William Scogin: Why Clarksville Speedway Is Closing Down

Summary

Herm & Schrader Podcast: William Scoggin – Why Clarksville Speedway Is Closing Down

Date: November 26, 2025
Hosts: Kenny Wallace & Ken Schrader
Guest: William Scoggin (Owner, Clarksville Speedway)
Podcast Presented by: SiriusXM, Dirty Mo Media

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Episode Overview

In this raw and revealing episode, Kenny Wallace sits down with legendary Clarksville Speedway promoter William Scoggin to share the story of why the celebrated Tennessee dirt track is closing after 26 years. The conversation peels back the real struggles, grit, and heart behind running a local racetrack, while highlighting the city’s plans for expansion and how racing culture is shifting in America. Wallace and Scoggin recount unforgettable stories—some hilarious, some poignant—reflecting on what it means to run a grassroots venue and the legacy left behind.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Sale of Clarksville Speedway

• The City of Clarksville is expanding a five-lane road (Needmore Road) that will take over the land where the speedway resides.
• This process has been ongoing for about six years and involved multiple negotiations, city hall discussions, and maneuverings.
• Scoggin describes the decision to sell as “bittersweet,” citing 26 years of non-stop work, two heart attacks, and the inevitability of retirement, even though he still doesn't know exactly what's next.
  • “Nothing lasts forever. And sooner or later, you have to retire a little bit. I’ve had two heart attacks. […] When you work eight days a week and people say there ain’t eight days…but buy you a racetrack, you’ll find eight days to work.” – William Scoggin (03:09)

Final Nights & Legacy Events

• The Final Night at Clarksville (07:14):
  ‣ Over 180 race cars and a huge crowd attended.
  ‣ Reminisces about running free fan appreciation nights, battling unpredictable weather ("the last race I ever had, 26 years ago, it rained…"), limited help, and the chaos of race day.
• Facebook and rumors: Scoggin avoids social media arguments, noting that most critics "really don't know what's going on," and instead focuses on genuine interaction.

The Iconic “Toilet Bowl” and “Plunger” Races

• Origins of the Toilet Bowl (13:25):
  ‣ Scoggin famously embraced the humor and humility of grassroots racing, creating the “Toilet Bowl” event as an inside joke when he bought the track:
  • "When I bought the racetrack, I said to a number of people...I've done asphalt, I sold parts...I said, I’m going to the crapper on this. So that’s how I came up with it." – William Scoggin (13:25) ‣ The Friday night “Plunger” and Saturday’s “Toilet Bowl” became legendary.

The Reality & Innovation of Promoting

• Promoting is non-stop, requiring creativity and a willingness to try anything. Scoggin diversified beyond just racing: ‣ Drag racing, drifting, autocross, carnivals, midnight madness, gun shows, flea markets, light displays, roller derby, and more.
  • “You have to use your property for every ounce it can get. You can't just run one time a week. You have to run multiple things." – William Scoggin (22:05)
• Notably, Scoggin pioneered on-site ATMs when others only dealt in cash, and is always hands-on with all aspects of the business—sometimes even scraping snow off the racetrack to keep events running.

The Changing Economics of Dirt Track Racing

• Local racing is in crisis except for premier events.
  • "Local racing's dead...I've won enough races all across the United States. I have the authority. I am a badass. I said it. Local racing's dead." – Kenny Wallace (21:09)
• To survive, tracks need to monetize every aspect of their property, as purses and operational costs massively outweigh typical gate receipts.
  • "When you look at a 10,000 to win purse, it costs the racetrack five times that amount. You've got to pay them all to leave." – William Scoggin (27:09)
• Scoggin developed events like legal “donuts” (burnouts and stunts) to attract car culture youth and turn dangerous illegal activities into safe, profitable events.
  • 80–100 cars now show up just to do donuts legally (23:33).

The Harsh Math of Promoting

• Scoggin detailed the financial breakdown of an $80,000 payout race night, emphasizing high risks and razor-thin break-evens.
  • “Most people cannot understand or concept that we are risking what people make in two years in one night...You need 2,000 people to break even." – William Scoggin (46:59, 50:55)
• "You have to do everything you can to bring in revenue. Dirt tracks and drag racing, you have to pay them to leave. This is where most promoters miss the boat." (26:33)
• Taxes, insurance, utility bills (e.g., $10,000/month electric, $50,000/year property taxes) eat away at profit potential (48:57).

Promoter Philosophy

• The most stressful part of the job: Opening the gates.
  • "Once the gates get open, it's an animal on its own...But getting the gates open to me is the hardest thing to do." (44:00)
• Success requires being a little “off-center”—embracing craziness, hustle, and willingness to do whatever it takes.
  • Wallace likens Scoggin and Jerry Hoffman to “off center” hustlers who get it done by being different (45:38).

The Changing Culture of Racing

• Societal shifts—changing work ethics, technology, TV, and social media—are affecting both attendance and the willingness of young people to “do the work” racing demands.
  • "These kids nowadays don’t want to work. My midnight madness…it's all kids in their personal vehicles…You can't imagine how, just, as soon as they get to the traps, I'm sending the next cars." (56:30)
• Scoggin argues that TV broadcasts help local tracks but can hurt touring series, especially for marquee events, by siphoning off live attendance (58:17).

The Emotional End & Looking Forward

• Scoggin on not knowing his exact next move but vowing not to build another racetrack. Potential for consulting, running events at other venues, or renting tracks for special events (52:04).
• Closure of tracks like Paducah is lamented for shrinking the grassroots racer population—most won’t move to other tracks.
  • "A racetrack closing down doesn’t help. It hurts. Most of your racers are going to quit. You're going to lose 50% of your racers because they're not going to go to another racetrack." (53:33)
• Grateful reflections on teamwork: family, staff, sponsors, and racers are the backbone:
  • “Without the fans, we are nothing. And the drivers and the sponsors, everybody that's helped me along in my career, I deeply appreciate it so much...This is not a one person's job. This is ours. I never said I own the racetrack. I said, this is our racetrack." – William Scoggin (62:50)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “If you buy a boat, you go to the lake...You spend $100,000, nobody cares. But if you buy a race car, you want to get paid. That blows me away.” – Kenny Wallace (31:34)
• “This is a drug for these guys—racing takes over your life and that’s what it does. It’s about the win, the money’s gone.” – William Scoggin (32:09)
• “We are as people...the times have changed. I remember when I bought this place, we had two street stock features. Now you’re lucky to get one.” – William Scoggin (55:27)
• “You're dealing with crazy people.” – Kenny Wallace, on what it takes to be a dirt track promoter (46:29)
• “Don’t it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone? They paved paradise and put in a parking lot.” – Kenny Wallace quoting Joni Mitchell (54:40)
• “My driver's meetings are colorful, and I dropped the F-word a lot, but that’s the way it is.” – William Scoggin (63:11)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment / Topic | |--------------|--------------------------------------------------------| | 02:22 | Why did you sell the speedway? | | 04:00 | Reflecting on 'it's time' to hand off a racetrack | | 07:14 | The final night at Clarksville: fan stories, chaos | | 13:14 | Legend of the Toilet Bowl race begins | | 16:13 | How to survive: innovation and diversification | | 21:09 | Local racing is dead except premier events | | 23:33 | ‘Donuts’ event draws youth & new revenue | | 26:33 | Promoting means using every ounce of the property | | 27:09 | Real cost vs. payout of races – the tough math | | 31:34 | Culture: Racing for love not money | | 44:00 | The hardest part: opening the gates on race night | | 46:59 | An $80,000 night: breaking down the finances | | 55:27 | Societal changes and racing attendance | | 58:17 | Broadcasting: TV helps and hurts | | 62:50 | Final reflections on the people behind Clarksville |

