Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Meet Bob Sargent: The Greatest Race Track Promoter of Our Era!

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Meet Bob Sargent: The Greatest Race Track Promoter of Our Era! · Kenny Wallace Media

0:00
Hello everyone and welcome back to Kenny.
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You're looking at him. He is a hero to me and here's
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why I deem this man you're looking at right now, Bob
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Sargent. I even wrote it down, the
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greatest racetrack promoter of our era, and we'll talk about
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that. We'll talk about why I think the
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man you're looking at, Bob Sargent, is the greatest
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racetrack promoter of our era. Bob, how are you doing?
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I'm good, Kenny. I, I appreciate the comments.
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I'm not sure about all that, but listen, I appreciate it.
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I know we've got a great staff and team around us.
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Family and friends have helped for years.
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So helped us kind of do a lot of different racing.
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I don't know about the greatest, but we've done a lot.
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We've worked really hard. And you know, talking about of
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our era, that reminds me of all the the promoters that I learned
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from, you know, all the older guys when I was 20 years old and
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starting this man. They were some great ones out
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there and I was very fortunate to work with them and meet them.
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Well, let me introduce you like this.
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Bob Sargent is the president and CEO of TRAC Enterprises.
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And in my opinion, and Bob, you feel free to straighten me out.
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I, I believe you promote everything under the sun from
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dirt to asphalt. And listen, I've done my
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studying up on you. I've got 4 pages.
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You have truly done it all, but let's just gloss over the early
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beginnings. I really like it when people put
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an effort in, in life and your, your education, your early
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beginnings, you, you're right there in Macon, IL and you went
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to Macon High School. Tell me about your college.
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I really like that because you, you kind of went from Illinois
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right over here to Missouri. Where'd you go to college at?
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We went to Southeast Missouri State College in Cape Girardeau,
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MO, you know, went on a football scholarship, had big intentions
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of playing college football. And then who knows what went on
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from there, But really started, you know, being raised in making
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Illinois a small Midwest rural town.
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I think that's really help from a great family.
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And you know, just from there on, typical, typical story
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again, went away, played football and in business.
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You know what the great thing about Kenny conversation is?
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A lot of people think I don't listen because I'm so hyper.
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But now I know why you're such a good promoter because you said
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you were looking at maybe being in the football.
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And I have always had this theory that great promoters, it
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helps if you stand above the crowd and you're a big man.
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And and when you have those drivers meetings, it seems like
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they really respect you. That that's my take.
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I I don't don't know if you have anything to say about that.
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But why do all the drivers throughout America, Why do they
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respect you so much? I don't see much back mouth to
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you Bob, in the drivers meetings.
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Well, I mean, yeah, football helps and everything, but really
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I strive really hard to just earn their respect and do what I
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say, you know, we need to do treat it as a business, treat it
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as a a sport. And everyone needs a A level
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playing field, whether it's NFLNBA, you know, Major League
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Baseball, tennis, whatever, golf, we all need rules and we
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all need a level playing field. And I've always strived to do
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that and to be fair with everyone.
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And I think that's, if it is anything with respect, I really
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hope that that's where that comes from, that they see how
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hard I work and and everybody around me works.
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And we're really dedicated to give the fans, the sponsors and,
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you know, the teams a safe and good place to race.
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Well, I noticed that right away, whether it's any dirt track,
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whether we go to, you know, to it's not so much the snowball
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Derby, but even when you went into your asphalt ventures,
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which you're doing a lot now and we'll get to ASA in a little
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bit. It doesn't matter where we go.
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I want everybody to know this. Listen.
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And you're looking at the man right now that can hold a
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driver's meeting and nobody gives him any lip service
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because like Bob says, he's doing his very best.
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OK, so much to get to. But we have established your
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education. We have established here from
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Macon, IL By the way, what is going on with Macon IL, One of
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the great NASCAR Cup group, she's Drew Blinkensderfer went
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to, went to make Macon IL high school.
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I mean, that's like finding a needle in a hay sack.
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What is the deal with Macon IL producing racers?
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Well, I don't know. I mean, you know, fortunate
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here, Drew actually went to Mount Zion, but you know, around
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my age and you know, he's a great again from this area and
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and has a had a great career still very prominent in the
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sport. Another thing about making
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Illinois the the general manager of the the World Series Atlanta
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Braves from 1000. People in Macon, IL Brian
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snicker. So we got a few things to really
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brag about from this area. Let me brag on you a little bit
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before we get to the Macon Speedway because that's I know
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that's where it all started. We have to know about somebody's
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past before we get to the present. 2024 Dirt Late Model
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Hall of Flame. Let me try that again. 2024 Dirt
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Late Model Hall of Fame in Florence, KY, Lifetime
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achievement award to that man right there, Bob Sargent.
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Bob, that's, that's a pretty big award.
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How do you feel about that? Again, as I spoke earlier, you
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know, the Earl Baltist and the the Chris Akon and Mackey's and
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all these generations of promoters ahead of me, you know,
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I just feel really good. And what an honor.
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I mean, this is the, you know, pinnacle of our, our dirt racing
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And I just really thankful and, and proud that they chose me.
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And, and again, I, I, I don't want to reiterate it to, to
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death, but it's so true that it's not just me.
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I mean my family and all my friends and all the support
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staff, so many of them over the years, some have come, some have
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gone, most are still with us. And that's what this is all
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about. Let me gloss over some things.
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Listen, it's that long. It's that long, everybody.
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And it it rolls off Wikipedia. Let me just start some of these,
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Bob, right there. The man you're looking at, he
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established the Ticketmaster vendor year round Marketing
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staff, 1985, ARCA Markham Award, 1994, USAC Promoter of the Year
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2010, UMP Dirt Car Promoter of the Year, 2011 National Auto
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Racing Promoter of the Year, 2016 USAC Race Organizer of the
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Year Award. That's key race organizer 2018.
