The Estevan Auto Racing Association held their annual general meeting on Monday night, and there were several hot topics on the agenda.
The members of the board addressed the concern that the club has seen a decline in attendance over the past few racing seasons, citing they have seen what used to be 1000 people in the grandstands fall to approximately 400 in recent years.
One of the ideas brought forward to raise that number was a switch to mid-week racing as opposed to the tradition Saturday events.
Club president James Gustafson said they have been talking about the idea for a while now, and it is looking like a real possibility for the upcoming season.
"It's certainly been a topic of discussion," he said. "As we've heard tonight, it's positive to try a mid-week race program. This coming Sunday is when we'll meet with the other five tracks, and if mid-week looks like it will work for us, the people at that meeting will make that decision."
It is hoped that racing mid-week will attract more fans, volunteers and racers, as people are often busy during Saturdays throughout the summer camping and doing other weekend activities.
Some of the other ideas to increase attendance are to hire a marketing manager in an attempt to raise awareness about the club and its races, and possibly even add a new racing class in the future.
Gustafson said he can't see the club adding a new class this season, but there is a buzz surrounding sport mods south of the boarder.
"We got a letter from the guy that organizes the mod tour, and there is a strong interest in the sport mod, which is really a B mod," Gustafson said. "We discussed that tonight, but I don't think there is any indication that we'll be switching this year. But we have to pay attention to it because it may be a cheaper car to build and to run."
Also on the agenda was the club's financial report that saw them make a net profit of $31,462. Gustafson said it's obviously nice to be in the black, but most of that money is already spoken for with new VIP booths being installed, and necessary track improvements scheduled.
"With the amount of rain that we had this summer, we knocked the corners out of our race track," Gustafson said. "So we've entered into a contact to have fresh clay hauled in, and for that we've budgeted about $12,000."
The Auto Racing Association is also in the midst of electing a new board of directors. As many as 12 people put their names forward as candidates for nine positions, and the club was to have a vote to decide the new board before their next meeting.