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Final Thoughts

Kenny Wallace’s conversation with William Scoggin offers a unique, unvarnished masterclass in what it takes to run (and close) an American grassroots racetrack. Through stories both wild and wise, Scoggin reveals the relentless hustle, heartbreak, and creativity behind the gates of Clarksville Speedway. The episode stands as both an elegy and a how-to for anyone daring to keep racing dreams alive in a changing world.

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For visuals from this interview, visit the Kenny Wallace YouTube Show. To listen to this and other episodes, subscribe to Dirty Mo Media.

Transcript

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[Kenny Wallace]

Hello everyone and welcome back to Kenny Conversation. Brought to you by jegs, the leader in high performance aftermarket car parts. Remember to go to JEGS.com for everything you need this holiday season, especially for your car or that hot rod that you have. Well, you're looking at him. One of my favorite people in life and one of the greatest racing promoters of all time. The owner of the Clarksville Speedway in Clarksville, Tennessee, William Scoggin. William, how you doing, buddy?

[William Scoggin]

Good, Kenny?

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah, great. Your face looks a little cherry red. You've been out in that weather or no?

[William Scoggin]

Some people gotta work. Just because you sold the place don't mean you're gonna quit. I still got Christmas lights set up, cleaning parking lots, rolling gravel.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah. Okay, everybody, listen. Breaking news in the garage area. The man you're looking at William Scoggin in our world is well respected. He revolutionized promoting at dirt track because as we all know, the you can't just promote dirt cars going around the racetrack and very emotional night. William. I'm just going to set it up and you kind of tell everybody the city of Clarksville, Tennessee was right on your back straightaway. We saw the homes off your back straightaway. Did, did race, did the Clarksville, Tennessee people, did they need your land and why did you sell?

[William Scoggin]

Okay, so they're gonna put five lanes in just, just below me and come right by me. So they're taking the backstretch. This has been a back and forth situation. Yes, I probably did go to them. Yes. This was six years in the making. We struck a deal. I kind of didn't want to go with the deal. They had two options. They didn't have to take me. They could save me, but they choose not to. It's just one of those things. It's bittersweet. But know I've been doing this, what, 26 years. So it's, it's. Nothing lasts forever. And sooner or later you have to retire a little bit. I've had two heart attacks. You know, when you work eight days a week and people say there ain't eight days, but buy you a racetrack, you'll find eight days to work.

[Kenny Wallace]

You know, let's stay right there for a little bit. William. On a very serious note, we watched Tony Stewart by Earl Baltus's Eldora Speedway because it was time. And that's what you always hear. Earl says it's time. So he found a buyer. It was Tony Stewart. Now last year and all this year, Kenny Schrader and his partner Ray Marler said it's time. So that, that's the second time that I've heard, you know, people that have owned racetracks for 30 years ago, it's time. So do you feel like it was time?

[William Scoggin]

I did, but I don't know. I mean, I really don't know my next chapter. I don't really have a game plan. I still get to run the drag strip for another year. I still get to do autocross, drifting, the fair, all the stuff I do except the dirt track. The dirt track is the only thing going right now. I still get another year and six months with the. When they, they haven't purchased me yet. All the contractors are signed because like I said, I had to, I had to give them a signature. Yeah, for some reason you make these deals up. And to make a long story, Short. I had another buyer come in, was going to give me extra time, but they kind of. They kind of wouldn't let that go through. They kind of said, no, you're not doing that. After I went down to the mayor's office and sat and talked to them and made sure he didn't have a problem. There's always some backdoor stuff going on. So it's just one of those things. I don't know the next chapter. I don't know if it's time. I don't really know what I'm doing, but it is what it is. We're gonna roll with it and see how it falls out.

[Kenny Wallace]

We kept hearing about this. This road. Now straighten me out. Help me. I read the article. Is the road called need more?

[William Scoggin]

Yeah, they need more road.

[Kenny Wallace]

And it is called need more. I think it is.

[William Scoggin]

It is.

[Kenny Wallace]

This is the big controversy that a damn road called need more. Tell me about this damn road. Where's it at?

[William Scoggin]

Well, it's right here. Right here beside the racetrack. It goes right alongside of the. You know, the Conex is on the back stretch, separate the road from me. Right. So when you. When you take the Conexes out, I mean, the storm come by. What? About five years ago, I had a tornado come through here, put the bleachers in the grandstands and all the Connexes in the middle of road. So.

[Kenny Wallace]

Right.

[William Scoggin]

By the way, I didn't miss a week. I still raced the next weekend. I never missed a week on a tornado or nothing. So.

[Kenny Wallace]

And we are going to get to that. And listen up, everybody. Here. Here's the notes. We are going to, one by one, celebrate. The man you're looking at, he's not done. He's got a lot to do. But we're just, you know, this is big news. This is breaking news in the garage area, one of the most legendary dirt tracks of its time.

[William Scoggin]

Let's.

[Kenny Wallace]

Let's go to this final night, as you called it. We looked on Facebook, and you. Whoever. Whoever does your Facebook said, come on out for the final night. 183 race cars and a massive crowd. It looked like a lot of emotion. And take your time on this, William. Tell me about this final night.

