Racers Jason Welshan and Jamie Oliver feel dirt-track racing needs Tri-County Race Track. Therefore, the duo teamed up to reopen it. Welshan, who operates Competition Racing Equipment and Savage Chassis, has a vested interest in seeing the sport thrive.
“Every track close to me seems to be dying out,” Welshan, of Maryville, Tennessee, said. “Tracks are being sold. People who couldn’t make it as promoters are leaving. I own two businesses in the dirt world. Losing racetracks are affecting small businesses that depend upon them.”
Welshan and Oliver started talking about the Brasstown, North Carolina, dirt oval last summer, after another promoter failed to open it for 2024.
Improvements are underway right now to revitalize the facility.
“The track was sitting for a year, and is in terrible shape,” said Welshan. “We are working outside on good days and inside when there is bad weather — the work won’t stop. Not a day will be wasted. Carpenters, plumbers, construction workers — a ton of people in the community who love racing are donating their time — and we appreciate every bit of it.”
They plan to expand the pit area, cement new posts for catchfences, add LED lighting, refurbish bathrooms, add a new press box, and install new equipment in the concession stands.
Tri-County plans to work with nearby Sugar Creek Raceway’s schedule and run alternating dates on Saturdays with them.
Welshan said Tri-County Race Track intends to hold its first show on March 22, with three practice sessions preceding it. The Topless Outlaws and Southern Thunder Super Dirt Series already have dates scheduled at the track. However, Welshan is looking most forward to bringing a fan-friendly show to the race fans in the area.
“We love entertaining people,” Welshan said. “We will bring back nickel night, where we scatter a couple of thousand dollars of nickels around the grandstand and have kids pick them up. Bicycle races and giveaways, military nights, and Father’s Day and Mother’s Day programs. We’ll put on a show and get crowd interaction, and the show will be completed in a timely manner in case fans want to stop at the local Waffle House on the way home.
“All eyes will be on us. We can’t please everyone, but we sure can try. We will do our absolute best to make this track a success.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
