September 14, 2023 • 8 mins
Scott Stevens talks with Clay Campbell, Track President at Martinsville Speedway, about the upcoming Late Model races at Martinsville Speedway on September 23rd. Over 100 of the best Late Model drivers from all over the east coast will converge to be one of the 40 that start the 200 lap event on Saturday night under the lights. It is the biggest most prestigious event for Late Model Stock drivers all year and they all come with the hope of walking away with not only the largest winners purse in their division, but that famous grandfather clock just like the Cup racers can win!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
From my Heart radio. I'm ScottStevens, and we're talking race and always
look forward to the fall. It'splayoff time for NASCAR and things are getting
heated up at tracks all over thecountry, but most especially at Martinsville Speedway,
and actually there's action there before theNASCAR Cup and Exfinity get there coming
up real soon with late Models andjoining us now to talk about all of
(00:22):
that is Track President Clay Campbell.How are you doing, sir? I'm
doing great, Scott, how areyou? I'm doing good. Been a
while since we talk. Gosh,I guess we talk a couple of times
a year, don't we. Wedo that. We gotta we gotta pick
up the pace a little bit onthat. But when we do talk,
it's meaningful. And appreciate that.I appreciate the time that you allow me.
But you're right, this time ofyear things really start getting heated up,
(00:44):
so to speak, with the CupSeries and Exfinity and truck with the
playoffs in play, so to speak. But yeah, we got we got
the Valley Start Credit Union three hundredcoming up really soon, and we always
get excited about that because, asI say all the time, it's the
biggest, baddest late model stock carrace on the planet. Absolutely, boy.
I tell you a lot of folksthat come to the Cup races that
(01:08):
have never been to a late modelrace at Martinsville Speedway. Maybe they go
to some of the other smaller tracksin Virginia to see some late model But
if you haven't seen the late modelracing at Martinsville, you really are missing
out, aren't you. You reallyare. And like you say, weekly
fans may see their stars every weekat their track like Motor Modele or Old
(01:29):
Dominion or Dominion excuse me, orSouth Boston places like that, but you
see them and other tracks all atthe same time. The competitors from all
these tracks convene on Martinsville for thatone week, and you got the biggest
stars in late model stock car racinggoing up for that thirty plus thousand dollars,
the Grandfather Clock, the prestige,just everything that comes along with winning
(01:55):
at Martinsville, no doubt about it. And now you end up with a
lot more late model cars coming totry to qualify the race then can actually
ride in the race. So you'vegot racing to qualify before the races begin.
Now you're right, Scott, andthat that's what makes this race so
big and popular. We qualify onFriday night, the twenty second and that
(02:19):
sets the field, well, itsets the order of the heat races.
Let me put it that way,because everybody goes in a heat race.
We don't save anybody. Nobody isprotected, whether they qualify on the front
row or just whatever. Everybody hasto run a heat race and they're on
Saturday night, Saturday afternoon, excuseme for twenty five lap heats, and
(02:40):
you talk about exciting because that theyeither makes or breaks your weekend. You've
got to finish well to advance tothe two hundred lapper. But as you
said, more drivers don't make itthan do make it. We we sometimes
get close to one hundred entries.We only start forty for the two hundred
lapers, so that's fifty to sixtythat will be you know, going home.
(03:04):
But one thing we did this yearwe added about fifteen thousand dollars to
the purse. So if you evenstart this race, you're getting you up
as a twelve hundred and seventy fivedollars, which is Big four late Models,
no doubt. That's first place atsome tracks. I mean that's yeah,
that is great. You know,that's seeing that many drivers come.
I mean, this is this iskind of like the super Bowl for these
(03:27):
late model drivers from all over,not just Virginia, but the Carolinas and
North, Southeast and West. Theycome from all over for this race they
do. It's the most prestigious racethat they run. Number One, running
it on a cup track like Martinsvillethat has the history of the tradition and
all of the focus on this eventfor that weekend. It's huge for him.
(03:49):
And like I said, they competeagainst you know, their rivals from
other tracks, so it's the bestagainst the best, and who comes out
of here really has bragging rights fora year, so it's big. We
we love that race. Valley StartCredit Union has been really really supportive and
taking this thing to another level.But it's it's a weekend that a race
(04:12):
fan doesn't want to miss. It'sit's really off the charts, no doubt
about it. So really things kindof get started Thursday, the twenty first,
you have fan track laps. Tellus about that. Yeah, we
always love doing the track laps forcharity, and this time we're doing it
to benefit the YMCA of Martinsal,Henry County. You you know, it's
just twenty five dollars and you getto drive your car around the track behind
(04:36):
our pace car and we're going tohave let's see, we've got Peyton Sellers,
We've got Butterbean, Queen Carter Langleylandon Huffman. There's gonna be four
lucky people to get to ride thepace car with those guys actual drivers.
Before this thing gets going. We'regoing to do a little sweepstakes to get
(04:57):
that fired up. But yeah,that's a that's a great night because people,
you know, you don't get towalk out on a football field before
an NFL game, you don't getto go out on a basketball court before
the NBA. But you get togo down on the racetrack and drive your
own car. Hey, that's prettyspecial. So that's always a big night.