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This is a big one, Bob, the Bob Memor Award recipient and then
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the one we just mentioned, 2024 National dirt Late Mall Hall of
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Fame Lifetime Achievement Award. Now listen, there's way more,
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but I think everybody understands now whether it's the
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old Carrie Agajanian group, you know, that's listening right
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now, whether it's Jim France at NASCAR, you, you really have put
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the work in and I, I want to, I want to have a little fun,
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something that is on my mind about the way we go about
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promoting. Now here's my disclaimer,
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everybody. That man you're looking at right
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now, Bob Sargent, myself, Tony Stewart and Kenny Schrader, at
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one time we were partners at the Macon Speedway, meaning four of
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us equally owned the Macon Speedway for what, Bob?
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About 14 years or more. And we brought it back to
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prominence. We all equally put in some money
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and we wanted to see Macon survive.
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And Boyd did it. It thrived under your
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leadership. And a year ago, we decided to
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sell it. And, and Bob, I'm going to let
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you explain again, that's your baby making Speedway.
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That's where it all started. Why did we decide to sell
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making? Well, you know, it was built in
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1946. Quick history here.
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I don't know how much time we have, but.
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We got all the time you want, Bob.
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You're doing such a good. Job of of, you know, telling
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about what I've done all these years and I appreciate it.
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But really, I mean, the track was built by Wayne Webb in 1946,
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so one of the longest standing race tracks in the country.
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A lot of history there. I purchased it right out of
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College in 1985 S you know we had about 40 years did a lot of
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work again friends and family, new bleachers, new scoring tower
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concessions, everything's been overdone two or three times.
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So and then fortunate enough to to to sell it once and then got
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it back and then you guys, the NASCAR bunch, you know we all
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joined together and and kept it going.
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You know, put some more revitalization in it.
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And I think when it came to an end was all these other events
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that I'm doing now personally, it's just, you know, 100 events,
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4 sanctioning bodies we own, you know, moving into doing some
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more NASCAR races, just on and on and on that there just
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weren't enough hours in the day, so something had to give.
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And Macon was probably one that, again, doing it for 40 years.
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A lot of good memories there and time to pass the torch on to
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someone else. And we'll see where it ends
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there. But yes, that's kind of our
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baby. Our office is still five blocks
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away. I'm from this town.
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Anything we can do to help that and continue to be successful
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and and and help these local drivers and fans to continue to
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have a good little fifth mile racetrack is what we want to do.
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OK, it, it's Showtime, it's it's time to get in to promoting.
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I have a lot of questions about promoting, but I'm a big fan of
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yours because I, I know how you go about promoting and I want to
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start like this. There's an old saying about some
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promoters, you know, they get cocky people that have never
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promoted before. You know, there's the go big or
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go home, let's have a big purse, you know, let's pay 50,000 to
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win. There's a lot of wannabe
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promoters. There's a lot of wannabe
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promoters. And we've been, we have been
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witnessing this lately. We've been seeing it, promoters
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go, I'm going to promote this track, I'm going to do it
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better. And then they fail miserably and
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immediately. But you, Bob, you never fail
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miserably. You never fail.
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I'm going to say this and then you respond.
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I feel like you always have a purse that is indicative of
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saving the sport. In other words, your purses are
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never out of sight. They're always at a level where
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we can keep on doing this 10 and 20 years down the road.
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Bob, I never see you have a crazy purse that's going to
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bankrupt you or put you out of business.
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I see you have a a purse that you know you're going to pay
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this to win and we're going to race for 20 years down the road.
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The other people, they come in, they got these crazy purses, and
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then they're out of business in the next week.
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Tell me about your strategy on how you run your events.
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Well, again, as I said, I was very fortunate to learn from a
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lot of old time promoters and, and current ones that are, are
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being successful. So I, I, I, I don't mind saying
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this. I mean, I emulate a lot of
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different race promoters and I try to pick the ones who are
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successful and do what they're doing, maybe add some other my
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own touches. But I definitely try to do not
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what others are doing that are failing.
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So I take a lot of of time to study the sport and study
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society in general. You know, what's working at the
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restaurants, what's working at the movie theaters, what's
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working at the, the other Major League sports, the minor league
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sports. So I spent a lot of time doing
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that and try to translate my business model into what's going
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to be successful and long lasting.
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I mean, I, I, I just chose bingo.
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I just chose not to do the big gambles what I say and because
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we have so many issues in this business of weather and things
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like that that can corrupt you. One of the old promoters told
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me, you know, you can take a little Ding in the side of the
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boat, but you can't take a full-fledged cannonball through
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and sink the boat. So I think about that a lot and
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try to be very conservative in my events and just work harder
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than anyone else. And that's just my business
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model. I know some other ones are do
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bigger events, some succeed, some don't, but I feel staying
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consistent and conservative has done me well.
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Who are your hero promoters? I I believe you've told me, but
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I want everybody listen. Who the promoters that you look
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up to? Yeah, again, there are so many
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Kenny. I mean, Earl Baltas comes to
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mind and dirt so quickly. But the Agagenians, you know, we
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go all the way to the France family and and and Ron Draeger.
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And so I have a lot of old ones that have passed away now and I
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have a lot of new ones. And we also have the ones that
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have been around that are getting ready to retire a little
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bit older than me. You know, the Howard Commanders,
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the Robert Lawtons, I mean Robert, the the Canucks, the
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IMCAI mean this list is really long and I'm sure I'm missing
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several, but there are many examples out there of promoters
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that are far more experienced and smarter than I am.
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But but I'm fortunate to try to work with all of them and I've
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learned from them and hopefully I've got a long way to go.
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One thing that you taught me and, and I love it and for so
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many reasons, I want to discuss this and, and I know that you
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will not mind me sharing this with people.
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Probably 10 years ago we were in the pits at Macon, you know, for
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I don't run there locally, run there 2-3 times a year maybe.
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And that you said to me, Kenny Wallace, I was taught a long
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time ago, don't lose the money that the racetrack made in June
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and July. Don't lose all that money in
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August, you know, in in August, Bob, the kids go back to school,
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high school football game startup.
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Talk about about that. You know that that that quote.
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I really like that from you. So that did come from an old
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promoter. I'll just tell you who it was.
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Wayne Webb, the predecessor the the the founder of making
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Speedway. He had a brother Lloyd.
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He brewed the popcorn, the concessions, and.