[William Scoggin]

You know. You know, Kenny, here. Here's what I want to say. I didn't know how to expect it. Let's back up a week, okay? Let's really back up a week. I had a free night the week before fan appreciation night. I didn't charge anybody to get in pits nor grandstands. I Was trying to do it on a Saturday night, but it rained. So I moved it to Sunday night. Forty something degree weather, a little rainy. 97 race cars racing for trophies. Only that was two weeks ago. Then we follow up with this and you're sitting here trying to figure out how to run concessions out how to do this, and you don't really know. The problem is you advertise. Open the gates at 2. I think I opened about 12, 15 and I couldn't get them in fast enough. I just, I was at the back gate selling tickets. I was watering a racetrack, then I was running over here trying to park cars. The challenge of trying to do what we do is really, really tough on a limited help, limited everything, because you just can't afford to pay everybody what they need. I know racetracks get a bad name for not paying much, but it is what it is. So we just try to survive. But it was a long, drawn out day and I'm gonna. Honestly, the last race got rained out. I didn't even know it was gonna rain. I done started drinking and I didn't realize I, I was talking to somebody. I looked up and I seen the lightning across the sky in horizon. I'm going like, what is it's gonna rain? And some. So I was hurrying them up, I got on the radio, I said, drop the checkered on that race. We got to get to next to three laps and a street stock feature. It rained. The funny thing about this, the very, very first race I ever had, 26 years ago, it rained and it was on the street stocks and I lost $10,000 and I'm out in the rain picking up trash, going like, wow, is this really how this goes? So you learn over time just to do things at a racetrack to make it better or you hope it's better. So you know. But the last night was a great night. Great people, great support. Everybody coming by saying this and that, I mean we, I, I do appreciate everybody that's come by. I don't, I don't get on Facebook a lot because all you see is people on there that really don't know really what's going on. They don't understand. So I try not to comment. I catch myself typing in stuff and then deleting it just. So I said it to myself because all you gotta do is get an argument with people that don't know.

[Kenny Wallace]

Oh, they don't know nothing. And, and they're, they didn't make it through grade school, they can't spell right. And then they, and Then what happens is the next day, let's say there's 100 people and they respond and there'll be one or two people and the next day you'll see somebody and they'll say, man, did you see William or Wallace getting lit up? And I'm like, you mean those two people? Isn't it funny? We will take two negative people and act like it's the world is down on us, but really it's just dumb people.

[William Scoggin]

Well, believe it or not, while ago I seen a post where a guy Back in 2020, when the city put something out, they bought it. I kept telling everybody they ain't done it yet and they still ain't done it. We got the money has not changed in this is what in the driver's meeting, I kept telling everybody, listen, here's where we are. I knew in July I was never going to get another summer national. So that's when I started advertising. Last summer national, last this, last that. When he got to this race, I told them in the driver's meeting. I had two drivers meetings on Saturday. I had one for the late miles and one for my classes. I told them all the drivers mean, first of all, I didn't care if they was mad or not. Didn't matter. They weren't coming back.

[Kenny Wallace]

Right.

[William Scoggin]

Here. Here's the thing, they're telling me in January they're gonna put this five lanes in. But the funny thing about, I had a lady, I know most of people up down the road. So a lady called me, I don't know, a month ago and said, listen, they have stopped buying land up and down the road right aways, you know, because they gotta buy the right of ways, put the road in. I said, so, okay. So I text the mayor right then I said, hey, is the road project still on for January? He said, oh, absolutely. But he's telling me one thing, they're telling me something else. So I'm saying that was the last race. And I really believe it's last race because all the stuff I did for the last race, I will honor it if I ever raced again here. If, say I could throw another toilet bowl in, I would. And I would take like the last ride I got. I made the guy a little plaque. Yeah. To hang on his wall. The last hot dog made a plaque. Really, I would honor that and move it to the new date. So. But, well, I don't, I don't really think we're going to get it in. I really don't. But it's just hard to say because the money hadn't changed hands in. Anything's possible with the government.

[Kenny Wallace]

Okay, let's just say this, everybody. First of all, William, you're no dummy.

[William Scoggin]

You're.

[Kenny Wallace]

You're a brilliant man. You're acting all country on me, which is fine because you are a country boy. But you had to. You had to sign something.

[William Scoggin]

I did. So.

[Kenny Wallace]

So you're saying things are signed, but you haven't received the money. And we understand that. I just wanted to remind everybody that he had to sign papers. Everybody. I read the article from the mayor. So it is out there. There is a big article out there. You sign the papers. I want to tell everybody this. I won a plunger. I've won three races at your racetrack. That plunger was. Is one of my prized possessions, and it is up at my shop. So that was like on a Friday night, the plunger. And then on Saturday night is the toilet bowl. Let's go right there because you're talking about that right now. How did this legendary race. What is that in March?

[William Scoggin]

February. March, yeah. As soon as I can get it going.

[Kenny Wallace]

Tell me about the. You know, the plungers the night before. How the hell did you come up with a toilet bowl? Now that's. That's country as all get out.

[William Scoggin]

Well, Kenny, when I said I bought the racetrack, I was going to the God's honest truth. I said that to a number of people. I've been in racing all my life. We. We've done asphalt, we've done. I sold parts. I've done a little bit of everything. So I know buying a racetrack was not the smartest move in anybody's world. So when I did it, I said, I'm going to the crapper on this. So that's how I come up with it.

[Kenny Wallace]

I'll be darn.

[William Scoggin]

One of those things you just kind of come up. Everybody should do that every once in a while.

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[William Scoggin]

Oh, hey.

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[William Scoggin]

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[William Scoggin]

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[Kenny Wallace]

Not going to talk and then it be over. I'm going to get into your mind a little bit. So this promoting I say that you are, you've revolutionized promoting and here's why. And we're going to get to this in a minute. Okay, here's the reason you really revolutionized promoted because you realize you can't make money just with race cars on a dirt track. So these are, these are some of the. Hold on, let me set you up. At your racetrack, you have dirt racing, drag racing, carnivals, the Christmas lights is a big one. Drifting flea market. You had lesbian roller derby at the big barn. As you pull in the barn right there, tie boats and drag around the racetrack. You gave tampons away because some of the people would whine and cry. So you give them a tampon. You had the toilet bowl and the plunger and I added this one on. I'VE watched you scrape snow off the racetrack so you could run, you could run this, this, you know, plunger. I mean, what is it like to be a promoter? I want to get down into it. And this is why I told everybody what you do. How bad is it to be a promoter at a dirt track?

[William Scoggin]

Well, all right, so let me just start with, with an average week. How about that? If we start on a week, let's start on Sunday because you're done Saturday. Now, Sundays I run four to six events every week. I'm probably the only drag strip that runs two shows in one day. On a Friday night, I do an early show and a late show. I do a bracket show or run them guys out. And I got a whole new show called Midnight man is coming in. So that's on Friday. So let's get to Sunday. Sunday I either drift autocross or do them at the same time. I can do that or have a gun show or whatever because we do gun shows here too. But darn. But Monday, Monday you're. You're trying to go to the bank, you're trying to get everything kind of fixed back up to get ready for Wednesday because I start racing on Wednesday, technically. So Monday is the day you just, you fix everything, go to the bank, you get all your paperwork done. Tuesday, you fix your broke stuff. Wednesday, you're drag racing. Thursday you're going like, oh, hell, I forgot this. Getting food in that. Friday comes, you're prepping the drag strip for two shows. Saturday comes, you're at the dirt track. Now, in amongst of all this, you have anywhere from 30 to 60 employees.

