She knew she had to act quickly.
“I called my son (Kil-Kare modified racer Jason Mahaffey) and I said, ‘Jason, we’re buying Shady Bowl,’ ” Young recalled.
“He said, ‘Mom, are you crazy’?” Young continued. “and I said, ‘I might be, but we’re going to buy it.’ ”
Three months later, Young is the proud owner of the 3/10-mile asphalt oval track in DeGraff.
“I’ve been coming here ever since I was a young girl and I’m at a pretty good age,” the 58-year-old Young said. “I didn’t want to see it die.
“They’re letting too many things die, and I didn’t want to see this track die.”
The track, listed on Dayton-based Baltes Commercial Realty’s website for $625,000, was on the market for 90 days, broker Terry Baltes said. He said there was a lot of interest for the track before it was sold to Young. They closed the deal June 3.
“They’re the right buyers,” said Baltes, the son of former Eldora owner Earl Baltes. “They’re local. They know racing. I think they’ll do an excellent job.”
Both of Young’s sons are longtime racers. Don Mahaffey Jr., 40, won the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Ohio state points standings for late models last season after racing at both Kil-Kare and Columbus Speedway. Jason Mahaffey, 38, is a modified driver at Kil-Kare.
The family previously owned Affordable Auto Parts in Dayton.
They’re hoping to reopen the track in late June or early July, and have several big changes in store.
They plan to move their shows from Saturday evenings to Sunday afternoons for at least two seasons to help accommodate drivers who are already racing at Kil-Kare on Fridays and Columbus Speedway on Saturdays. They’re also hoping to make repairs to the asphalt.
This year, they’ll “get their feet wet” while learning on the fly, Jason Mahaffey said.
They will honor any pit pads or season passes purchased before the track changed ownership.
“We want to show the racers we’re serious and committed to them and giving them a great place to race,” Jason said.
“We’re going to try to make (Sunday features) work to the best of our ability.”
The move would allow all three tracks to have unified rules, similar to what the tracks had in the 1970s and ’80s.
“Short-track racing is hurting,” Jason Mahaffey said. “At each track, they’re low on car count. Hopefully, we can get the car counts up by bringing in guys who travel to the different tracks.”
Longtime employee Earl Isaacs, who has been affiliated with the track since 1966, said he has mixed emotions about the situation. He was very close to Stapleton, who he said never cheated a racer out of anything.
“Charlie did a great job with the race track,” Isaacs said. “It was his outside interests that got him, not the race track.”
He’s also glad to see the Mahaffey family take over the race track.
“It’s really going to be a fan- and competitor-oriented situation,” Isaacs said. “Short-track racing is at a crossroads because people don’t have their friends’ money to spend. It’s going to be competitive for the race tracks to put people in the seats. They’re going to have to lower admission prices and concession prices.”
In the meantime, the family is working hard to open the track. The grass was so high when they first took over ownership, they had to bring in a local farmer to bail it. He’s one of many people volunteering their time to help them reopen as soon as possible.
“They just keep saying ‘We want this track open,’ ” Young said.
Young knows the family has a big challenge ahead, but believes they’re ready. She said they want to cater to the longtime fans, and bring in new ones as well.
“I’m hoping to make a lot of people’s dreams come true,” Young said. “You’d be surprised how many people have told me (Shady Bowl) is the only placed they’ve ever raced and they’re glad we opened it back up so they could race again.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0365, mcooper@coxohio.com or on Twitter@SNS_Wizard.
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