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PERRIS
AUTO SPEEDWAY PROMOTER DON KAZARIAN TALKS
OF 2020 COVID DISAPPOINTMENT AND THE
FUTURE
By Scott
Daloisio
(Perris, CA, October 27, 2020)
Since the Covid crisis started wreaking
havoc with racing schedules around the
country eight months ago, a lot has been
said about drivers and fans. But, what
about promoters? Don Kazarian, who with
his family-built Perris Auto Speedway in
1996 and who has remained the promoter to
this day, sat down with Scott Daloisio for
an interview last week. The interview
covers how the track has been affected by
Covid, what has it done to make things
safer for everyone, and what does the
future look like moving forward. The
interview also covers a new sprint car
class the track is starting, extra purse
money for the PASSCAR and IMCA drivers and
the future of the USAC/CRA Series.
Daloisio:
Let’s cut to the chase. How disappointing
and frustrating has it been losing all but
one event of the 2020 season at Perris
Auto Speedway?
Kazarian:
Well, considering it was our 25th
anniversary season and we had a lot of
neat things planned, it is horribly
disappointing. It is not devastating. I
mean, we are going to survive. It has been
a long road since March 7th at our last
event (the only event The PAS got in
during 2020).
Daloisio: You
said you had a lot of things planned for
the 25th season. We only got one event in.
So, will 2021 be the 25th anniversary
season?
Kazarian: Yes!
Even though it will be our 26th season
there, it will be our 25th anniversary
season. We can’t consider this as a season
at all. We had some fan appreciation
nights ready to go. We had purses that
were going to be extremely large in all of
our PASSCAR/IMCA divisions. We are going
to roll all of that over to 2021.
Daloisio: Go
back to the very first time you heard of
Covid. Did you think it could affect the
track?
Kazarian: I
first heard about it, about mid-February
that they had this issue in China. At that
point, I did not think it would affect us.
The more I read about it on the Internet,
read about it anywhere else, or heard
about the news reports on tv, I started to
become concerned that it could affect us.
I told you in the press box at our first
event on March 7th that I thought we were
going to get shut down the next week. You
thought I was crazy. Now here it is in the
third week of October and we are
experiencing a third peak. I originally
thought we would be closed two or three
weeks or maybe a month at the most. But I
never envisioned we would be closed the
entire year.
Daloisio:
Thinking we were only going to be down for
a month at most, you went ahead and made
some modifications around the facility to
protect fans’ health. What are some of
them?
Kazarian: We
purchased all automatic flush valves for
all of the restrooms. We have not
installed them all yet. We purchased
touchless faucets for all of the sinks in
the facility. I have to be honest with
you, we have not installed all of them
yet. So, they are tucked away, but all
will be installed when we can race again.
We paid probably 300% over retail because
you could not get them when Covid first
hit. We designed social distancing for the
entire facility which was going to require
us to paint X’s all over the grandstands,
concession areas, and restrooms. Even with
the early postponements, I was convinced
we were hopefully going to be okay to race
right after the fourth of July. I had a
schedule prepared that was to begin July
12th and ran until the middle of December
to get all of the races in. That came and
went. We have been open since May 2nd for
private practices. Initially, we had quite
a few private practices, but as the year
has gone by, they have gone down in
numbers.
Daloisio: We
are still open for practice and will be
all winter, correct?
Kazarian: Oh
yeah, we are still open for practice.
There have only been two or three weekends
when we have not had at least one round.
When we first started having practices
again, it was not uncommon to have five
rentals over Saturday and Sunday. Like I
said, they have slowed down quite a bit,
but I think they will pick back up when we
get to the beginning of next year.
Daloisio: How
often do you hear from fans asking what is
going on?
Kazarian: We
have not spent a lot of time in the office
as there is really not a whole lot to do.
The facility is being maintained. Charlie
(marketing manager Charlie Watson)
probably gets more phone calls than anyone
else from the fans. They are wondering how
we are doing and are we going to get
through this mess. It is clear we are
going to get through this mess. We did get
help from the first stimulus act. That was
the “Cares Act.” So, we have been able to
keep the facility up and running and keep
our bills to a minimum. There is still a
huge, fixed cost to the facility just
sitting there on a monthly basis. As of
right now, we are able to cover those
costs.
Daloisio: Does
insurance help cover any of that?
Kazarian: No.