[Kenny Wallace]

Oh my.

[William Scoggin]

And, and so, so let's take the, let's just take the dirt track because that's what we're really here talking about.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah, but that's what you're famous for. But go ahead.

[William Scoggin]

Yeah, I'm okay. So the dirt track is. Here comes Saturday night, gates open at 4, at 3, 30, 3, 45. You don't have this help. You don't have that help. So you're over here trying to get this person to do this and that. And the problem with what we have nowadays, I would like to think I'm kind of an old school promoter, but I'm also new. We a new school promoter. Old school promoter's done everything by pen and paper. We do everything by computer.

[Kenny Wallace]

Now you've showed me, you've showed me, I've seen it.

[William Scoggin]

If the computer goes down like it did Saturday night, somebody has to fix that. Well, guess who has to fix that me, because they don't have time. And then you got to have that certain person working on it. And then you can't just pull somebody out of a job to put them over here because they don't know nothing about the job. So my hat. And anybody that owns a racetrack, whether it be a dirt or asphalt, they, I can count 30 or 35 jobs they do in a night, honestly. Yeah, we are, we are EMTs, we're police, we're referees, we're, we're, we're, we're a banker, we're a, we're a Gates person, we're a bathroom cleaner, we're a cooker. I mean, at one Saturday night, there is nothing I didn't do. I don't think I cooked a hamburger.

[Kenny Wallace]

But, you know, you said you're, you said you're a banker. And now there might have been other racetracks, but I remember you being one of the first racetracks. You get people that come to the racetrack like, oh, I don't got enough cash. And I think you're one of the first people to set up an ATM machine. Are you?

[William Scoggin]

I got four ATMs on dollies. We can carry them around anywhere. I don't know why any racetrack don't have their own ATMs. I used to not use credit cards. I do use a credit card. It's a front gate. But credit cards cost us money. ATMs make us money. And I'm in a military town where most of the banks give it back. So if you go to use an atm, they give you your money back. So it's like free money.

[Kenny Wallace]

So I want all the promoters, they're going to be listening to this. We, we realize that the race cars going around in a circle is kind of a dead business, except for, like, Eldora, you know, the King's Royal, the, the Dream Knoxville Nationals. We realized the premier dirt races are, are doing good, but for the most part, local racing is dead. And, and I said it. I, I, I've won enough races all across the United States. I have the authority. I am a badass. I said it. Local racing's dead. But, William, what I'm bragging on you. What you're teaching these tracks right now is if they have these facilities, can they do what you've done? I mean, PE's got a drag strip they're drafting now or drifting. It seems like Josh Carroll could be copying you. Have you talked to Josh Carroll?

[William Scoggin]

Me and Josh talk a lot. I like Josh because I called him on that and said, really? You booked a race on top of my last race? I said so, but not that. I. I was just giving him a hard time. Look, he is. He has picked up a lot and understands you. You can't just run one time a week. You have to run multiple things. You have to use your property for every ounce it can get. The key to this now what? Two weeks ago I did donuts. I also do stu donuts. What?

[Kenny Wallace]

Tell me more.

[William Scoggin]

Yeah.

[Kenny Wallace]

Who is that in the background? Get her over here.

[William Scoggin]

She's okay. She's just back here. She likes to. Like to charm me.

[Kenny Wallace]

On dirty mo meter. Dale Jr. Might see her.

[William Scoggin]

So. So donuts is a new thing. So what? Have you seen the parking lot takeovers?

[Kenny Wallace]

Oh, donuts in a car. Okay. No, go ahead, keep talking donuts.

[William Scoggin]

And if you look at the towns, they're taking these parking lots and taking them over. These kids?

[Kenny Wallace]

Yes, illegally in the city of St. Louis.

[William Scoggin]

I don't, I don't. I got it legal. I do it here. Donuts can't get them in fast enough. And guess what?

[Kenny Wallace]

Ours.

[William Scoggin]

Yes. Yes. And guess what? You don't pay them to leave.

[Kenny Wallace]

Oh my gosh. And they're, they're, they're, they're, they're excited. They're going to spend some money and they. How many cars do you get to do these donuts?

[William Scoggin]

80 to 100.

[Kenny Wallace]

What the. Are you kidding me?

[William Scoggin]

No.

[Kenny Wallace]

So where did you dream this up? You just saw everybody, these kids creating chaos in the cities and you're like, come over here.

[William Scoggin]

So what I, what I do is in. So the problem with owning a racetrack, we're not versa. We're not, we're not. We don't know enough like. Okay, so I know the dirt side, I know the drag strip side. But when you start going into these, drifting these donuts and stuff like that, autocross, I, I'm not in that group. So you have to get somebody that is to help you do this. And that's what I've done. You grab somebody in that community, say, okay, here's what we're gonna do and you make it safe. And trust me, the donuts is the hardest event. I do. Because they don't want to be safe.

[Kenny Wallace]

They just want to wreck everything.

[William Scoggin]

They just want. I put blocks in the middle where the, with it, where the media can go out and be right by the car. But they. I got these 4,000 pound blocks. They're around and if somebody does it wrong, I make them have their seatbelt on. I make them where they can't hang out of the car. And if I walk down there and see you hanging out of the car, we're fixing to have a fight.

[Kenny Wallace]

And they're all about Instagram. It's, it's all for the Instagram.

[William Scoggin]

It is. It is. I, I, I, I'm telling you, Kenny. Well, here, let me see. I got, I took a video of the last one I just did. Yeah, probably.

[Kenny Wallace]

So everybody on Dirty Mo, they won't be able to see this, but the Kenny Wallace YouTube show, people. Yeah, put it right up here. Let me see. Oh, my God, look at this.

[William Scoggin]

This is donuts.

[Kenny Wallace]

And you can see the smoke above the red barn there.

[William Scoggin]

Yeah, they're, they're down there doing that right there in that parking lot. So I'm selling concessions is what I'm doing. You're fixing to see my, my mobile.

[Kenny Wallace]

You got the, you got the.

[William Scoggin]

I'm running around selling mobile concessions because here's the thing. It was a little rainy this day, and I didn't, I didn't know how many people are going to show up because I don't really have a good gauge on this. Yeah. So I didn't have my concession help come in. So I'm, I'm selling concessions out of the back of a mule.

