Wallace pointed out how some places will snub their noses at import cars and others, but all is welcome at English Mountain. He and his partners also felt it was important to show the bracket racers close to the Newport, Tennessee track they are serious about taking care of them as well. They’ve done so by joining into a sanctioning agreement with the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA).
“We’ve been doing a lot of No Prep racing, but we’ve been wanting to get back into the bracket racing again,” Wallace said. “There are a lot of bracket guys around us who are wanting to get back home.”
Originally built in the 1960s as a quarter-mile strip, English Mountain Raceway was reconstructed as an 1/8-mile track in 1993. It had IHRA sanction in the early 2000s. The trio, who have owned the track since November 2017, hopes bringing back IHRA will help showcase what the track is all about.
“It’s a great hometown track. We want to be the friendliest track we can be,” Wallace said. “We help a lot of folks who haven’t raced before and encourage them to come out. When we first took the track over, we really emphasized how we wanted to get everyone off the street racing. We love having everybody who comes here to race.”
Now, the English Mountain competitors have a chance to participate in the IHRA Summit SuperSeries program, the largest and most prestigious national championship in bracket racing. In addition, the East Tennessee track is also hosting some Gamblers racers on Friday nights.
Beyond providing the new racing programs, the owners have been working hard in recent months to upgrade the concession stands and bathrooms.
“I’m in construction and the concession building has been there since the early 70s,” Wallace said. “We’ve replaced every water line at the track. When we got the track, it had well water. We started having trouble and were having trouble getting permits with well water. So now, we have all new water lines and we’ve got the concession stands and two new bathrooms.”
There is a pavilion on site where they’ve hosted concerts. The newest project is working on a playground for the kids. After all, they want it to be family-friendly and welcoming to people of all ages.
Click here to keep up with the news and more information about English Mountain Raceway by visiting the track’s Facebook page.