Not to mention, the Henry CountyFair starts the night before, so
(05:19):
we've got a lot going on priorto the green flag dropping on Saturday night,
no doubt about it. You caneven bring your camper the campgrounds around
the track there. You can bringyour camper. Called the office about that
of course. On Friday as youmentioned going to be doing the qualifying lots
to see their folks can come outand watch that when fan Kate's open what
(05:39):
I believe about two o'clock in theafternoon. Yeah, it's a big day,
and for the competitors, it's areally big day, a long day.
They start early in the morning.They're lined up here at a registration
before the sun comes up to gettheir parking spots down there and that's you
know, parking that many haulers inthe infield is not an easy task,
so that takes a while, butit's going through inspection, so it's a
(06:01):
it's a big, long day forthem. But that night fans get to
enjoy qualifying and it's pretty it's prettycool to see. And that's five thousand
dollars whoever gets the poll h youmentioned the last place. That's more than
some winning prize moneys at other places. Five thousand dollars just to be the
fastest. That's pretty big, nodoubt about it. And there's even an
(06:24):
opportunity for everybody to meet their favoritedrivers on Friday, absolutely and Saturday,
we've got the autograph session twelve fortyfive to two thirty before everything gets going
Uh, and that's that's pretty cool. We got music going on DJ's and
as I said earlier, you getto walk down on the track and meet
the drivers, touch the cars,things like that. It's I say,
(06:46):
it's a it's a true fan weekend. The four twenty five lap qualifying races
start at three and then the actualtwo hundred lap race is around seven pm
on Saturday night. It's a bigweekend and gosh, we we want to
focus on this right now, butyou and I'll talk again here pretty soon
(07:08):
about the upcoming big weekend for theExfinity and Cup races. Is I believe
you've got the welland drivers coming aswell, don't you. Yeah, they're
on Thursday nine of that race weekend. So we've got Wheeland Modified Tour,
We've got the Axfinity Series in theCup Series, so it's a huge weekend.
The speaking of the Modified, thatis their championship event now, so
(07:28):
it all comes down to the racehere at Martin's Will to determine their champion
for the year of twenty three,and then the Exfinity Series on Saturday,
and again the Xfinity five hundred Sunday. Well, it's a lot going on,
but let's get through the Late Modelrace. Can't wait for that Saturday,
September twenty three. Very affordable ticketstoo. You got all the ticket
information on the website. Absolutely goingto martins will Speedway dot com. Give
(07:53):
us a call at eight seven sevenrace ticks, or if you're in the
area, just stop by the officehere and we'll take care of you.
All right. It's Clay Campbell,Track President at Martinsville Speedway. A busy
couple of months, but a lotof fun. Appreciate your time and we'll
talk to you again soon. Thankyou. Scott here
From my Heart radio. I'm ScottStevens, and we're talking race and always
look forward to the fall. It'splayoff time for NASCAR and things are getting
heated up at tracks all over thecountry, but most especially at Martinsville Speedway,
and actually there's action there before theNASCAR Cup and Exfinity get there coming
up real soon with late Models andjoining us now to talk about all of
(00:22):
that is Track President Clay Campbell.How are you doing, sir? I'm
doing great, Scott, how areyou? I'm doing good. Been a
while since we talk. Gosh,I guess we talk a couple of times
a year, don't we. Wedo that. We gotta we gotta pick
up the pace a little bit onthat. But when we do talk,
it's meaningful. And appreciate that.I appreciate the time that you allow me.
But you're right, this time ofyear things really start getting heated up,
(00:44):
so to speak, with the CupSeries and Exfinity and truck with the
playoffs in play, so to speak. But yeah, we got we got
the Valley Start Credit Union three hundredcoming up really soon, and we always
get excited about that because, asI say all the time, it's the
biggest, baddest late model stock carrace on the planet. Absolutely, boy.
I tell you a lot of folksthat come to the Cup races that
(01:08):
have never been to a late modelrace at Martinsville Speedway. Maybe they go
to some of the other smaller tracksin Virginia to see some late model But
if you haven't seen the late modelracing at Martinsville, you really are missing
out, aren't you. You reallyare. And like you say, weekly
fans may see their stars every weekat their track like Motor Modele or Old
(01:29):
Dominion or Dominion excuse me, orSouth Boston places like that, but you
see them and other tracks all atthe same time. The competitors from all
these tracks convene on Martinsville for thatone week, and you got the biggest
stars in late model stock car racinggoing up for that thirty plus thousand dollars,
the Grandfather Clock, the prestige,just everything that comes along with winning
(01:55):
at Martinsville, no doubt about it. And now you end up with a
lot more late model cars coming totry to qualify the race then can actually
ride in the race. So you'vegot racing to qualify before the races begin.
Now you're right, Scott, andthat that's what makes this race so
big and popular. We qualify onFriday night, the twenty second and that
(02:19):
sets the field, well, itsets the order of the heat races.
Let me put it that way,because everybody goes in a heat race.