[Kenny Wallace]

You do not mess around.

[William Scoggin]

But honestly, that, that's a pretty good crowd. That's not the biggest crowd, but that's a pretty good crowd.

[Kenny Wallace]

Okay, let's regroup here, everybody. You're looking at him, one of the greatest promoters of our time, William Scoggin, owner of Clarksville Speedway in Clarksville, Tennessee. The city has sign paperwork with him. They're buying the racetrack. But you've revolutionized the dirt tracks because you, you have these people like Kankakee. Kankakee. And they've been through so many promoters. Oh, we can't make it. And here you are going, no, y' all aren't thinking right. You can make it. And what I like what you just said was they're not utilizing their property to their full potential. Dirt racing or racing should be here. I'm going to ask you this question. When you own a racetrack, should that be just a part of that property?

[William Scoggin]

No. You got to do everything. You have to do everything you can to bring in revenue. The problem with dirt track racing and drag racing is you got to pay them back. You got to pay them to leave. This is where, this is where most people miss the boat. So when you look at a Lucas Oil world outlaw hunt to front purse, let's say it's 10,000 to win. Yeah. It costs the racetrack five times that amount. So if you say it's 10,000 win, the racetrack has to pay 50,000 because they gotta pay everybody to leave.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah.

[William Scoggin]

So when you start looking at these purses, you look at modified purses, all these other purses, and you average this out. I think I have, I have tried to look at it from their point of view and our point of view. There's four people that I look at when I schedule an event. There's me, the fans, the drivers and my sponsors. In any given schedule, I have done, I have tried to make sure I trigger one of them. Now, it may not be for me, it may be for the fans. Summer nationals is a prime example. I've had a summer nationals here ever since I own it. And I think it's been one of the tracks that's always have a summer nationalist, the Lowell back in a few years ago. Sam has got that thing going good now, but back it was no money to be made. You lost money, you went backwards. But I did it because of the fans. I am the only track in Tennessee that runs supers every weekend. And without supers, you're not going to have the Lucas Oil, the world outlaw hunt, the front and people like that. You're not, you're not in the regional series, the Mars and stuff like that. And, and we, we gotta keep these things up and we gotta keep them going. So you have to have that stuff to make the dirt tracks better because grassroots racing is in trouble.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah. And I've said that. Let's talk about Sam Drigger. Okay? So for everybody, listen up here, here's the way it goes. Just to give everybody an example, you got the NFL, NHL, nascar. In dirt racing, we have what's called Dirt Car. And under Dirt Car, Dirt Car owns the world of outlaw sprint cars, the world of outlaw late models, a super dirt car series. And they also own ump dirt car. It's called United Midwest Promotions. Now the guy that runs that is Sam Driger. Sam Drager. I got off the phone with him and I said, tell me about William. He says, I've known William for 25 years and he's one of the the best guys in the sport. He says William tries to act all country and everything, he said, but he's brilliant. That's what Sam Driger said about you. He said, you, you like to act country, but you're brilliant. And you've been the best thing that's happened for dirt racing. And he also laughed because how you. You've done things, you know, your way. Tell me about your relationship. Since you just brought it up. Tell me about these summer nationals and when they first. When you first made your deal for the summer nationals.

[William Scoggin]

Well, I mean, I think the summer nationals is a great, great deal for super late models. It's probably one of the better things going on in our country because they go to track after track after track after track. It is a grind and most people don't realize how hard that is to do for these teams. So kudos to everybody that does it. And now Sam has got. He. I mean, the way he structured it and way he's done, it's good. Because Sam don't get enough credit. There's nobody in the country that can do Sam's job.

[Kenny Wallace]

But he's the bad guy.

[William Scoggin]

I don't know one other guy. I've tried to. We all talk about it when we sit down and talk about things and who could take Sam's place. We're all getting older. We're not going to last forever. I don't know if anybody can do.

[Kenny Wallace]

Sam's job and take the abuse that he takes.

[William Scoggin]

Oh, yeah, because he's got to deal with racetracks. He's got to deal with drivers. And let's. Let's face it, some of these drivers just don't like us sometimes.

[Kenny Wallace]

Well, they, they think, you know. Let me talk to you about this. Isn't it strange that. And I'm a racer, right? But I owned Macon Speedway and Macon, Illinois. I was with. You know, I know just a little bit about promoting. I don't claim to know anything, you know, but I didn't know Paducah too. No, I never owned Paducah, but I was part of a. It was Tony Stewart, Bob Sargent, Schrader, myself. We all put in a good amount of money, built it up. And then like Bob Sargent said, and you've said it, too, there's always somebody smarter than us. So here, buy it. And of course, we sold it. And now that's buried. They destroyed it. But, but these racetracks. Let's get back to what I'm talking about. Isn't it strange that if you buy a boat and you go to the lake, you spend $40,000 on a boat, you go to the lake.

[William Scoggin]

No, it's a hundred, Kenny. It's not forty, it's a hundred.

[Kenny Wallace]

But if you buy a race car and you go to the racetrack, you want to get paid, it blows me away.

[William Scoggin]

What's that all about? Well, I think two Weeks ago I proved it's not about money. I really say it's not about money. We use that. I think the drivers use that. I'm not saying everybody's that way, but on the local level, this is a drug for these guys.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yes.

[William Scoggin]

They have to get their fix in and I don't mean that in a bad way. By no means we use the drug aspects. As everybody understands, drugs take over your life and that's what racing does. It takes over. Because it's about the win. Yeah, it's about I can win. Yes. The money's gone.

[Kenny Wallace]

You're right. 100.

[William Scoggin]

The money is gone.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yes, you're so money.

[William Scoggin]

But, but the money's gone, it's the win. I, I have not been, I have not been a guy that wants to pay a lot. I, I don't pay a lot. I got the Bob Sergeant mentality on that.

[Kenny Wallace]

IMCA lo, we're paying 300.

[William Scoggin]

This is where I'm old school. Yeah, old school versus new school. Why pay 30,000 when you pay 10 and have the same cars or more? Yeah, 30 is gonna run off your local guys. 10 may get some of them here. Yes, I have always disagreed with that and I get in arguments with my own groups about this. You don't have to pay that much to do it because the object of what we're doing is, is to get people there. And if you're running people off by too much, it just don't work so well.

[Kenny Wallace]

You know, that is so true. I mean I go to these racetracks and they'll go $10,000 to win two day show. And you know the first thing they complain about, it's a two day show. I've got to buy two sets of pit passes and, and the racer. You're right. If you dumb it down, then they'll show up. It is a wild phenomenon and we aren't thinking right. But you're right if you say ten grand to win. Nowadays you don't get very many cars because the local racer thinks, oh, I can't compete against Mike Harrison. So they stay home.