I actually called our insurance company
before we got shut down. I think it was
the Monday after our first event and I
said, “Hey, if we get shut down, do I have
coverage?” And, she goes, “no, you did not
buy pandemic insurance.” I also asked if
there was pandemic insurance and she said,
“yeah, there used to be, but not anymore.”
We buy terrorism insurance every year, but
I had never heard of pandemic insurance.
That market was actually shut down on, I
think, March 6th. So, no, we do not have
insurance coverage for this.
Daloisio: Two
weeks from now the 25th Oval Nationals
should be taking place. That is like your
pride and joy as you have developed it
into the best non-wing sprint car race in
the nation. How much does it hurt you
personally to have that taken away this
year?
Kazarian: It
is a huge personal loss. That was a tough
pill to swallow. USAC called me a couple
of times to ask me what I thought way back
in May. I told them it was to early to
make a decision. We talked in July, and it
finally got to August and September and
there was no clear-cut chance to host the
event. It had gotten to the point where
teams and fans were having to make hotel
reservations and more. When we finally
made that decision, it really hit home.
You have seen it. You and I text each
other when we have events coming up and it
is like, yeah, take them down. Again,
starting back in March, I would have never
thought we would be in this position.
Daloisio:
Traditionally over the last decade or so,
The PAS season opener has been the first
Saturday in March. That is just a little
over four months away. How confident are
you that the 2021 season will begin in
early March as usual?
Kazarian: I
did talk to USAC last week and they asked
me if I had my 2021 schedule done. My
first comment was, “when do you think we
can start?” We went back and forth. After
talking about all of the issues we finally
said we have to post a schedule that
represents that we are back to normal. We
don’t know when that is going to happen.
So, we will be posting our 2021 schedule
in the next couple weeks that is going to
be very similar to our schedules in the
past. People (drivers, fans, officials,
sponsors) need to plan and know. I
sincerely hope that in February or March
we are not in the position that we are
currently sitting in now. But I think a
lot of things are going to have to happen
for us to be open with some capacity of
fans. Like I have told you all along, I
cannot come up with a business model to
make the facility operate without fans in
the stands. Guys have tried to do it and
some guys did well with a few pay per
views once some of the tracks had
reopened. It kills me to see the tracks in
Indiana. Those promoters are getting
record crowds. And we are out here under a
whole different set of rules. It is very
difficult to swallow.
Daloisio: When
you are allowed to open the gates again,
do you anticipate the crowds to come in,
in large numbers?
Kazarian: I
certainly hope so. It is a wildcard. It
depends on where we are in the pandemic.
Will there be a vaccine? If the level of
infected people is cut way down and the
deaths are down to about zero. People are
going to have to make a choice. I think
our fans will support the facility. I do
not know how many fans have been impacted
by this virus. My oldest brother spent
eight days in the hospital in Oklahoma.
His cancer doctor told him when this virus
hit that if he caught it, he had probably
a 90% chance of dying based on the damage
to his lungs from the cancer. Thank God he
made it through. He is home still
recovering. There are just so many
variables. We are going to be designated
by Riverside County health. Hopefully,
they are going to maybe jump out of the
state guidelines. I think the governor
just released some guidelines today or
yesterday (this interview was conducted on
October 21st). I have not seen the color
we need to get too that allows stadiums to
reopen with the fans. I heard some reports
on the news this morning, but I have kind
of had a busy day today and have not had
enough time to research that out. To
answer your previous question, I would say
we have a 50-50 shot at opening in March.
Daloisio:
Little change of direction here for the
next few questions. You already mentioned
this earlier, but just to clarify. You had
an anonymous person come in last offseason
who put a lot of money up for the PASSCAR
and IMCA purses for 2020. Obviously, we
never got one race in. Is that money
rolling over into 2021?
Kazarian: Yes,
absolutely. That is still going to happen!
Daloisio: On
to sprint cars for a moment. You are
introducing a new class in 2021. What is
it and when can people see the rules?
Kazarian: With
the help of Cory Kruseman, it has been
almost a year and a half of development.
