by Jeff Adams
The sale of Peoria Speedway to area businessmen Brandon Dean and Jason Plumer is now official after paperwork was completed on Tuesday morning.
“We are officially the new owners of Peoria Speedway and couldn’t be happier about it”, Plumer said in an interview on Wednesday night. “Our focus now is getting the schedule ironed out before the Allen Automotive Trade Show and our meeting afterwards on January 18 at Brandon’s shop in Bellevue. Peoria Speedway has always been known as a Saturday night stock car track, so we are going to race every Saturday from April to October. If there is a rainout of our regular program on Saturday, we will try to make it up on Sunday night.”
“Right now we have 41 events lined up, which will include demo derbies and motorcycle races”, said Plumer. “Our goal is to turn the track into a multi-use facility, and we are looking at other events as well. This will be the 49th year of operation at the Farmington Road location and we are wanting to get it back to where it was. Our fans expect to see racing every Saturday night and that’s what we are going to give them- 5 classes of stock cars (UMP Late Models, Steel Block Late Models, UMP Modifieds, Street Stocks and Hornets). We want to restore the tradition of Peoria Speedway.”
Both men have racing backgrounds, with Dean owning a UMP Modiifed team for several years and Plumer competing in both the UMP Late Model and Modified class. Plumer also promoted the UMP Summernationals events at the track when it was owned by Sherrie Hamilton.
“Brandon and I both have local racing backgrounds and have an appreciation and respect for the history at the track”, Plumer said. “Back in the 70’s Peoria Speedway was the place to be on a Saturday night in Peoria and we want that to happen again. We know there Is a lot more competition for the entertainment dollar in Peoria now, so as we get the schedule together, we are taking all major events at Peoria into consideration.”
The 2014 racing schedule will be released on January 18 at the Allen Automotive Trade Show at Expo Gardens in Peoria. All interested racing classes are invited to attend a meeting following the show, beginning at 5 PM at Dean’s shop located at 201 S Star Lane in Bellevue. Rules and scheduling will be discussed and food and beverages will be served. Interested parties should RSVP to peoriaspeedway@gmail.com.