[William Scoggin]

Well, the next thing is with the world outlaw Lucas Hunt front and all them, if you're not tagged to one of them, you're not going to get them guys to move the needle. In other words, I could, I could, I could run a 50,000 win. Me and Dale McDowell, we was talking one day and Dale says, I don't think all the money should be up top, it should be down below. I agree with that. But what I told him Was the problem. Like me, if I don't have a world outlaw, Lucas or Hunt to front or something of that nature, I don't get the drivers.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah.

[William Scoggin]

So you have to. I would have to pay more to get them on an off day, which there ain't no off days anymore. We race 24 7. So it's just one of those things that you need. We need the grassroots to make the other stuff better. You really gotta have that.

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[William Scoggin]

Hey, what does all in one mean? Caddy?

[Clorox Toilet Wand Announcer]

The wand. The preloaded pad. There's a cleaner in there inside the pad.

[William Scoggin]

So Clorox toilet wand is all I.

[Kenny Wallace]

Need to clean a toilet.

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[William Scoggin]

Use as directed.

[Kenny Wallace]

Okay, I want to change lanes now. Let's. Let's clean the slate. I want to talk about some things that I personally watched you do. That just made my jaw drop. I want to go back to about, I don't know, seven years ago. We are in Nashville, Tennessee, at the legendary. Yeah, but. But what you helped do. Now, I know it was a money loser. Hold on. Let me paint the picture.

[William Scoggin]

You still got the Vaseline.

[Kenny Wallace]

I got. I definitely got screwed. But.

[William Scoggin]

But you still got the vaseline. Yeah.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah.

[William Scoggin]

Okay. Okay. Okay. For you.

[Kenny Wallace]

You know, you put a lot of work into it. You put a lot of man hours. But let me explain to everybody what I witnessed. The world of outlaw sprint cars said, we are going to go downtown Nashville, Tennessee, to the legendary fairgrounds. We're going to put dirt on the quarter mile. They called you up. They said, william, you can do it all. We need to get dirt on those quarter miles. So they said, let's bring the modifieds in for a filler series. So we do, and they sell the place out. 10,000 people. I mean, it looked. It looked to me like it was the most successful dirt racing show in the history of dirt racing. But later that night, you were said, oh, God, Kenny.

[William Scoggin]

It was horrible.

[Kenny Wallace]

Tell me about that moment. What I want to show everybody is that in the industry, they call you when the impossible needs to be done. Tell me why a place was sold out but was no good.

[William Scoggin]

I don't know if we want to really go down that road. But the problem is it costs so much to do what we do, the time. And that was a little argument back from who had the racetrack to what we was doing at the racetrack. There's a lot of controversy on the time frame. In other words, we could only go here, do this. That's why you guys got cut short, is because of the time. They wasn't telling all the time stuff. And it was. It was just a nightmare because some people wanted to do it, some people didn't. So Bob, you know, Bob has done a great job in Ashland. I wish we'd do it again. And I told him we should do it again. But then they started Bristol. Yeah, but then they started Bristol. So I think it kind of killed the mode of it. But. But back to that. It was just. It was just a lot, a lot of work and a lot, a lot of time. I mean, the night before or the week before, when we did our test night, I had what, a hundred and twenty or thirty cars? Local cars.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah.

[William Scoggin]

I think I'd have to go back and look at the numbers, but. And then, of course, we come to the next weekend. It was a sellout deal. It was good. It was good. It just didn't bring enough money, huh? It was.

[Kenny Wallace]

It. Did you lose money on. Or did they lose money because you had to bring the dirt so far away? It was just.

[William Scoggin]

So the dirt. The dirt was in Nashville. I had a guy in Nashville. I went through like four people, and me and him become good friends. The one that put the dirt down, super guy. It just. It just cost a lot to do that. And when I get it, when you. When you double and triple up things, it just makes it harder. And everybody. I don't know what they lost that's really on the world, outlawing them. But they said they didn't make any money, but I don't know. I didn't. I wasn't on the back end of all that. I just know what they owed me when we got done and everything. So it's just one of those things.

[Kenny Wallace]

Okay, let's move on to something totally different. I just wanted to highlight the things that you're capable of doing now. The next one blows me away. We talk about how you can just do everything. This is me. I'm bragging on you, William. You know, in early January, we will go to the dirt car banquet, awards ceremony, and there will be hundreds of people there. We'll all be collecting our championship checks. And trophies are everything because the money's gone.

[William Scoggin]

You become.

[Kenny Wallace]

We all become a grandma, grandpa. And you're like, here, kid. You know, look at my trophy. And I'll be damned if it. If it just blew my mind that you, William, you're the one that builds these trophies. I just cannot get over that you do all this stuff. So how in the hell did you start building trophies? You build hundreds, thousands of them.

[William Scoggin]

Sam called me one time. I don't know. I. I got. I can go back and look at my notes. I'm not good on notes anymore. Back in the day, a long, long time ago, he said, hey, can you go some trophies and bring them to me? Someone over and picked them up, and I'm going like, sam, why are you paying this guy? I can do this. So that's kind of how it got started. The biggest problem with the UMP banquet, matter of fact, the IMC banquet may be as big, if not bigger. Yeah, but the UMP banquet is one of the. Either the. The biggest or the second biggest. I've been to both. But. But as far as trophy, it is the biggest because I'm building a six footer, five footer, four footer, three footer. The challenge is not building them because I work all through December, Christmas Day, y' all might be celebrating Christmas. I'm building trophies.

[Kenny Wallace]

That's amazing.

[William Scoggin]

So my routine is I go. I turn on the Christmas lights. Cars start going around. I'm building trophies. I walk out of the trophy room, I make sure all the lights are burning. I go back in, build trophies. I load the trophies up, I go through the Christmas lights. I put them down in that big red building down there. Then I come back up and build more, then take them down there. So I do. It's a process. It's just. It's just a learning game. You just got to do it. But the challenge is getting in there. You got three to 500 trophies. You're trying to get there.

[Kenny Wallace]

Tractor trailer.

[William Scoggin]

No, I just use a regular trailer. But you. And everybody complains, and I. And I agree. I wish I could change them up, too. But you can. I got to get them there. So when you do this, I just move the colors around.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah.

[William Scoggin]

And do the same thing, because that's the only way to get them there. I don't know of any other way of getting them unless you do something less, and I don't want to do anything less, so.

[Kenny Wallace]

Well, the name. The name tag is most important. Who do you use to do? You engrave.

