RENO, NV (Dec. 4) — The 53rd Race Promoter’s Workshop visited Reno this week. The Workshop brings the short track industry to the Biggest Little City.
Tuesday evening is when people signed in or registered at a social meeting where a buffet was served. This allows everyone to get reacquainted as many came from all over including Alaska and Canada.
The first full day began with opening remarks from Joe Skotnicki, who owns Race Promotion Monthly and puts on the workshops.
“RPM is here for the 40th year and we couldn’t do this without our partners. This year we have a great list of speakers.
Then an executive from the Eldorado Casino welcomed everyone. She mentioned how glad they were to have the Workshop here.
The keynote speaker was Levi Jones, General Manager and Promoter for Eldora Speedway. He has an extensive racing background that includes driving but he retired from that and went to work for Roger Penske.
“I learned a lot from that,” he said. “Then Tony Stewart asked me about Eldora. It’s a different place and I love it.”
Jones explained how he operates the track, which has several major events during the year. He described the improvements to the track, new suites and how they manage the huge parking lot and camping area that located across the street.
Since the track is located close to a county line and two towns Jones described how he works with them as well as his employees,
The next speaker was Gregg McKarns, who said he now owns a racetrack in Wisconsin due to RPM. He also has a traveling show called “Night of Destruction,” and compared those to traditional racing.
“We rely on those shows to feed our racing habit,” he said.
He feels those special shows helped the tracks that they appeared at, even though more of their programs were racing. Much of his presentation was discussing managing these traveling shows.
During a break this reporter had a chance to meet Leif and Kim Berglund. They are the promoters of Diamond Mountain Speedway in Susanville, California.
The are Leif Berglund and his wife Kim. They ran the speedway for only part of last year but things have changed for the 2026 season.
“We had good sponsorship from the Diamond Mountain Casino, a good sponsorship from O’Reilly Auto Parts but that was it for last year so we needed more local help.
“The Diamond Mountain Casino has a new general manager, Jeff Fletcher, he’s a great guy to work with and he’s helped us. Cameron from O’Reilly in Susanville has helped us too. So we’re just looking for more help and support from the community. “
Then Kim added, “We didn’t get the contract until April last year. We were four months behind the times and by that time sponsorship was a little bit sparse and we had to rebuild the program basically. We’re really looking forward to this year but it was definitely a challenge last year.”
Then Leif said, “We’ve been up and hopefully getting more sponsors on board and more people that want to help this year.”
“We’ve also confirmed Sierra Nevada Sprint Car Series is going to make Susanville their home track this year,” Kim said. “Then also the Tri-State Pro Stock series is guaranteeing four races that they will televise on Speed Union TV.”
Asked if he was optimistic Leif said, “We’re trying our best to get more information, to get a better track for the community.”
Asked about news year Kim said, “Currently we’re going to finalize the schedule this weekend. Weather permitting hope to start some test and tunes in late March.”
REPORTER’S NOTE: I received the 2026 schedule after the Work Shop and it’s posted in the Other Racing News section.
After lunch the Workshop is divided between two rooms.
Ticket Spice serves multiple events in other industries. Both of their representatives went over the method of producing more ticket sales.
They used a chart to illustrate the complete customer experience. And how to produce tickets easier
The other room had the Jody Deery Session, named after one of the important women in the early years of the Workshop.
Michelle Lackey, who operates a speedway in Alaska, was the moderator and Loretta Thieren, who operates the Edmonton International Raceway in Canada assisted her.
It was a good session where women asked questions and also told others how they handled operations as well as challenges. The meeting was a good exchange between all of them,
Motor racing is anything but quiet and in the second breakout there was a session titled Auditory Defense. The moderator was Anissa Bezanson, an occupational audiologist presenting ways to protect a person’s hearing as well as enhancing the sport.
Another breakout was “California Dreaming,” for promoters operating in California. The other was Digital Dollars where Bryan Robb went over what works and doesn’t with advertising dollars.