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That's what he would. Say about his brother Wayne.
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He's the promoter and us the gamblers.
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We would work so hard all summer long and then Wayne would go
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have some big events in the fall and lose his money.
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And so that's where that came from.
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So in this business, I don't think there's any black and
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white. I'll say it again.
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I mean, we, we do some fall races still.
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I mean, if you can hit on the big one, tradition's a lot of
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this too. The ones that have been around
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for 30-40 years do well. Getting that start in these
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things is difficult. So I think just the main thing I
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would suggest is knowing that, hey, you could lose money in the
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fall a little bit easier than you can in the summer months.
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So be very cautious and again, conservative and smart and what
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you do in the fall. Yeah, good friend of mine, and
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you probably know him, Trent Francis down in Paragould, AR
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Trent's a good old boy, but boy, he's got a well oiled machine
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down there. His wife, his kids are all in.
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I watch him and he says Kenny Wallace down here in Arkansas,
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you don't compete against high school football.
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It it's like the NFL. His race track shuts down like
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the second week of August. So yeah, I don't think it's just
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you, Bob. I I think people that know the
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race track, whether it's Vermont Thunder Rd. when I think of well
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oiled machines, I think of I think of Crowley's Ridge in
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Paragould, AR I think of, you know, Ken Squires.
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We lost Ken Squire, but he created Thunder Rd.
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Yeah, I think. And like you said, you got to
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know your area, don't you? You really do.
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That's that's why I say it's not 100% black and white how to do
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this. You have to know your area, know
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what the the fans want to come out, the racers when they run
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out of budget for the year, things like that.
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So there's so many factors involved.
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And again, if you have a, a mindset of a long term to stay
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in the business, you'll be good. I mean, we see a lot of
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promoters today, you know, on Facebook and everything and, and
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there's a lot of them out there struggling right now, but it
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just takes a lot of work and consistency.
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OK, listen, I'm I'm about positive mental attitude.
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Everybody knows that Kenny Wallace is happy.
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But listen, I fight a war every day of my life.
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There's an old saying and I'm ready to go.
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I wake up every morning to solve problems.
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Nothing is perfect in my life, but I just choose to be happy.
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So, Bob, that's my disclaimer. Let let's go to the tough side.
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Our sport is just, I mean, it's going downhill in a hurry, but,
18:28
but I noticed that you are using some techniques to save it.
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So Lincoln, Lincoln, IL, you're, you're running every other week.
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I noticed that Kenny Dobson over there at Jacksonville, he's
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running every other week. My friends Kevin and Tammy
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Gundaker, God knows they're in trouble down here.
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They're they've only run one race this year.
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I want you to just talk about today's era and these tracks
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shut down left and right. You know, we've lost, we've lost
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Gas City, we've lost Montpelier, we've lost Belleville.
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I mean, don't make me go on and on, you know what I'm saying?
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Now remember, we're positive people.
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Where are we today, Bob, with everything I just said?
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We are in very tough times. I think the sport is still very
19:29
strong. I had my biggest crowd ever last
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year in Milwaukee for the truck race.
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I mean, so these things, you know, I-55 is doing really well
19:38
this year. Lincoln, there are very good
19:43
events still going on. But we are in tough times that
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you we have to change with the times we have been we the into
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the industry as a whole have been talking about cost cutting
19:56
and rules packages for years and years and years when I was
20:00
around Bob memory UMP. But some areas we did not do a
20:04
good job on. And you know, whether we spend a
20:07
lot of time addressing the rules packages to get get affordable
20:11
for for guys to afford these race cars on Saturday nights or
20:15
we need to focus on our television packages.
20:17
How much is that hurting our weekly crowds or helping
20:20
whatever, whatever vision you have, sponsorship hunts?
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You know the the God I learned in 1985, you know how to run a
20:30
show. I mean, literally the work
20:32
promoters workshops had sheets, ABC and D get over it.
20:36
We hear people talk about getting over at 10:30 or 10:00.
20:39
That was done so long ago. So for some reason some people
20:42
miss those things. I kind of get hounded a little
20:45
bit for for rushing these shows a little bit more.
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But I think it's important for the getting a long stance of the
20:51
show. So to answer your question,
20:52
where we at, again, we're in tough times right now, but I
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always say when it gets tough, the strongest ones survive and
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they usually come out better on the other end.
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So I believe there's a lot of up to this whole industry right
21:06
now. It's a great product for the
21:08
fans. It's a fun entertainment,
21:11
competitive for the the racers and I watch the racers that are
21:14
having fun and the ones that aren't.
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And it's the promoters job to make their own business go well,
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I think I'll, I'll, I'll give it back to you with one saying I
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tell everybody when they ask me that question, it's no different
21:27
than managers at a restaurant or any other business.
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This is all about management. That's all this is in my book.
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This is a business and it's about management and how we
21:37
manage our business. A a couple hot topics right now,
21:42
as you know, Kenny conversation, man, I'm so grateful for it.
21:46
Charlie Marlow, he came to me and we started it and I was
21:51
honored that Mark Richards, who owns, you know, is part owner of
21:54
Rocker Chassis. He called me up.
21:56
He said, hey, man, let me on your show.
21:58
I said, damn, you know, one of the most pivotal people in all
22:02
of dirt racing. And then same thing with Michael
22:05
Rigsby. Hey, let me on your show.
22:08
So those two, you know, Michael Rigsby, who started owned dirt
22:14
on dirt and then now he's on, you know, Flo, both of them said
22:19
controversial things and I want you to comment on them.
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Michael Rigsby said we have to get racing over at 9:30.
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And I thought, oh, that's Bob, Sergeant.
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Bob's known that forever. Now let let's keep that over
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here. Hold on.
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OK, 9:30 I wrote this down, OK. And then over here, Mark
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Richards from Rocket Chassis says, now I know Michael
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Rigsby's going to be mad at me this.
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And I told him, he says streaming has killed the local
22:53
hero because now we're just going to watch on TV.
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And oh, there's Bobby Pierce. He's my hero.
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And now there's no more heroes at the local short track.
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So I want you to address that combination.
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These are all Michael Rigsby says.