We don't save anybody. Nobody isprotected, whether they qualify on the front
row or just whatever. Everybody hasto run a heat race and they're on
Saturday night, Saturday afternoon, excuseme for twenty five lap heats, and
(02:40):
you talk about exciting because that theyeither makes or breaks your weekend. You've
got to finish well to advance tothe two hundred lapper. But as you
said, more drivers don't make itthan do make it. We we sometimes
get close to one hundred entries.We only start forty for the two hundred
lapers, so that's fifty to sixtythat will be you know, going home.
(03:04):
But one thing we did this yearwe added about fifteen thousand dollars to
the purse. So if you evenstart this race, you're getting you up
as a twelve hundred and seventy fivedollars, which is Big four late Models,
no doubt. That's first place atsome tracks. I mean that's yeah,
that is great. You know,that's seeing that many drivers come.
I mean, this is this iskind of like the super Bowl for these
(03:27):
late model drivers from all over,not just Virginia, but the Carolinas and
North, Southeast and West. Theycome from all over for this race they
do. It's the most prestigious racethat they run. Number One, running
it on a cup track like Martinsvillethat has the history of the tradition and
all of the focus on this eventfor that weekend. It's huge for him.
(03:49):
And like I said, they competeagainst you know, their rivals from
other tracks, so it's the bestagainst the best, and who comes out
of here really has bragging rights fora year, so it's big. We
we love that race. Valley StartCredit Union has been really really supportive and
taking this thing to another level.But it's it's a weekend that a race
(04:12):
fan doesn't want to miss. It'sit's really off the charts, no doubt
about it. So really things kindof get started Thursday, the twenty first,
you have fan track laps. Tellus about that. Yeah, we
always love doing the track laps forcharity, and this time we're doing it
to benefit the YMCA of Martinsal,Henry County. You you know, it's
just twenty five dollars and you getto drive your car around the track behind
(04:36):
our pace car and we're going tohave let's see, we've got Peyton Sellers,
We've got Butterbean, Queen Carter Langleylandon Huffman. There's gonna be four
lucky people to get to ride thepace car with those guys actual drivers.
Before this thing gets going. We'regoing to do a little sweepstakes to get
(04:57):
that fired up. But yeah,that's a that's a great night because people,
you know, you don't get towalk out on a football field before
an NFL game, you don't getto go out on a basketball court before
the NBA. But you get togo down on the racetrack and drive your
own car. Hey, that's prettyspecial. So that's always a big night.
Not to mention, the Henry CountyFair starts the night before, so
(05:19):
we've got a lot going on priorto the green flag dropping on Saturday night,
no doubt about it. You caneven bring your camper the campgrounds around
the track there. You can bringyour camper. Called the office about that
of course. On Friday as youmentioned going to be doing the qualifying lots
to see their folks can come outand watch that when fan Kate's open what
(05:39):
I believe about two o'clock in theafternoon. Yeah, it's a big day,
and for the competitors, it's areally big day, a long day.
They start early in the morning.They're lined up here at a registration
before the sun comes up to gettheir parking spots down there and that's you
know, parking that many haulers inthe infield is not an easy task,
so that takes a while, butit's going through inspection, so it's a
(06:01):
it's a big, long day forthem. But that night fans get to
enjoy qualifying and it's pretty it's prettycool to see. And that's five thousand
dollars whoever gets the poll h youmentioned the last place. That's more than
some winning prize moneys at other places. Five thousand dollars just to be the
fastest. That's pretty big, nodoubt about it. And there's even an
(06:24):
opportunity for everybody to meet their favoritedrivers on Friday, absolutely and Saturday,
we've got the autograph session twelve fortyfive to two thirty before everything gets going
Uh, and that's that's pretty cool. We got music going on DJ's and
as I said earlier, you getto walk down on the track and meet
the drivers, touch the cars,things like that. It's I say,
(06:46):
it's a it's a true fan weekend. The four twenty five lap qualifying races
start at three and then the actualtwo hundred lap race is around seven pm
on Saturday night. It's a bigweekend and gosh, we we want to
focus on this right now, butyou and I'll talk again here pretty soon
(07:08):
about the upcoming big weekend for theExfinity and Cup races. Is I believe
you've got the welland drivers coming aswell, don't you. Yeah, they're
on Thursday nine of that race weekend. So we've got Wheeland Modified Tour,
We've got the Axfinity Series in theCup Series, so it's a huge weekend.
The speaking of the Modified, thatis their championship event now, so
(07:28):
it all comes down to the racehere at Martin's Will to determine their champion
for the year of twenty three,and then the Exfinity Series on Saturday,
and again the Xfinity five hundred Sunday. Well, it's a lot going on,
but let's get through the Late Modelrace. Can't wait for that Saturday,
September twenty three. Very affordable ticketstoo. You got all the ticket
information on the website. Absolutely goingto martins will Speedway dot com. Give
(07:53):
us a call at eight seven sevenrace ticks, or if you're in the
area, just stop by the officehere and we'll take care of you.
All right. It's Clay Campbell,Track President at Martinsville Speedway. A busy
couple of months, but a lotof fun. Appreciate your time and we'll
talk to you again soon. Thankyou. Scott here
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