After the last sessions many retired to another room for a slot tournament. After that it was time for dinner and getting some rest before the next day’s sessions.
The Work Shop has displays of vendors that support the sport. One was Racetrack Wholesale that offers apparel, souvenirs and novelties.
There was a company offering weather insurance next to another that has tires for drag racing. Down at one end there was an insurance booth next to the regional NASCAR table.
There were other vendors including K&K Insurance, Hoosier Tires, Speed Sport, My Race Pass as well as some not listed here.
One company has had a big impact in making short track racing easier and safer is Raceceiver. Manning that booth was company president Joe Vinson
“I started Raceceiver back in 2001 our whole model then was making race scanners for NASCAR fans. So we would make the world’s smallest race scanner and at an event they could buy one or rent them. We realized that was a pretty big market but there was a lot of competition.”
In 2003 Humpy Wheeler, president of Charlotte Motor Speedway had seen the product. Later he and Vinson met at a function where Wheeler said he wanted to put them in Legends Cars.
“So that’s what got the business going as we stated doing in-car so in 2004 they mandated all the Legends cars had to have them and in ‘04 or ‘05 the World of Outlaws started using them. Then it just exploded and now everybody has them,” Vinson said. “It’s been a great business but we needed to evolve into other products and not be a one trick pony.”
Then they developed Lightceiver with LED’s that goes into a car. If a yellow or green comes out the driver can see the lights and adjust their driving,
He said this quickly evolved into doing track lights and there was a big demand for affordable, closely controlled wireless and battery-operated system.
“We also do AC. But battery seems to be the most popular because any track you go to the wiring is not the best. And they have traffic lights you can’t see.”
He added they were lucky and found an Indiana company that made lighting enclosures but Vinson wanted to use his internals and use a wireless controlling system.
“It’s been a great market to get into because any track that gets our lights also gets the Lightceiver in-car device. They are affordable at $140 so a driver can buy one and put this into their car. It goes well with the Raceciever as they still need it. You get the yellow in the car then the line ups with the Raceciever.”
Vinson added the light panels are made by a company named Tomar that makes lights for Ambulances and Fire Trucks so they are super bright and durable.
“We have a wireless controller that goes in the tower and at the tracks that have existing lights we have a box that wires into their existing lights they have at the flag tand. They can still use their old lights and they can add some of our wireless lights,” he said.
The controller in the tower can allow that crew to control the lights. They also have another wireless switch box that will work with a traveling series so it hang on the flag stand.
In the tower they can override that so say you have a practice and you don’t even want to have a flagger. You can sit thee and control all the lights from the tower.
Next week, at PRI they’ll debut a new safety worker ves with LED lights built into it. They way when a caution or red flag is needed those vests will light up and make the workers more visible. Vinson added that idea came from a guy at a track in Minnesota, who asked if they could make these.
“We try and focus on what the grass roots racers can afford. That’s where we want to stay,” he said.
Until early last year they could hardly keep up with the demand then everything slowed down. He said in the last few weeks it all started up again.
“We expect next week at PRI to be huge,” he said. “All of the lights are built here in the United States as are our new products.”
For further information please check their website at, www.raceceiver.com.
The second day began with Loretta Thiering and her social media manager Carol Ashton. Both are from Edmonton International Raceway and the topic was “Beyond the Finish Line.”
They described how they engage racers in marketing and promotions at the track. It was pretty detailed and both showed how their efforts have helped their track be successful.
One session that’s anticipated at every Work Shop is the annual Case Law Summary. Lawyer Paul Tereault went over decisions from Appellate Courts that involve the sport.
One subject was the Assumption of Risk for anyone in or around racing. He also went into detail about waivers and how to handle them. After lunch Tetreault had a Pro Bono Hour where he gave his opinion on various subjects.
At one afternoon session Dennis Gage went over financials and expenses promoters deal with. In another room Levi Jones talked with promoters while Josh Holt, from my Race Pass, covered industry data and insights.