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We got to get over at 9:30 and he's streaming and over here's
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he's built 7000, 200 dirt super late miles.
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He said streaming has killed the local shows.
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Comment on all that. Well, again, back to business in
23:27
general. This is all about management.
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The promoter can manage how how he deals with those things.
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I feel that 9:30 is too early. My feeling is 10:00.
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People want their money's worth. They come down there to have
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camaraderie and things like that.
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So there is a a fine line. I think Michael was probably
23:46
meaning not midnight and I agree with that.
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I think there's a fine line. It's very simple to find what
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time you need to be done. When do races need to be done,
23:55
Bob? They need to be done by 10:00
23:57
PM. There you heard it.
23:59
The greatest promoter of all time.
24:01
I'll give a little grace, 9:45 to 10:15, very simple.
24:05
I like it. Now, if you have 200 cars in the
24:07
pits, some things are acceptable.
24:10
That's great for the back gate. That does help more, but it may
24:13
run a little bit longer. So be careful.
24:15
You know, the, the IMCA, the boon nationals one spin out rule
24:19
the cut your lap. There's all kinds of ways to
24:21
manage your show throughout the night.
24:24
But be aware that you need to get those people, those kids.
24:27
We're trying to get families there between 9:45 and 10:15.
24:32
Ten o'clock ideal. I believe that television
24:37
streaming in general again has been very difficult to manage
24:43
from a promoter. We have absolutely, to Mark's
24:46
point, lost ticket sales because of streaming.
24:50
On the other side of the sword is it has given us a tremendous
24:54
amount of exposure. People are watching it in their
24:57
homes, their their basements, their garages that never watch
25:01
sports or auto racing before. They know every track in the
25:05
country, they're watching it at home.
25:08
We have to be smart enough as promoters to translate that into
25:11
ticket sales when we can get them out of their off their
25:15
couch. So that's the way I view it.
25:18
I think that there needs to be some revenue sharing from the
25:22
streaming partners to the tracks because of the ticket sales
25:25
we've lost. And I think the tracks and the
25:27
promoters need to use the numbers of people, the new
25:30
people we have watching to our advantage.
25:34
Do you, when you do flow night in America on flow, so flow
25:41
night in America, when they come to any of your race tracks, and
25:44
I know they do, that's a, that's a tough pill to swallow on a
25:49
Tuesday or Wednesday night. Do they share with you knowing
25:54
that you could have a really light crowd?
25:56
Like it's, it's why the hell is somebody going to come on
25:59
Tuesday night at 100°? And I mean, is that TV revenue
26:03
help those nights? It does.
26:06
It does Flow. Flow has been a great partner
26:09
for the industry. Now they're making a lot of
26:11
money and they're they're, they're being profitable.
26:14
They're a business, no problem. And they have tried to help the
26:17
industry where they can. So how much they can or things
26:21
evolve. Maybe they'll see other places
26:23
that need some help. But I believe that Flow Night in
26:25
America made them money. But it also helped the local
26:28
promoters have a big event and get some assistance from Flow.
26:33
You know, we also have Dirt Vision, we have Racing America,
26:36
our sales track enterprise. A little plug here, we started
26:38
one called Track TV. So we're right in the TV game
26:44
again. So we see the challenges of
26:45
getting the right revenue to the promoters, but also, you know,
26:50
making a business out of their platform of streaming.
26:54
We're going to stay on this just for a little longer.
26:56
Then we're going to go to Nashville and we're going to go
26:58
to ASA. We're going to bring it up to
27:00
current times these these races every single week.
27:07
Bob, two years ago I made a big deal down here at I-55 Raceway.
27:14
I said I am going to bring back the local championship.
27:18
I'm going to do my very best myself and Dale Junior.
27:22
I Rusty Griffall said give me, give us a speech, Herman, at the
27:27
Kenny Schrader and Ray Mahler's racetrack, right, Federated Auto
27:31
Parts Raceway. I said, OK, I'll give you a
27:34
speech. Rusty Griffin.
27:35
I gave it to the whole crowd. I said years ago, Dale Junior,
27:39
Dale Earnhardt Junior said to me, when I'm done with NASCAR,
27:42
he said he's going to go run late model stocks.
27:45
I said my dream is I'm going to run I-55, the old art track
27:50
every single week. And I did it.
27:53
I ran every single week and people were on my ass.
27:57
Why aren't you coming up here to Fairbury?
28:01
And I, and I couldn't tell him I was trying to make local racing
28:05
and winning the championship great again like my dad did.
28:09
My dad, Russ Wallace would go against, you know, Kenny
28:13
Schrader and my brother Rusty were there.
28:16
So my question to you, Bob, is this.
28:18
I won that championship, but it didn't register to anybody.
28:22
Nobody cares about it anymore. Rick.
28:24
Rick can order is the only one down here.
28:26
And Paul Shrimp, you know, they're running here every week.
28:29
Nobody cares. Should we be running every
28:33
single week now or has this new generation just they want to go
28:38
to Six Flags, they want to go to the lake?
28:41
Should we continue running every single weekend during the summer
28:45
or should we go every other week?
28:48
So I obviously do both. So any, any answer I give you,
28:52
somebody can point and say, well, he doesn't do what he
28:54
says, but some of mine is geared because of time and constraints
28:58
of just operating. But I feel people should be
29:01
running every week. I think it's important.
29:04
I think it keeps a a consistency in people's lives.
29:07
I think I'm a little more old school than some and maybe that
29:12
I should be, but I believe in when things were successful.
29:17
But the, the, the answer to that is you can do everything we did
29:21
in the past that was successful, but you have to tailor it to the
29:25
modern day. So my answer is yes, I believe
29:28
we should be running weekly for the consistency part, for giving
29:33
these guys more than 10 races a year, things like that.
29:36
But some facilities operate better every other week.
29:40
You mentioned Lincoln and Jacksonville.
29:42
We do that for a reason because we alternate.
29:44
We don't race on the same week because we're in close
29:46
proximity. So those two tracks are racing
29:48
every week, they're just sharing.
29:50
There you go. So we're racing every week.
