nope. All right. Well, it's been a ton of fun learning about Milbridge Speedway and the business of promoting a racetrack. So I appreciate you coming on, Ashley. Thank you so much.

Man, I'm really excited to have Ally help us bring the guest segment every week. It's one of my favorite parts of the download. We get to talk to so many different people in racing, outside of racing. But everybody that comes in here, I want them to have had a good time. I want them to want to come back. I want them to feel like an ally to Dirty Mo Media. Thank you, Ally, for your continued support of the download and the entire Dirty Mo Media team.

Check out Dirty Mo Media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.