One of the last two session experts went over the technical parts of Blue Print engines. Dennis Gage had another session with California promoters going over what they face as many tracks are on fair grounds.
This reporter was able to have some time with Gage as he’s been around the sport for a long time.
“I’ve been doing this for 63 years,” he said. “At one point I was really well connected national wide short track. As my career has aged I’m more focused on California. I had a really good feeling but of course there is a change from aspect of the old days.
“There was just a handful of people that really managed this industry and now there’s more, lots more organizations and more people. It was easier in the old days to reach out and make a change. “
He explained one challenge is the aging demographics of fans while another is the rising cost of racing. Then there are the challenges caused by the innovations of technology.
“On and on the list goes, it’s just different when I started when we ha basically nothing else to do but go to a car race. It not that case any more, we’ve got lots of things to do. We can’t just go knock the fenders off a car and go race with it anymore. Those are big differences.”
He also explained how the economics aren’t making sense for the promoters. In fact he sees the possibility of paying for racing like in other forms of racing like motocross and off-road races.
“The economics make no sense today. It’s going to get to the point where the operator is not going to be able to operate because of the rising costs unless he can have an offset for that a purse. The purses are the biggest expense for the operator. “
When asked about the Race Promoters Workshop he’s very optimistic.
“RPM Workshop’s the greatest thing ever. This is where you learn, this is where it all begins, its where you get the basics on where you run your racetrack. And at RPM we still go back to the basics in most cases because we have a lot of new people every year, and every year these people are learning all over and hopefully from people like myself. That’s our goal so everybody learns.”
This week many will return home while others turn around and head for Indianapolis. Next weekend is the PRI show, which brings the performance industry together in a huge show.
After that there’s a break until Speed Weeks in February when RPM Work Shop has its annual meeting in Daytona, Florida.
Next year RPM Returns to Reno starting on December 1 for it’s next visit.
OTHER RACING NEWS:
• After the RPM Work Shop ended I received the 2026 schedule for Diamond Mountain Speedway in Susanville. So here is their 2026 schedule.
• Davey’s American Racing can be found on Face Book.
He also posts schedules for various tracks and there related subjects.
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• Our newest sponsor is State Farm agent Kelby Schoorl, who was a racer in his younger days. He has some supplemental insurance that racers might be interested in checking out.
There is medical that covers visits to the ER, ambulance rides and if a person has to stay in a hospital. In addition trailers as well as tools and tools in shops can be covered with additional policies.
If Kelby isn’t available the other guys at his office will be very happy to explain what they can offer both to racers and those enjoying motorized recreation.
Office hours are from 9 until 5: 30 Monday through Friday, appointments are needed on Saturday. The phone number is 775-827-2255 or at his website, www.kelby@insuringreno.com.
• One of our sponsors is General Transmission and Power Train Specialists owned by former motorcycle racer Pete Attashian. The shop is located at 890 Gentry Way.
The shop services older and new transmissions and now has a section for high performance units and those used in towing. Phone number is 775-786-5888 and the shop’s website is www.generaltransmissionreno.com.
Two of our sponsors are first class motorcycle shops located in Reno.
• Our first sponsor is Reno Motorsports (RMS). Not only do they have about anything a rider might want or need and the store also has a full service shop.
Their location is at 964 Terminal Way, by the intersection with Mill Street. Store’s phone number is 775-322-1499 and the site is, www.rms-renomotorsports.com.
• The next shop is Moto-Source located at 3180 Mill Street. Once again they are a full service shop plus the showroom has about any thing a rider might need or want.
The phone number is 775-856-3855 and the website is,www.moto-source.com.
• Concours Body Shop, located at 250 Telegraph Street in Reno, is another sponsor. The shop does quality collision repair for cars and trucks.
Owner Brian Saul is a car enthusiast himself and is committed to continuing the shop’s reputation of quality work. Phone number is 775-329-4557 and the website is, www.concoursbodyshop.net.
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The location is 1590 South Wells Avenue, just north of the round about. Phone number is 775-323-6366 and their website is www.pjandco.net.
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