29:52
It's just worth sharing. So there's different instances
29:55
in every geographical part of our country and reasons to do
29:59
things. But I think the overall premise
30:02
should be to try to race every week for all the reasons above.
30:06
I said, you know, you said earlier about your Arkansas
30:09
track or whatever the the family and the kids.
30:12
I mean, that's how these things really were designed to run.
30:16
It was a, a, a, a man out there working, the wife doing the
30:21
books and the concessions and the, and keeping things in order
30:24
and the kids pitching in, the neighbors pitching in.
30:27
Again, that doesn't happen in every geographical area, but
30:31
those seem to be very successful when you run an operation at
30:35
this type of grassroots racing like that.
30:38
So I want to show everybody this.
30:40
I'm going to here. Here's a big piece of paper, but
30:43
let me fold it in half here. The man you're looking at right
30:46
now, Bob Sergeant, he's not going to say this, but I'm
30:50
saying that his group, they're trying to save racing.
30:54
Look at the tracks that they promote.
30:56
Look at this. I'm just going to put that up
30:59
there for a little bit, OK? Just for a little bit longer.
31:05
So Bob, you're giving your heart to the sport.
31:08
Obviously, you're trying to make money, but something happened
31:11
last week that really was heartfelt for me.
31:14
Listen, the herminator is not mean, but like Brother Rusty
31:18
says, I take the knife, I put it right at the skin and I don't
31:22
puncture it. You're not saying this, I'm
31:25
saying this. Canton, IL Spoon over Speedway,
31:29
great race track, Half Mile High banked the modifieds love it
31:34
because it's got a lot of room. You know, we see nicely and all
31:37
the boys from Kentucky, they come up there.
31:39
That's their track. So they they close down, they
31:45
said we're closing down. The new promoter has got cancer
31:49
and we're closing down. And I don't know exactly how it
31:53
happened and maybe you ain't going to tell the truth, but by
31:56
God, you saved the day. You went up there and you Co
31:59
promoted straighten me out. Straighten me out.
32:03
You Co promoted the summer national race.
32:07
We're we're seeing this everywhere.
32:09
You know, the new promoter comes in, OK, this guy gets roughed
32:13
up, you know, physically, the guy Chris Kearns bought Macon,
32:18
he gets Ross up physically, his wife's in trouble.
32:21
But you come in here and and and and you saved the damn day,
32:26
buddy. Tell me about that whole deal
32:28
there at at Spoon River. Well, Spoon River, you know,
32:34
every instance is different, but Spoon River, we've known the,
32:37
the, the Denny family for a long time.
32:40
They've been in promoting, I mean, Morey was at the UMP
32:44
meetings with me 30-40 years ago.
32:46
So we've known him forever, Great people.
32:49
And when the their lease still didn't work out the first of the
32:52
year, yeah, I don't know what they were going to do.
32:55
But anyway, Long story short, summer nationals on the
32:56
schedule, Sam calls me and said, hey, would you help out here?
32:59
And I said sure, of all places, I'll go to help.
33:02
So we did, I mean, Brad did all the, you know, we all pitched in
33:06
and did a lot of the work. And you know, again, this
33:09
natural, this, this industry is very close knit for the people
33:13
that are staying in a long time. Good people usually rise to the
33:16
top. And that's what that was.
33:19
That was a nice facility with good people.
33:22
I enjoy working with you and P and, and and you know what, all
33:25
the racers. So Adam here and and and my ROR
33:30
help. We went over there and helped
33:32
Brad and Maury and and we put a good race on.
33:35
So that was that situation. Some of these other ones are
33:38
similar, but you know that sheet you showed, they come and go.
33:42
I mean we've we've revitalized some race tracks and then just
33:45
ran out of time and didn't redo them.
33:46
Some we're still working on. There's going to be some more
33:48
announced for for 2025 that we're going to start again.
33:51
So I don't know. It's just what we do and that's
33:55
my business and as much as I can handle, we're going to keep
33:57
going. Bob, you always save the day.
34:01
You really do. They they call you all the time
34:04
to save the day. Terre Haute.
34:06
Terre Haute shut down. I mean, the one of the greatest
34:09
race tracks, you know that AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti made
34:12
famous, shut down. Spoon River gets in a little bit
34:16
of trouble. They call you all the time.
34:19
Now this is me. I'm I'm not putting words in
34:22
your mouth. This is me.
34:24
All these facilities call you to save the day.
34:28
They they've ruined it. They've destroyed it.
34:30
Bob, please come back and help us.
34:33
I mean, it happens every damn week.
34:36
What? Why are these people messing up
34:38
so bad? Well, I appreciate all that and
34:41
you. Know No, It's just the truth,
34:43
Bob. It's the truth.
34:44
This is a big United States. I don't know.
34:46
They call me for everything, but I do.
34:48
The whole damn Midwest does. But you know what, I, I, I,
34:52
there's different situations, what they do wrong.
34:54
I mean, again, it's management. Some people I see they get into
34:58
it and they have other jobs and other family obligations.
35:00
They didn't realize that it takes a lot of time.
35:02
I also feel these race tracks, that is your new life.
35:05
I mean, you don't get to do anything else.
35:07
I mean, you signed up for a racetrack, that's it.
35:10
So sometimes people get into it and not realize.
35:13
I do get a lot of phone calls that say, hey, I didn't know it
35:16
was this much work this much time.
35:19
We all try to tell them that. I mean, it is an amazing, an
35:22
amazing amount of effort and work that any of these promoters
35:26
do. I know we see a lot about save
35:27
your local track and and pat your promoter on the back.
35:30
I can't. That's one thing I can
35:32
emphasize. Any promoter that's out there
35:34
working and doing a good job has put an extremely amount of lot
35:38
amount of work into and sacrificed basically a normal
35:41
life to do this racing. So we always say racers are
35:45
addicted to it and they put a lot of time in, but so are these
35:48
promoters. So I think that's the main thing
35:50
I see when promoters decide to get out of it or or don't, you
35:54
know, aren't successful. It's just the amount of time and
35:57
the effort that it took. A lot of them have other jobs or
35:59
again, family problems arise and the racetrack doesn't matter.
36:03
I mean, it's going to sit there whatever and and be successful
36:07
with your time or not with your without your time.
