Probably the greatest accolade for a racer is that he owns, so to speak, this or that particular track, as in the late Dale Earnhardt owned Daytona International Speedway. And his company, DEI, now virtually owns the restrictor-plate tracks at Daytona and Talladega.
Virtually every driver has a favorite track where he has so much success that one wonders if the deed doesn't have his name on it. He owns it and the checkered flags to go with it.
Now here's a track that is truly racer-owned, from the high-banked turns to the paved access road into the pits, right down to that concession area just behind the tech center.
When the voice intones "Gentlemen, start your engines," this owner, however, is not in the cockpit, but in the control tower. He's there before the pits open and is the last to leave after the last lap.
Mike Cope, 40, does indeed own this track, Bronson Motor Speedway, a 31/48-mile, high-banked asphalt oval in Bronson, Florida. And he has the papers to prove it.
Cope is a third-generation racer who competed last season in the American Speed Association (ASA) and had his Bronson facility as a member track of that association.
Years ago Cope didn't just climb into a race car and enjoy success, despite his roots. The Bronson track, however, first appeared to him like the siren Lorelei beckoning on his many trips on Florida's State Road 24.
"It started from the time I began touring with NASCAR in 1989-'90," Cope recalls. "Me and my crew used to pass by the track while driving back and forth from various All American Challenge Series races.
"I would tell anybody who'd listen that one day I was going to own that racetrack."
Not an idle vow.Cope continued his racing, including forays into the Truck Series, Busch, and ASA after two championships in the then All-Pro Series and being named that tour's Most Popular Driver.
"I heard from a friend that the track was for sale, and after numerous meetings with the previous owner and a lot of convincing to my wife, Jane, as well as my business associates, after about a year and a half it became a done deal.
"Let's just say it took a lot of talking."
And by late August of 2001, Bronson's new owner took over the reins and immediately began a program of improvements, which are ongoing today.
Such a venture is obviously not without obstacles to overcome.
"There have been a lot of challenges that we have had to overcome and are still facing and probably will continue to face," Cope says. "Things such as the rising cost of insurance, car counts, continuing to try and improve the facility, and most importantly, being able to keep the fans happy and putting on a good show week in and week out. The challenges of owning a racetrack are never ending."
Being a racer, Cope says, helps him appreciate both sides of the situation. "I have learned to be more understanding to the powers that be," he says. "The job on the owner/promoter/sanctioning body side of the fence is a lot harder than I had ever imagined. On my race team I have only 10 people I have to keep happy, but on the promoting side I have more like 1,500 people to keep happy on a weekly basis. Now, that is a tough job."
Cope says that being a track owner has made him more appreciative of the efforts that tracks at which he has raced in the past have put into their programs. He's even reconsidered the many times he's, well, protested as a driver at other tracks-including stopping on the front stretch, calling down the flagger, yelling at the promoter, and so on.
"You name it, I've done it, and in these past three years I've had it all done back to me," says Cope. "I realize now how much of an idiot I was and I just wish that competitors would understand that not all promoters, track owners, and sanctioning bodies are out to get them, but that they are doing this out of their best interest."