It is a crate engine that is carbureted
and runs on methanol. We were working with
one engine manufacturer and the third time
we were testing the car we had an engine
failure. So, Cory and I put our heads
together. We have not finalized all of the
details yet, but Cory will end up being
the dealership that will supply all of the
engines. You look at the success of the
GM602 Sprint Car Crate Motor that has been
running now for three years. It has mainly
been running on the east coast and a
little bit in the Midwest. It has a
tremendous record on it. They have not had
any engine failures. They have three ways
you can purchase the engine. You can buy
the short block and bolt everything else
on. Or you can take the medium level and
basically put your own carburetor on it
and a couple of other items. Or you buy it
straight complete from the carburetor down
to the headers. But, about the most you
are going to spend is $8,600.00. This
engine will probably last you two to three
years before you have to do some minor
maintenance. It is going to appeal to
younger kids to get into it (sprint car
racing). We will have an age limit of
14-years-old to get into this class. Jimmy
Naylor is going to run the class at
Ventura as well. Originally, we were in
talks to have Barona run the class and we
were going to have three tracks and one
overall points champion at the end of the
year. Those talks (with Barona) have
broken down a little bit, but they will
heat up again within the next couple of
weeks. I would expect to have rules out
hopefully by the end of this month
(October).
Daloisio: To
end a rumor that has been floating around,
this class is not going to replace 410
Sprint Car racing, correct?
Kazarian:
Absolutely not. No! This is a series that
will be designed to hopefully get driver
development and younger kids involved.
And, hopefully to develop new car owners.
And hopefully some of those owners will
step up to the USAC/CRA level. It does not
take a genius to see what is going on with
CRA. We have not had a lot of new car
owners in the last five years. And, we
have lost car owners. My plan is to
basically develop new car owners to keep
the series thriving and hopefully get back
to the levels where we saw 40 or 45 CRA
cars a night.
Daloisio: And,
just to expand on the last question. A
press release came out a few weeks ago
regarding officials changing positions in
the USAC West Coast Sprint Cars and USAC
Western Midgets. There was no mention of
USAC/CRA in the release and people started
jumping to conclusions and questioned the
future of that series. Will USAC/CRA still
be the main sprint car sanctioning body at
The PAS?
Kazarian: Yes.
I talked to Chris (Kearns) the day after
that release came out. He was actually the
one that requested my schedule as he has
done the scheduling (USAC on the west
coast) the last five or seven years. He
asks for my dates first and then goes to
all of the other promoters to fill in the
other dates. He has done a great job to
minimize nights that we have midgets
running somewhere and CRA or the 360s
(USAC West Coast Series) running somewhere
else. Chris is still involved. He is
actually moving out of the Arizona area
down the road. Bottom line, CRA is not
going anywhere, period!
Promoter Don
Kazarian and his entire staff urge
everyone to do all they can to stay safe
and healthy. They look forward to seeing
all the fans back at the track as soon as
it is possible.
Fans can stay
up to date on track and driver news on The
PAS social media efforts at the links
below.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Perris-Auto-Speedway/113876798686480?ref=hl
Twitter:
Perris Auto Speedway on Twitter.
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/perrisautospeedway/
Website:
http://perrisautospeedway.com/
Perris Auto
Speedway is conveniently located on the
SoCal Fair and Event Center (home of
October’s Southern California Fair),
approximately one-hour east of Los Angeles
and one-hour North of San Diego. To get to
the track, take the 215 freeway, on the
Ramona Expressway and go three miles east
to the fairgrounds. For directions on
MapQuest, the address to enter is: 18700
Lake Perris Drive and the zip code is
92571.
Perris Auto
Speedway wants to thank its corporate
partners for the 2019 season. Ahern
Equipment Rentals, All Coast Construction,
Battery Systems, Budweiser, Bud’s Tire
Pro, Chris’ Hauling, City of Perris,
Communication Innovations, Daytona Boat &
RV Storage, Ed Moore Bullet Proof
Driveshaft, Flowdynamics, HD Industries,
Hoosier Tires, Inland Rigging, Living
Water’s Hospice, LKQ Pick Your Part,
Luke’s Transmission, Moose Racing,
Pepsi-Cola, Pole Position, PrintItNow.com,
Rainbow Bolt & Supply, Rugged Radios,
Shaver Specialties, Square H, Sunoco Race
Fuels, Trench Shoring, Upland Rock, Varner
Construction and Vista Paint.
Video and DVD
productions of all racing sprint cars
events at Perris Auto Speedway are
available from Loudpedal Productions. For
more information on these productions you
can contact them by calling (805)
844-3854, E-mailing
mailto:trtruex@gmail.com or you can visit
the website LoudPedal Productions.
DVD’s of all
the PASSCAR/IMCA racing and Nights of
Destruction at The PAS are available from
Fourvideos. For more information call
(714) 225-9500.
racesatthepas@aol.com is the only
authorized Internet address to issue
official media news released from The
Perris Auto Speedway or Oval
Entertainment. |
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