36:09
So that's basically it. I I see so many people try to
36:14
keep racing going whether it was Charlie down here at the old
36:17
Brownstown IL and now Josh Carroll has come in save the day
36:22
low voltage solution they bring in and put new speakers up.
36:26
Got friends fixing up the back straight away wall.
36:30
You see our, you know our friends up there at Kankakee.
36:34
You know these guys got daytime jobs they come in they try to
36:38
keep the sport going. We're so appreciative for Josh
36:41
Carroll and and everybody, but it it really seems like it's
36:46
almost like a high school where these fairgrounds they can't
36:50
survive and it's like, hey, anybody got any money You got
36:53
any equipment? I mean, is that what we're
36:56
seeing, Bob, is where these race tracks can't make it on their
37:01
own, so everybody comes in and donates?
37:03
Is that where we're at? Again, every business model is
37:07
different. Some of these fairgrounds or
37:08
some of these newer guys coming in are fortunate to have friends
37:11
and you know people And my goodness, like I said earlier at
37:13
Macon, that's all we where we built that thing on is all the
37:17
help and the support from our friends that own businesses that
37:19
had equipment family. I mean that's usually how it
37:23
works at this level. You need a lot of help.
37:25
It's really hard to do it by yourself.
37:26
So sponsors, you mentioned a key thing.
37:30
We're in the Midwest. Macon, I always said is a great
37:33
place. We don't have a Major League
37:35
team for 2 1/2 hours away from us.
37:37
So we are it kind of, and that helps in a lot of different ways
37:42
to, to television and newspaper reporting to sponsors.
37:47
I mean, we, we always try to portray this as the only thing
37:50
in town where other race tracks you got a lot of competition.
37:54
All right, Bob, I, I roughed you up enough, buddy.
37:56
I threw a lot of darts at you. That's what the drivers want to
37:59
hear, you know, because that's what it's all about.
38:03
And let's move forward now. Thank you so much for addressing
38:07
our short track scene. All right, buddy, listen,
38:10
you're, you're getting it done once again.
38:13
Let's move to asphalt now. Nashville Fairgrounds, it's down
38:19
there, it's fledgling, it's struggling, it's almost shut
38:22
down. They're they're building
38:24
apartments 20 feet from the front pit gate.
38:27
I did a YouTube special on IT. People said, Oh my God, I can't
38:31
believe that you know, and, and you caught the eye of NASCAR.
38:36
I know the story. So tell me about now.
38:40
You're down there at Nashville. You're, you are running a local
38:44
show, if not every once in a while and then we're then we're
38:48
going to get to ASA, but let's let's go to Nashville
38:51
Fairgrounds. What are you doing down there?
38:55
Well, we hope we've made some impact there.
38:58
It wasn't doing well and we've we've really had some good
39:01
events there. We we work hard on the local
39:03
racing. We have 10 races a year so it
39:05
doesn't sound like a lot but they're all major events.
39:07
So it's it's full time. We have a full time staff down
39:10
there. I go down there quite often
39:13
every week or more and it's just really going well.
39:16
Nashville is Nashville. It speaks for itself in the
39:18
booming and the the population explosion.
39:21
Sponsors are good. Then we talk about the racetrack
39:25
history like you can't believe. So everybody wants to race at
39:28
Nashville. Dale Junior talks about it a
39:30
lot. We talk to each other about it.
39:33
Darrell Walter, if you just name the the list, Sterling Marlin,
39:35
the list of people that are just really excited about the
39:38
racetrack at Nashville. So anyway, we're down there
39:41
doing 10 races a year. We a little plug, we have a
39:43
NASCAR night coming up Thursday night with Ross Chastain and
39:47
Josh Berry and all of our locals.
39:48
We got some great talent down there that races these Pro Lake
39:51
models and the quarter mile guys.
39:54
So it that's what happens is you you build a base, you get a
39:58
strong following, a lot of great sponsors, a lot of support from
40:01
the city and the fairgrounds. I mean, I don't know that they
40:03
had that five years ago, but we work really hard on the basics
40:07
with the neighborhood and it seems to be working really well,
40:11
so. The future is another story.
40:13
There's a lot of uncertainty down there right now, but what
40:15
we've been doing for the last five years has been very
40:17
successful and we plan to continue for a while.
40:21
You brought this up, you reminded me and I'm going to say
40:25
this again. You were the creator of NASCAR
40:28
night and it it's just the way it is.
40:32
It's just the way it is when you say, you know, a Ross Chastain
40:36
or, or you know, anybody is going to come to your local
40:41
track, you're going to you're going to see an uptick in ticket
40:44
sales. So when you started NASCAR night
40:47
years ago, you Schrader, myself, we would go to Peoria, we would
40:52
go, you name it. And it was standing room only.
40:58
But NASCAR fell from grace and you know, we know this.
41:04
It's not a secret. Now they're they're booming
41:07
again. They're coming back.
41:08
Do you see NASCAR night kind of rebounding or or is NASCAR night
41:14
kind of dead? No, again, I'm I'm an optimist
41:20
also, I don't think anything's dead.
41:22
NASCAR night still work. I mean we have Kevin Harvick
41:26
first time in a late model this year, Kevin Harvick and another
41:29
champion coming to Pensacola this Friday night.
41:31
So we'll. Go and that's your race.
41:33
Is that your race? Tim Bryant's race.
41:35
It's a Southern Super Series race, Tim and Pat Bryant down
41:38
there at 5 Flags. So we'll be at Nashville
41:41
Thursday night, Pensacola Friday and have NASCAR drivers at both
41:45
places. Greg Mccarns does things with
41:47
Matt Kansas. All these promoters do some
41:50
point of that. Tony Stewart came to many of our
41:52
races with us. But yes, Ken Schrader, you know,
41:56
we can't say enough about him. You know, we really got those
41:59
NASCAR nights having fun and he would bring somebody along.
42:02
Michael Waltrip, you got, you know, all you guys helped so
42:05
much back when we were barnstorming through here in the
42:07
Midwest and these dirt races and having fun.
