ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa. — This year is just cruising by—in just a few short days, the 2023 racing season will kick off in central Pennsylvania.
Lincoln Speedway is ready to set the tone and open up the racing season this week.
“Wayne Harper says it the best: all is right in the world whenever the first race cars get on the track," said Scott Gobrecht, co-owner of Lincoln Speedway. "It basically kicks off racing, in the best racing area in the country, in central Pa."
The excitement is coming even earlier. Forget waiting until the weekend to race. With temperatures expected to be in the 70s, Lincoln Speedway officials decided to break the ice early, kicking off the season this coming Thursday. So, instead of racing two days, the track is adding a third day.
Besides hopefully breaking the ice on Thursday, the Ice Breaker isn’t the only new two-day show to the track this year. It gives fans a chance to spend the weekend at the track.
“Camping has become such a thing with racing lately and it’s awesome because it brings a whole other element, and to be able to do our Saturday and Sunday for the Ice Breaker and to be able to do a Saturday and Sunday for the Dirt Classic on Labor Day weekend, it’s really going to be cool," said Gobrecht.
Something that will look a little different to fans: new grandstands in turn one that will be ready for the first race. The construction on the new grandstands started before the end of the 2022 season. This will add over 100 seats and open-air suites on top to help with fan experience and any maintenance problems they had in that part of the track.
Gobrecht said, “It really cleans up a lot of maintenance issues we had. We had problems with water and debris running across the track, running across the walk way when it rained. All that’s out of the equation now. We have modern, standard, safe grandstands that are now and we didn’t have before.”
Without any snow insulting the track all winter… there won’t be an excess of water stuck in the track.
This time next week, central Pennsylvania will hopefully have three races under their belt… as we count down to other area tracks opening and the Outlaws making their first March swing to the Keystone State.
“I think it’s awesome! It speaks to just how great this area is with our race fans," Gobrecht said. "In Pennsylvania, in early mid-March, we can support four days of racing. Two at Port Royal, one at Lincoln Speedway and one at Williams Grove. It can only be done because of the fans. I think the Outlaws realize that. If they were going to pick a part of the country to do it, this is the place to do it.”
Lincoln also plans to create a better fan experience, starting shows 30 minutes earlier than years past and creating a staging area, so as soon as the cars on the track are done, the next group will already be pushing out.
This Thursday's race will be a 7:30 p.m. start in the Pigeon Hills, but the original Saturday-Sunday shows will keep their 3 p.m. start. More information can be found here.