[William Scoggin]

I do that myself.

[Kenny Wallace]

I'll be damn.

[William Scoggin]

Yeah, I get. I do that myself. I do it all here. Nothing. I personally do every. Now the wife does it. Because I suck at spelling. Yeah. And I'm really terrible with. That's why I don't get on Facebook much, because I would be one of them guys that don't know. I just don't have time. I look down and do something right quick, and I move on. I go like, man, I should have probably read that a little better. But I don't have time. I'm. I'm always doing something, so it's just. It's a nightmare when somebody texts me, and I just. I'd rather somebody call me on the phone. We talk. And I still work, you know.

[Kenny Wallace]

William, I want to brag on you a little more here. And Sam Dregger's right. You try to act all country and everything, but, you know, when you look at Dale Earnhardt Senior, the greatest race car driver ever, he quit in the eighth grade. Somehow he learned how to add his money, married a good lady. But, I mean, listen, our dream in life is you go to school, you go to college, and, you know, you're perfect. I. I call it. And forgive me, but I call it the Marilyn Manson song. You know, the Beautiful People. The beautiful people. I mean, it is hard, William, to be perfect. Perfect, Buddy, you're. You are the epitome of a complete badass.

[William Scoggin]

I don't know about that, but let's.

[Kenny Wallace]

Say you might not be able to spell, right? But there's nobody as gangster as you. You get it all done. You make the money. It's America. And you're showing you. I mean, who do you think is the most important person in your life beside you right now? That, of course the wife.

[William Scoggin]

You know, the wife, because she endures everything I endure. And then you got all your employees and everybody and your kids and. And your help and everybody. It takes a whole team to make things work. You cannot do it by yourself. You can't be a macho man and do it by yourself. I. I got a question to ask you. What's the hardest thing to do at a racetrack?

[Kenny Wallace]

When.

[William Scoggin]

But what's the hardest thing to do at a racetrack?

[Kenny Wallace]

For me, as a race car.

[William Scoggin]

Oh, no, as a promoter. What do you think? What do you think the hardest thing to do at a racetrack is?

[Kenny Wallace]

Well, I know I'm not going to answer right, but I'm going to say it. Have a smooth racetrack surface.

[William Scoggin]

No, you can't control that. Some of the weather does that.

[Kenny Wallace]

Get it crowded, Number one, get a crowd.

[William Scoggin]

That's not it either.

[Kenny Wallace]

Weather.

[William Scoggin]

Opening the gates, Getting the gates open is the hardest thing to do.

[Kenny Wallace]

Why? Tell me what.

[William Scoggin]

Once the gates get open, it. It's an animal on its own. It takes its own thing and goes. The problem with opening gates, like I said when we started, you're 15, 20 minutes before and your help don't show up and this person ain't there, and that person ain't there, then you've already let people in. Now you got to run them out. The most hard and stressful thing to do is get the gates open. Once the gates are open, the flow starts working. It's like a. It's like a. Like a chain deal. It's just one chain after another. Just the links just fall right in place until you get to the end. Because I'm a person, once I get that thing started, I'm on to the next thing, so. But getting the gates open to me is the hardest thing to do at. Whether it's a dirt track or asphalt track or anything. It is the hardest thing to do because it's at that point you're trying to put a person here, a person there, a person this, cover that, cover this, cover that. And most people don't think of it that way. They just don't think. Well, all you do is open the gate. Well, it's not that simple.

[Kenny Wallace]

It just, it just struck me odd. It hit me like a ton of bricks. You and Jerry Hoffman, who owns Springfield, Missouri.

[William Scoggin]

Yeah.

[Kenny Wallace]

You are identical. We got. It's like people make fun of me. Wallace is crazy. Yes. I'm crazy. Stay away. You know, you're crazy. Jerry Hoffman's crazy. Us three, we are off center. And for the people and for the people that think they're just perfect, they're losers. They're losers. They work for people. And, you know, they, you know, they got the 401k. You and Jerry Hoffman, you are off centered. And that's what it takes to be successful. What you just told me, I mean, when you talk, you sound just like Jerry Hoffman. It takes a different person to do these dirt tracks because you're dealing with. You're dealing with crazy people.

[William Scoggin]

Does it? Does. And, and I think, I think when we talk about the fan that gets on The Facebook and, and don't. What? Whether we're right, whether we're wrong and they're dogging us out. I'm not gonna ever say I'm perfect because I'm not. But what they don't realize is this is a high stake casino.

[Kenny Wallace]

Oh, good point.

[William Scoggin]

Because let's take, let's take last Saturday night, eighty thousand dollar payout.

[Kenny Wallace]

Jesus.

[William Scoggin]

Saturday night, eighty thousand.

[Kenny Wallace]

Oh my God.

[William Scoggin]

Now what? Most people, and most people never understand that. But again, you do the five times late malls, 10, you got two or 3,000 to wins. Them are five. So you got, and you start adding all this and you got 500 wins. Then we're five times. You add all these five times up. So everybody walks in the gate saying that guy's getting rich. What he don't realize is he's got to pay everyone in the cars to leave. And whether it's a mini stock, a pure mini, a cruiser or a bone stock car, the person running the show, it doesn't matter if it's a super late model or not. It's all the same. We still have to pay them to leave. Now yes, one's more than the other, but it averages it out. So what I've always tried to do is look at the back gate and say, hey, it's going to cost me $130 a car tonight. So if you have a hundred cars, you pay us 13,000 on a normal given regular night. But we are risking what people make two years in one night. Think about it. Two years Saturday night, two years worth of one guy's job. If he makes 40,000 a year, we're doing in six to eight hours. Most people cannot understand or concept that can understand why ticket prices are where they are. We can, we can, we can talk all day about that too. You know, I was 50, 30. So you average 40. So that's how you look at paying the 80. You need 2,000 people to break even. So when you go down these roads and you start doing these numbers and you look at it, yes, I had a good crowd, but it wasn't as good as people think it was. I know the number. I track everything. I've tracked everything for 26 years. I got notebooks of stuff and tried to make it better. So, but when, so when you see these racetracks with these prices out there, every racetrack has different characteristics. What people don't realize. I'm a thousand dollars a week in land tax. Taxes.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah.

[William Scoggin]

One, my, my land taxes are roughly around $50,000. So 52 weeks. This ain't rocket science. That's a thousand dollars a week. My electric bill is $10,000 a month. So when you get people like Bill at Kankakee and says he can't make it on this, I get. Makes sense. What we need is the fans to understand. You go to a football game, you're paying 2, 300 a ticket. You go to a race, you're paying 30, $40 ticket. It's a lot of different stuff and we are risking a lot more than they are. So that's what. That's what I say. These people, our fans and everybody on Facebook needs to understand this is not easy to do. And they are a lot of racetracks that lose money because they just don't have their checks and balances in and. And they want to pay too much. When it's not really about the money in some aspects. Sometimes it is. Most of the time it is not.