42:10
I can't count the amount of drivers we've had it make and AJ
42:13
Foy, I mean, you know, you know, Richard Petty came to Macon and
42:17
then you brought 15 guys one time on your way to Michigan.
42:20
So it is not dead. The the the theory of that still
42:25
works. These are our heroes that are
42:28
racing NASCAR and the the race fans want to see him.
42:32
But then we can maybe bring the the fringe guy that says, well,
42:36
I haven't been on that track forever, but I know that name
42:38
from seeing him on TV on Sunday, things like that.
42:41
So you know what, it's definitely not dead.
42:43
It just, you know, has to be in the right time, in the right
42:46
place. So it's clear you're going to
42:48
run Nashville until they tear it down.
42:52
Where? Where are we at with Marcus
42:55
Smith and the SMI group? What is ever going to happen for
42:59
what you can say, I'm not putting you on the spot.
43:01
What can you say it is Nashville Fairgrounds going to survive or
43:06
are they going to try to tear it down?
43:08
Well, you know, that's a political question.
43:11
So we all know what politics is like.
43:13
I'm working very close with Marcus and, you know, Jerry
43:16
Caldwell from Bristol, and we work really close on that, on
43:20
what's going to happen. They're going to come to a vote
43:22
with the City Council that that really owns the fairgrounds
43:24
there. And man, we are trying hard to
43:27
get some things going regardless, we we really believe
43:32
the racetrack is going to stay in some shape or, or fashion.
43:35
And there are some other forces in the Nashville community that
43:41
would like to see it tore down. So all this is public.
43:45
I can say that this is probably one of the most covered stories
43:50
of the industry for five or more years now.
43:52
Different mayors, different City Council votes.
43:56
Marcus and Jerry have worked very hard to get a new NASCAR
43:59
track there. So it's still in the political
44:03
realm. So there you go.
44:05
There'll be a city vote and there's some options out there
44:08
right now and and we're just helping Jerry and the Bristol
44:12
bunch as much as we can. And it's no secret that
44:16
Nashville, TN is the new, what should I say?
44:20
It's, it's the new Los Angeles, CA.
44:23
All, all the rock'n'roll people live there.
44:26
The stories I've heard about Nashville are crazy right now.
44:30
And but we know that Nashville, TN is the hotbed, the
44:36
surrounding areas. We know that.
44:38
And we just want, I want to let everybody know that I know that.
44:41
And I don't want your job right now because I know Marcus Smith
44:47
and everybody's doing their best to save Nashville.
44:49
All right, we put a we put a, we're done with Nashville.
44:52
That's another hot one. Thanks, Bob, for ask answering
44:56
those questions. All right, you're my hero once
45:00
again, because I was the 1986 ASA Rookie of the Year.
45:07
ASA defined me, Bob. ASA is where I learned how to
45:11
race. That's where Mark Martin learned
45:13
how to race. Rusty Wallace, Bob Seneker, Mike
45:17
Eddie. ASA was the NASCAR of short
45:21
track racing. ASA got bought out.
45:26
You know, Rex and Becky Robbins, the originators, the the owners,
45:30
they had it baby going. Their, their, their health
45:33
failed them. You know, they got older, they
45:35
sold it. Those owners that bought it,
45:37
they destroyed it. They put it at Michigan.
45:40
All these tracks just they did it all wrong.
45:43
They should have kept it at Winchester and Salem and
45:46
Milwaukee. All right?
45:48
Then it's shut down. Shut down, and there you are
45:52
again. Does everybody understand the
45:54
theme here? Guess who comes in and saves ASA
45:58
again? You're looking at him.
46:00
So tell me about you bringing ASA back.
46:05
Well, I don't know if we've saved it yet.
46:06
It's a work in progress, let's put it that way.
46:08
It's. A challenge.
46:11
We can definitely know now, after a year into this, why no
46:14
one's tried it in the past. It's a really a a very difficult
46:18
project. Again, have a lot of great help.
46:21
We have a great cookie cutter success stories back when you
46:24
guys raced in it. We have a lot of support from
46:27
the history people. Now we have to turn it around to
46:30
have enough participants, enough promoter buy in, enough fan buy
46:34
in. We've started our track TVA lot
46:36
of things are in progress. We're excuse me a year and a
46:39
half in now. Ty Majeski was our champion in
46:42
2023. Now we're working on 2024 five
46:46
races in had some great racing events.
46:49
We're trying to bring the professionalism back.
46:52
We are working with a known Midwest tour.
46:56
We on CRA work with Tim in the Southern Super series.
46:59
So those are three regional series of these super pavement
47:03
late models that we put the ASA name on and started A10 race
47:09
national ASA tour called the stars Tour.
47:11
So it's pretty complicated, but the, the the the basics are
47:17
still there. A lot of hard work, a lot of
47:19
making the teams feel comfortable and giving them a
47:21
good place to race, a good premier, top notch facility and
47:25
giving the fans a good product. Thank God for you, Bob, and I
47:29
mean that I know you through and through.
47:32
I I don't I don't know what you do in your private time, but
47:34
every time I see you, your face is blood red because you're on
47:39
the grater to dirt track. I'll I'll I'll pass it at a
47:44
NASCAR track and I'm I'm shaking my head.
47:46
I'm like, I'm like Bob reminds me of me and Schrader, 'cause
47:50
we, we race asphalt, we race dirt, we race Rd. courses.
47:54
And Bob, you do it all. And NASCAR saw that Jim France
48:00
saw that Jim France owns NASCAR. He saw you.
48:05
I saw you down at Volusia during bike week promoting the damn,
48:11
you know, flat track motorcycle race.
48:13
Tell me now. Listen, I I understand things
48:16
are private, but This is why the show rolls so good.
48:19
Tell me about your relationship with the great Jim France.
48:22
I like that guy, and everybody does.
48:24
He's awesome. Man, you're right again.
48:27
Very, very fortunate to become friends with Mr. France.
48:31
You know, go and have lunch with him and discuss things with him.
48:34
All you know, and you know, Mr. Hilton has just been a great
48:37
mentor and helped us through all this.
