Wednesday, January 2, 2008 Diehl looks forward to second year at CCMP By CLAUDE LEWIS Bobby Diehl spent 25 years teaching shop in Hillsborough County. He loved molding youth into tomorrow's backbone of America. But when he got the chance to own and operate his own race car track, he jumped at it. The way he figured it, how many opportunities will you get to run a stock car track in a balmy, sub-tropical envoronment? Diehl signed on the dotted line to become the new proprietor of Charlotte County Speedway. The last six weekends of 2006, Diehl acted as an understudy under former owner/promoter LeRoy Davidson. Then as 2007 started, Diehl was on his own. He quickly changed the name to Charlotte County Motorsports Park and began making improvements. A lease extension helped het things off on the right foot. Diehl kept the Punta Gorda 3/8-mile paved oval lit all year, only taking off for holidays and, of course, rain. He brought in a wide variety of traveling series ‹ both stock cars and open wheel. He also kept a few base divisions. He added on side shows like boat races and fire-breathing monsters to keep fans on the edge. "It was exciting," Diehl said of his first year at CCMP. Being in entertainment is the place to be. We're in an area that's 80 degrees year-round. We have the most beautiful harbor. There's 100 golf courses in a 75-mile area. Diehl is hoping to tie in racing as part of the Charlotte/Southwest Florida total experience. "That¹s one of our focuses for 2008 to bring in more people from out of state", Diehl said. They started the Skybus trips at the airport. There's going to be two of three a day and it will keep growing every week. Diehl believes visitors from the north will return to Charlotte after experiencing the area's beauty. That, in turn, will positively affect the slumping housing business. Eighty five percent of all people who race have some kind of tie-in to construction, Diehl said. The slowdown has been tough for these guys. There is a lot of other work planned at 8655 Piper Road. The scoring tower must be improved. "We have it being engineered now", said Diehl of C.H. Design out of North Port. "We couldn't afford twin towers. We're refurbishing it so it passes code. We'll redo the inside with a VIP booth. Art Gould of Punta Gorda deserves a pat on the back for raising $1,375 towards the tower with his sales of fishing pole raffle tickets." Diehl dreams of expanding the concession area into a restaurant that would be open to the public six days a week. Diehl also wants to build a structure that would be an arcade, adult slots and all. Friday night, we'll have affordable go-karting, Diehl said. Well get kids off the street, plus we'll be developing talent. Diehl plans on having his core divisions ‹ Super Stocks, Road Warriors, Thunder Trucks and 4-Cylinders ‹ plus lots of other specials in 2008. We're ging to have TBARA Sprints back, he said. We'll have Outlaw Sprints. Indy Cars are coming March 29. We'll be the home track for Legends and Bandaleros in Southwest Florida. The ASA will close their season here in October. Other plans include car shows, flea markets and concerts. Attendance was good in 2007 until late summer and fall. "The last few weeks we were in the 400-500 range", Diehl said of fan count. "I wondered if I was better off ending it before Thanksgiving. But we have those 500 who want to be entertained and I have an obligation to those fans."