There’s a new owner of Freedom Motorsports Park. It’s Jason Bonsignore, who played in the NHL for the Edmonton Oilers and Tampa Bay Lightning. And he has plans of creating an “Ascot Park” of the East for today.
While best known for his prowess behind a hockey stick, Jason is no stranger to motorsport. His father, “Mean Gene” Bonsignore made a name for himself on two wheels in speedway racing. In fact, Jason wore the same number in the NHL as his father did on motorcycles.
“I grew up around motorcycle racing,” Jason said. “Racing simmered in the background — I knew I would be back in it sooner or later. When you play hockey for 40 years, it becomes more of a job. Truly, hockey is one of the best sports in the world. For me, the politics of hockey — the trades, the behind-the-scenes decisions by managers — took the fun out of it. Even pure love for a sport can dwindle away after years and years being involved in it.
“Racing became a stress reliever,” he continued. “Competing on a motorcycle or owning a racetrack — it is different than pro hockey. In racing you are more control of your own destiny. The individual makes his or her own career decisions.”
As his career in the NHL wound down, Jason looked back toward motorsports. He cited other mainstream cross-sport figures Michael Jordan and Joe Gibbs as his inspiration.
Jason bought back his father’s old bikes, but he found his old home track, Champion Speedway, had closed and become dilapidated. So, he did what any reasonable person would do — Jason first leased it in 1997, and then bought it in 2000 and continues to run to this day. He also bought and sold Action Track East, which he took over again for a third time.
Other tracks he’s been involved with include Orange Show Speedway in California as well as Genesee Speedway.
Now he holds the reins to Freedom Motorsports Park, which he renamed Raceland Freedom, NY. Bob Reis, who has owned the track since 2015, stays on as promoter for the stock car events at the facility. It’s at Raceland he hopes to use a storied track as inspiration, Ascot Park in California.
“I realized that my dream facility would have to mimic Ascot,” Jason said. “The new track will be referenced by one word like Ascot, which is why I chose ‘Raceland.’ The facility will have a quarter-mile track on the infield of the car track for flat track motorcycles. It will be a multipurpose stadium. We could race micros, quads, sprint cars, late models, motorcycles and we can have enduros and restore a motocross track there.”
Bonsignore sees a bright future for Raceland.
“It may seem funny that we are motorcycle specialists buying a car track,” Jason said. “We have to make Raceland a successful business. In racing today, a speedway must be multipurpose. Bob has the experience for car racing. We’ll be operating three motorcycle tracks. Everything will have to work perfectly with dates and schedules. Yes, car racing and motorcycle racing will coexist at Raceland. We’ll stress quality over quantity in our special events.”
Raceland’s car track, still referenced as Freedom Motorsports Park, will open on June 12. Empire Super Sprints and Rush Late Models will headline the show.
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.
