Dear Strictly Dirt Members and Sponsors,
In the winter of 2003, the future of Orange County Fair Speedway was threatened by legislative action by the Town of Wallkill, NY. Their stated aim was to reduce the amount of dust coming from the speedway. If you remember, the track was in miserable shape most of the season. This culminated in the red-flagging of a 30-lap modified feature during the month of August.
Several individuals rose to this challenge by alerting fans, drivers, car owners, and sponsors, insuring a big turnout at the town meeting. It was a HUGE turnout, and the board of commissioners backed away from their proposal that would have closed the track.
After the dust (no pun intended) settled, it became clear to some people that there were several underlying problems that hadn’t been addressed by anyone. The biggest problem, we believed, was the lack of friendly relations between the speedway and the surrounding community. In order to improve these relations it was believed that perhaps, through some targeted charitable giving, some positive publicity could be generated for the speedway specifically, and for the sport of dirt track racing in general.
That was the beginning of “Strictly Dirt, an Association of Dirt Track Race Fans.” A group gathered, chose the name, picked a president, vice-president, and a board of directors. We were on our way. We were sure that enough fans, drivers, and sponsors would be interested enough to invest a small amount of money to get the organization started. And we were right. The response was overwhelming. Thanks to all of you, we were able to hammer together a pretty nifty display at the 2004 Middletown Motorsports Show. This helped to gather more fans, drivers, and sponsors.
The display at the Motorsports show was a weekly fixture at OCFS. As we all considered the speedway to be our “home track,” it was always a given that we would maintain a presence in Middletown. We wanted to branch out to other speedways as soon as we had enough people on board.
Sometime around the middle of the season, however, we looked around and saw the same people putting up the tent, signing up new members, and manning the tent until after intermission. We asked members for just a few minutes of their time to help distribute the load a little more evenly. A few agreed, but not enough to give our core group a break from time to time.
“Strictly Dirt” was approached by the new “Boundless Motorsports” to co-sponsor a benefit picnic for Chub Frank, a late model driver who’s race shop had burned to the ground. This was in conjunction with the first ever appearance of the late models at OCFS. We eagerly agreed to this as it was – first and foremost – positive publicity for “Strictly Dirt,” which we felt was necessary. Also, it would introduce the club and its concepts to visiting fans from all over. Additionally, helping someone connected with our sport was the right thing to do.
We wouldn’t have done this at all if we weren’t asked by a representative of “Boundless Motorsports.”
The picnic was, in our opinion, a huge success. About $1,500.00 was raised for Chub Frank, and “Strictly Dirt” was “on the map” in the world of dirt track Motorsports.
But, again we looked around and saw the same people doing all the work in spite of our pleading for more help. We continued because we believed in what we were doing. Also, we owed our sponsors the publicity we promised them
Relations with our home track were strained at the beginning of the 2005 racing season. Certain “requirements” were mandated by management which would impact our sponsors negatively and inhibit our ability to function as a fan club. To this day, we don’t believe management ever understood the basic concept of our stated purpose – to generate positive publicity for dirt track Motorsports.
It has become an assumption to the board of directors of “Strictly Dirt” that we will never receive the physical support of our membership, or our “home track,” to operate as a “Fan Club” for dirt track Motorsports. For this reason we have decided to change our mission, our methods, but not our goal.
Strictly Dirt has been operating as a non-profit corporation registered in the State of New York. In August of 2005, through our Certified Public Accountant, we amended our application for 501(c) (3), status with the Internal Revenue Service, thus allowing Strictly Dirt to exist as a fully tax exempt charitable organization only.
With this goal in mind, the following changes will take place: effective January 1, 2006, Strictly Dirt will no longer exist as a fan club-oriented organization. We will no longer seek or accept memberships in the organization.
Our new mission is quite simple. Strictly Dirt will devote 100 % of it’s time and efforts to increasing the involvement of children in the sport of dirt track racing. Specifically, those children who are underprivileged and would, due to circumstances in their lives, never have the opportunity to witness what we all take for granted.
We will also act as mentors to children who are lacking in adult guidance in their lives through our involvement with other organizations who deal with these situations. We will do whatever we can to keep “at risk” children in school, and off the streets.
Strictly Dirt will strive to assist children that possess an interest in Motorsports or the automotive field in general, who wish to make this their chosen career path. We continue to believe that a generation of young people has been lost to the sport. Encouraging the involvement of the current generation of these individuals will help to preserve dirt track auto racing.
Strictly Dirt will continue to conduct various types of fundraisers and accept donations toward our stated goals. All donors to Strictly Dirt will be put on our mailing list and will receive advance notice of our activities before details are released to the general public
Those individuals and businesses who signed on as sponsors in 2005 will continue to be promoted by Strictly Dirt in 2006 at no cost. We believe that, because of our limited appearances, we did not give you what you signed up for.
Our next appearance will be at Motorsports 2006 in Fort Washington, PA on January 13, 14, &15. We have a great hands-on, interactive display in the works for the kids.
Many people have been asking what is happening with Strictly Dirt. We hope this answers your questions and quells the rumors that you may have heard.
Gary Tremper, President,
Strictly Dirt-An Association of Dirt Track Race Fans
DISCLAIMER: Strictly Dirt is not connected in any way with DIRT Motorsports, nor is it connected with any speedway management. Strictly Dirt is NOT a liaison between fans, drivers, sponsors and any management entity. We are, simply, an organization dedicated to the furtherance of the sport. We are independent of any management group or sanctioning body.
This webpage will be updated from time to time. Check in every now and then to see photos of Strictly Dirt events and activities.
Strictly Dirt will be at the
2006 Middletown
Motorsports Show
to raise funds for
Please visit and help support this brave young