By Dylan Marsh
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CLAREMONT — On December 2, 2022, it was announced that the Claremont Motorsports Park will no longer be operated by MDP Motorsports Promotions LLC as of 2023. MDP, which has operated the motorsports park for the last three seasons, will not be renewing their lease for the upcoming year as part of a pending sale of the park.
Michael Parks, director of MDP, began operating the park along with his team after the facility was purchased by Ben Bosowski and Norman Wrenn in late 2018. The duo then ran the park along with a facilities manager but for the 2019 race season and at the end of the year made the announcement that MDP would be taking on a lease as operators of the park.
The history of ownership for the park has taken a number of turns since its inception in 1947. The track was originally built by Arthur Fleury, as a dirt race track on part of his father’s farmland. It was then managed by a group of competitors, known as The Jalopy Association, for some time. In the 1960’s, Fleury’s brother Sonny took control of the track, paving it in the 1970’s and operating it until his passing in 1993. The park would then go to his daughter Sherrie and eventually be purchased in 2004 by Dennis Fleury, the son of the man who had originally built the track. In 2014, the park was purchased again, this time by a group under the title Claremont Speedway LLC, and then purchased again in 2019 finally by Busowski and Wrenn.
It’s clear from statements made by the many people that have run the motorsports park over the years that since the days of the dirt track at the farm, operating it is truly a labor of love. This includes Parks who recently said in a statement, “It’s been a hell of a ride and a whole lot of fun. The chance to operate my hometown racetrack for the last three years has been nothing but amazing.”
Parks has been credited with a number of historic events and impressive growth for the park, not only in competitors but spectators as well. With the COVID-19 pandemic raging during the beginning of his tenure as the park operator, Parks and his team were the first motorsports park in the Northeast to hold a pay-per-view event. The event also featured two $10,000 prizes, the highest winners share at a speedway at that time. In 2021, under Parks’ direction, the speedway held and hosted the International Supermodified Association, the first time that had been in Claremont since 1980. The park also held the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour last year, the first time since 2007.
According to representatives, the motorsport park will continue to operate as planned for 2023 and that MDP Motorsports Promotions will operate Granite State Pro Stock Series as planned for the upcoming season. The park will also be holding their 2022 Banquet of Champions on January 14, 2023 at the Fireside Inn in West Lebanon.
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