Steve Zacharias Will Lease To Own Florence Motor Speedway Beginning In July

Steve Zacharias Will Lease To Own Florence Motor Speedway Beginning In July

by June 15, 2020 0 comments

FLORNECE, S.C. – With the future sell of Myrtle Beach Speedway on the horizon, general manager, Steve Zacharias will lease to own Florence Motor Speedway beginning in July.

Stock car racing at Myrtle Beach Speedway is projected to end in August, but in the meantime, Zacharias and his team will be pulling double duty, helping the track close out its final season and building a new future at Florence Motor Speedway. Zacharias has been the general manager at Myrtle Beach Speedway since 2012.

The Vestal, New York native is very thankful for the opportunity that current Florence Motor Speedway owner, Charlie Powell has given him, and he’s looking forward to moving to the Florence area.

“I’m excited about Florence,” Zacharias said. “Charlie has worked his butt off for a long time, and I think we can do good things with it, and I’m excited about that area. I think that area is looking for something like that and to have more entertainment. I think we can bring the cars. I’m excited about the future. I think the community is going to get behind it.”

The only reason Zacharias is leasing to own Florence Motor Speedway is because banks aren’t doing small business start-up loans. Powell has owned the track for decades, but as soon as Zacharias is able to own the track, he will make that commitment.

Zacharias will begin leasing to own the 4/10th mile oval beginning on July 6, following Charlie’s final event. A new track logo, website and social media pages will then be revealed. Zacharias wants to bring a new feel to the track and hopes that the current drivers who race at Florence Motor Speedway will continue competing.

“We want the Florence drivers to still race with us,” Zacharias said. “They might race in a different class, but they’re still racing, and they’re racing against the same drivers they were racing against before, but we’re bringing in a different look – changing the logos, changing the Facebook page, changing the website, but that’s all going to officially come out after he (Charlie) has his last race.”

Once Zacharias begins leasing the track, he will then spend the next two months sprucing up the facility before the first event on Friday, September 4, just prior to the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series events at Darlington Raceway.

“I’m going to spend the next two months painting and cleaning,” Zacharias said. “I want to redo the walls. I want to get rid of some of the tires and paint the buildings. We’re going to clear some more trees out the back just to kind of push them back.”

Florence Motor Speedway will host another event on Saturday, October 17 and then in November, Zacharias is hoping to bring a Myrtle Beach 400 feel to Florence’s prestigious Fall Classic. The first weekend of the Fall Classic will feature the Southeast Limited Late Model Series and Mini Stocks. The second weekend will feature Late Models, Super Trucks and potentially a third division.

If by chance the track is unable to host fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic, then that will be no problem. Zacharias says that the track will still race if teams are able to legally attend its races this season. Zacharias is hoping to have weekends that feature live streaming of the events so fans who are unable to attend, won’t miss a lap.

“If they say no fans, then no fans,” Zacharias said. “We will have the racing, and we will broadcast it. We’re planning on doing a lot of stuff with television.”

In the offseason, Zacharias, along with his wife Jacqulyn and management team that includes Brian Vause and Savannah Brotherton, will focus on renovating the bathrooms, concessions and other more in-depth projects. With Myrtle Beach Speedway’s official sale continuing to be pushed back, the team won’t have enough time to get everything they wanted competed by the first race this September.

In 2021, Zacharias says that Florence Motor Speedway will become a NASCAR-sanctioned racetrack, which means its teams will be able to compete for national points. Florence Motor Speedway used to be NASCAR-sanctioned, but it hasn’t been in recent years.

Photo Credit: Hunter Thomas/TheFourthTurn.com

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