Story By: CHRIS DOLACK / DIRTCAR – CONCORD, NC – The World of Outlaws and DIRTcar Racing would like to thank our Fans, Drivers, Race Teams, Tracks, Partners and Suppliers for their amazing support.
We also need to acknowledge stakeholders from every major sanctioning body who have been working together behind the scenes in such unprecedented fashion. The motorsports world embodies the definition of community, and the efforts being made by so many for the safety and stability of our community will pay dividends for years to come.
We are pleased to announce the launch of our Return to Racing initiative and our Resource Center, which is now available on www.worldofoutlaws.com and www.dirtcar.com. The dirt track community faces a unique set of challenges; from the varied size and ages of our facilities to the fact that there is a dirt track in all but one State in America (c’mon Rhode Island). The Resource Center has been designed as an open-source portal for all of our sanctioned racetracks to use in support of their individual efforts to Return to Racing.
These Guidelines and Procedures have been developed with the support of motorsports experts Agajanian & Anthony, P.C., Mr. Jeff Ladd at Sports Insurance Specialists, LLC and Dr. Jack Faircloth, MD. Dr. Faircloth is a Coordinating Panelist for the North Mecklenburg (NC) COVID-19 Response Team and has been a strong advocate of the Clean-Cover-Confine strategy included in our plan. We have studied guidelines issued by CDC, OSHA, FDA and more. The documents in the Resource Center will be updated weekly with the latest information and research available as the response to COVID-19 remains very dynamic.
To be clear, the World of Outlaws does not yet have any specific event or timeline targeted for its Return to Racing and DIRTcar Racing has not sanctioned an event since early March. We want to get back to the track soon, but in the safest and most responsible manner possible. In order to so, this may include Tracks being limited to practice days, participant-only events, and/or limited crowd events for a period of time in some States, while others may simply not allow motorsport events of any kind for a longer period of time.
Included in our Resource Center is a 10-Step Guide for a Return to Racing that is relevant regardless of where a Track is located and what level of restrictions may be present in that area. There is also an editable Executive Summary document that we encourage Tracks to use as if it were their own to reflect the conditions in their area. We suggest that Tracks use these two documents as a tool to reach out to their Local, City and/or County Officials first, as we believe this is a situation where it is in fact better to ask for permission than beg for forgiveness.
In racing we all want to be First, but in this case the trophy will go to the Best. Please let that be your guiding principle as you Return to Racing.