48:39
And now Ben Kennedy and everybody below at NASCAR again,
48:44
we're just a promoter. I think we all live and breathe
48:46
and, you know, get up in the mornings and we all do the same
48:49
things. So we're all trying to do the
48:51
same goals. Sometimes it's a higher level
48:53
than other levels, but it's still the basics.
48:55
I mean, they have such great experience and knowledge and,
49:00
and Jim France, I mean, my goodness, from motorcycles to
49:04
cars to brother Bill and all the things they've done over the
49:08
years. And, and then again, Mike Hilton
49:10
is such a visionary and everything he's done to maintain
49:12
all this whole sport. So I couldn't be more honored to
49:16
be work with those guys and learn from them and and again,
49:19
hopefully I'm helping them in anything they want.
49:22
OK, we're going to end it like this and this is all me.
49:26
There have been a lot of people that have tried and they have
49:30
failed miserably for years and years.
49:33
And that man right there has saved racing.
49:36
I say that respond right here, Bob Sargent.
49:41
I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.
49:43
God knows that between you, Schrader, myself, Tony Stewart,
49:48
a lot of us, buddy, we appreciate you.
49:52
And and I know after this, there's going to be a lot of
49:54
race tracks. Hey, can you bring back Gas
49:57
City? Hey, can you come back up here
49:58
to Montpelier? I'm sure your phone's going to
50:01
be ringing off the hook because you are the only savior.
50:06
You know, besides the Eldora's and things like that.
50:09
When things failed and things break, they call you.
50:12
Let's end on this note. Tell me about Milwaukee.
50:16
Milwaukee Mile is the oldest race track in America.
50:22
You're there saving that deal and and Rodger Penske wanted to
50:26
talk to you. Rodger Penske wanted to talk to
50:30
you. And I hooked you two up.
50:32
Yes, I did. Tell me about Milwaukee.
50:36
Milwaukee's just another success story.
50:38
I mean, it was sitting there and.
50:39
Here we go again. I mean, there was bulldozers at
50:43
the gate and and we talked to them and these things take time
50:46
too. I mean Milwaukee is a good
50:48
example. We talked to them 15 years ago.
50:50
So we had the plan never came road to fruition and all of a
50:53
sudden with Greg Mccarns and the late models, we decided to go
50:56
run there. They did some improvements.
50:59
We ran there, had success, had success, bring Arka in success,
51:04
you know, bring them the NASCAR trucks in their success.
51:07
Mr. Penske wants to talk about IndyCar race and here we go with
51:10
IndyCar race this year. So real happy with Milwaukee.
51:14
It's a great facility. A lot of these are a lot of
51:16
these tracks that just have struggles for some reason.
51:21
Now Milwaukee seems to be back and going again and again.
51:23
We had 20,000 people there last year for a truck race and we
51:27
really think that that has a lot of future to keep going.
51:30
Well, I love Milwaukee. My wife's family is from
51:33
Milwaukee. I've probably run the most races
51:36
of my life at Milwaukee, starting in ASA.
51:39
That was Milwaukee was the Daytona 500 for us because it
51:45
we'd never seen anything that big.
51:47
Yeah, we went to Winchester. Yeah, we went to Salem.
51:50
But but Milwaukee was the type of track when you got to the end
51:53
of the straightaway as a race car driver, you wanted to let
51:56
off the gas. Yeah, Milwaukee, Springfield, du
52:00
Coin. Those are big race tracks.
52:02
Yeah, and thank you for reminding me that I have that in
52:05
my notes here. Once again, Bob, let me do this.
52:09
I know you're blushing, but you promote the mile dirt track at
52:15
Springfield, IL, You promote the Mile Dirt track at Du Coin.
52:19
How are our mile dirt tracks doing since you promote them?
52:25
Well, you know, we've done it for, I don't even know, pushing
52:28
30 years now. So we have plans to revitalize
52:31
some things there. Met with the Department of
52:33
Agriculture, the governor's office the other day.
52:35
I mean, I think we're going to see some improvements.
52:38
We deal with the concerts along with the fairs.
52:40
So a lot of things to deal with at the the fairs, but the dirt
52:44
miles I just you know, we did Indianapolis for years and years
52:47
and years and they decided to go a different way.
52:50
You know, Syracuse went a different way.
52:51
So we're holding Springfield de coin to our hearts and we're
52:54
going to work the hardest to continue that.
52:56
The under the lights of De coin is nothing better.
52:58
We have an AFT flat track race there July 6th.
53:01
Come on out for that. So USAC and ARCA, what a great
53:05
two, you know, groups to work with on those dirt miles and
53:09
everything else we do with them. So check us out at
53:12
trackenterprise.com. We've probably missed a lot of
53:14
different tracks, a lot of different sanctioning bodies,
53:17
but I appreciate this, Kenny. I appreciate the nice words.
53:20
But again, it's not just me. There's a lot of people that
53:24
I've met over the years to thank, and then again all the
53:27
family and friends that have pitched in and helped every day.
53:30
Well, let me just end like this. We just got done having Kelly
53:33
Earnhardt on and she said, Kenny Wallace, I noticed lately here
53:37
your rally call is you have to remind people because they
53:41
remember what they want to. And I can't take credit for
53:44
that, Bob. That's my Big Brother, Rusty
53:46
Wallace. Rusty is smart, so smart, and he
53:51
taught me that. He said, Herman, you're not
53:54
bragging, you're not promoting. He said it's sad to say you have
53:58
to remind people because they remember what they want to.
54:02
And all right, everybody, you saw that this was my doing.
54:06
This was this was my thing to remind you of all the race
54:11
tracks and divisions that that man right there, the great Bob
54:15
Sergeant has saved Bob, sorry to embarrass you, but you are great
54:19
buddy. And from the bottom of my heart,
54:22
I love racing. That's all I do.
54:24
All right, everybody, listen. We are in podcast form.
54:28
Listen to us on iTunes and Spotify, listen to Bob.
54:33
I know you're going to learn a lot from this.
54:35
Why your racetrack does this, why your racetrack does that?
54:39
But you're going to have a better heart for racing after
54:41
listening to this. Bob, thank you so much.
54:46
Thank you. All right, everybody, until the
54:48
next Kenny conversation. We'll see you next time.