Where are we Going?

Details
Written by Rick Miracle
March 23, 2011 - On June 24th 2008, Greg Tunnicliff wrote an article in the Flint Journal that was entitled; “Owosso track hoping for Miracle with new owners”. Fast Track Promotion Inc was not real excited about the article because we felt that it cast a negative light on the past history of the track and it didn’t do much to instill optimism and enthusiasm for the future. Co-owners Jeff and Pam Parish, Jennie and myself had just spent months planning and organizing our business and we were very enthusiastic about our plans and our commitment to the race track and the community. In fact as many of you have seen, we developed our Mission Statement first and we proudly display that at our front gate at the speedway. It says this; “Building Families and Community Involvement in the Promotion of Short Track Racing”. So needless to say we were a little disheartened when the errors of the past were put front and center for us to face and the overall tone of the article was one of pessimism.

We knew that it would take a community to bring Owosso Speedway back to its glory days and we knew that we had to be in the community to be accepted. We joined the very active Shiawassee County Chamber of Commerce right away and became as involved as possible in community events. After 2 ½ years of promoting at Owosso Speedway we know that we are blessed as people have responded and started coming back to the track. We haven’t “arrived” at a place where we are content with what we have. We are really just getting started on the journey to develop our families and this community through Owosso Speedway.

As I reread the article that Greg wrote in 2008, it dawned on me that Greg was never given the vision that we have in front of us in rebuilding this community landmark. In fact we’ve had literally hundreds of volunteers give of their time, energy and resources to make this whole thing work and we’ve developed a lot of close relationships with people that we would never have met except for this race track. But…. with the exception of a few people, I can’t really say that we’ve revealed our vision and the direction that we are heading. So how could Greg know what we were all about if I don’t reveal the vision?

When we organized our business we wrote down a 10 year plan. That plan has goals like; pay off the mortgage, improve the seating, revamp the lighting, repave the track, renovate the bathrooms and concession stand, improve and expand the pit area, revamp the sound system. We also wrote down that we wanted this to be a viable business that would support our families along with providing seasonal jobs for many others. Some of these things we have started and some of these things are yet to be. Fast Track Promotion Inc does not like debt and so there are only a very few things that we would even consider financing. We like to pay cash. The 10 year plan isn’t a vision; it’s a set of goals. The vision is the reason for achieving those goals.

To have a vision you have to dream; the bigger the dream, the better the vision. You don’t worry about the hurdles you have to overcome when you dream. You don’t worry about the feasibility of getting the entire vision to reality. You work on your goals to get to your vision. So what is our vision?

It’s this: We see Owosso Speedway as a year round gathering place for the entire community. We see a motorsports themed restaurant and a banquet center on the premises. (Jennie really wants an Applebee’s!) We see an impressive racing facility that has beautiful sky boxes and a covered grandstand area to enjoy a variety of motorsport venues at any time of the year. We see a state of the art garage area that will house the school that teaches car construction, set up and fabricating and other motorsports courses. We see a campground with full hookups. We see a hundred people employed both seasonal and full time. We see the premier public racing facility of short tracks! Disclaimer: This vision is subject to change and get bigger as the goals increase.

Pretty big vision isn’t it?

So the question is not so much “where are we going?” as it is “how are we getting there?” I believe that there are 5 key ingredients that are needed to realize a vision. These are my thoughts and beliefs and it may surprise you, but not everyone agrees with me. See if these ingredients make sense to you. The first element of getting to our vision involves God. Jennie and I believe that whatever it is that we do, we must do it for God’s glory. We feel that every one of us will labor on this earth for an allotment of days and so whatever calling or job we have must be worthwhile. We believe that our reward will be in Heaven and that we will be accountable for what we do here on earth. We want to provide a place for people to come and relax and enjoy the racing and really feel welcomed.

The second element to our vision is developing ourselves so that we can serve others. As a group we bring different personalities and backgrounds to the table. We all agree that we want to treat people right and fairly. We try to live by the Golden Rule. We want to take ownership of problems and solve them and we should work hard at maintaining a focus to create a great atmosphere for exciting entertainment where the community wants to gather. If we don’t grow ourselves to get better we will never be able to help others.

This ties us to our third element of getting to our vision. We want the great community gathering place that Owosso Speedway used to be; to be that place again. Owosso Speedway has a great history for many different reasons. Although we weren’t real happy with the 2008 article we do realize that our past is our past. Bringing our “past” back to the “present” and into the “future” is a very important part of our vision. Anytime we can acknowledge or recognize past racers, fans and workers, we want to do that. We know that our future is connected to our past and we have an opportunity to make a positive impact.

The fourth and fifth parts of obtaining our vision are linked together. Ingredient number four is hitting our 10 year plan goals. That is going to take resources. The “money” resource will come when we fill the grandstands and the pits every night. That won’t happen unless we have the “people” resource which is much more important than the “money” resource. Although we feel that we are very talented and can do some things well, we are surrounded by a host of people that have talents exceeding ours and we need them involved. I am amazed at the amount of talent we have in our community!

Our fifth and final ingredient is all about people and becoming successful together. We know that the potential that we have as a group is a lot greater than what we have as a business. The business has high and worthy goals that will take a lot of resources to achieve. We will never be able to achieve those goals strictly by our own resources. It’s going to take a community of people that see the vision for Owosso Speedway. It’s going to take all of us doing the “right thing” even when it’s the hard thing to do.

So now you know a little bit more about us and where we are going. Wouldn’t it be cool if God blessed us with the Premier Short Track in North America?  Bigger things have been done for less nobler reasons. We just have to see the vision, look to God for guidance and receive His blessings when we obey.

Take care and God bless,

Rick Miracle