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[William Scoggin]

Hey, what does all in one mean?

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[William Scoggin]

So. Clorox Toilet Wand is all I need.

[Kenny Wallace]

To clean a toilet.

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[William Scoggin]

Use as directed.

[Kenny Wallace]

And everybody. That country boy right there, William Scoggin, he just accidentally taught you that he can add. And I. That was a. That was a master class that you just put on and it was normal to you, but you had it figured out. I heard you loud and clear. I got to get 2,000 people in here to break even. William, that was. That was unbelievable. And you know, my hope. My hope is that you become happier. But I also think that, you know, I know you're not gonna. You said you've had two heart attacks. I understand the stress level. I'm your. I'm your biggest fan. My hope for you is to help these other promoters, you know, who knows? You're probably going to build another racetrack.

[William Scoggin]

No, I am not.

[Kenny Wallace]

You're not?

[William Scoggin]

Okay.

[Kenny Wallace]

Let's.

[William Scoggin]

Okay, I'm not doing that.

[Kenny Wallace]

Let's put it to bed, everybody. You're hearing it right here. What do you think? Okay, two years from now, when you're out of there, I think it's going to be two years. What? You said you don't know your next move. I think you should be a consultant for these racetracks. I think you go around America and.

[William Scoggin]

Are you saying, like, bar rescue?

[Kenny Wallace]

You gotta rescue all these racetracks?

[William Scoggin]

Rescue. It's like bar rescue. We gotta do a drama show on. Is that what we gotta do?

[Kenny Wallace]

You're gonna. You're gonna rescue all these racetracks? And what do you think, buddy? What do you think's, you know?

[William Scoggin]

Oh, I am gonna do a couple summer national. I told Sam I'd rent a couple of racetracks. Do a couple.

[Kenny Wallace]

Oh, now we're talking.

[William Scoggin]

Everybody, we've already got that in the works.

[Kenny Wallace]

Good.

[William Scoggin]

Of course everybody has. Text me, you know the guy that bought Paducah? Text me, hey, you need to buy my racetrack. Guy. Camden. Hey, you need to buy my racetrack. No, I don't need to buy another racetrac.

[Kenny Wallace]

The deal with Paducah. I mean, love the facility, but is it, is it in purgatory? That track at times will get big crowds.

[William Scoggin]

And then Adam, Adam is a great person. I thank the world. Adam. I tried. When. When Bob told me he sold it to Adam, I said, well, have Adam come down. We'll. So the first time he ever come down, we were sitting at lunch, and I said, don't buy it.

[Kenny Wallace]

Exactly.

[William Scoggin]

And Bob would kill me if he heard this. I said, don't buy it. I said, don't do it. You're not gonna. He said, oh, I done bought it. I said, okay. I said, first thing you need to do is cut it down. It needs to be cut down. I said, look, I'll give you anything. I personally think, and this is going to contradict some other people, but a racetrack closing down doesn't help. It hurts. Most of your racers are going to quit. They're not going to move to another racetrack. You're going to lose 50% of your racers because they're not going to go to another racetrack.

[Kenny Wallace]

I agree.

[William Scoggin]

So when Paducah went out, I, I hate racetracks going out. I, I. So I told Adam, I said, I will give you anything you need to help you. So I loaned him a sheep's foot. I learned I've done everything good. And I said, I will come to your first night. It was a Friday night drag strip. I suffered Back here. But I went up there, and we're standing there, and everything is going wrong. Because that's just the way it is. Everything kind of goes wrong. So we're standing there, and I said, adam, look out there. Couldn't get them in fast enough. I said, don't. Don't think this is the way it's going to be. This is. This is just. It's gonna die off. I said, you're gonna have this a few weeks, but it's gonna die off. I said, you have got to do things to trigger this, to make it. So we went on, and I got done, and he had a great night. But the problem is, it's just. In my opinion, this is just my opinion. It's too big. It has to be cut down. If he would cut it down, I think. I really do think that he would have a great facility. Not that it ain't great. It's just hard on motors. And I think that was a problem with Bob and everybody. It's just hard on motors. It's got to be cut down. So.

[Kenny Wallace]

So we're coming to the end, everybody. And I. I'm gonna. I'm not gonna sing, but I'm gonna say the words of this song, and I want you to comment on it. Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got till it's gone? They paved paradise and put in a parking lot so you just talked about Paducah. It was. It had been shut down, and then they opened it up, and there was this big crowd because, oh, it's back. It's back. And then a couple weeks go by, and they forget about it again. What is the deal with the human brain that when something's gone, they miss it and they come out, but then they just forget about it and they leave it to die?

[William Scoggin]

I don't know if I can answer that, Kenny. I don't know. I. I don't know if I have a good answer for that. We are. We are as people. Just. The times have changed, you know, I remember. I remember when I bought this place, it was two. We had two street stock features. Now you're lucky to get one. Yes. I mean, so. And I don't think it's anything we have done. I don't think it's anything Adam's done. I think it's just the nature of what we are. If. If I look and I cover every demographic there is in the racing world with everything I do, the dirt track is probably the one suffering the Most, because it's the most work. You know, how long it takes on your car. And these kids nowadays don't want to work. So my midnight madness, it starts around. It starts after the bracket show on the drag strip. And it's all kids in their personal vehicles making trip. I can run 500 times down the drag strip.

[Kenny Wallace]

It's amazing.

[William Scoggin]

You just. You can't imagine how. Because as soon as they get to the traps, I'm sending the next set of cars. And it's different. So the bracket racing is one thing. They hate the midnight madness. The midnight madness hates the bracket. So I got to keep them apart as they're coming in and out. And then you get to the drifting, which is totally different. They hate the donut guys. So you got to. And even about the same, it is really. It's really, really tough to understand these different markets and do these different things. That's why you got to have somebody help you and understand what they need to trigger their. I'm gonna use the drug habit again. Because that's what it is. It's a fix. It's true. It's a fix. So I don't know if I can answer that question of why this or that happens, but you just gotta get in there and you gotta hustle and you gotta. You gotta find the right person, do the right thing.

[Kenny Wallace]

I know for a fact next week I'm gonna talk to you, and you're gonna go, you know what I forgot to say. So as we end up here, my friend, and we celebrate. Now, listen, I know you're getting into Christmas and you got a lot of work to do. I get it. What else about this crazy sport? I say that this. There's this new societal shift. That's the word I use. They say, herman, what has happened to racing? I say, it's really. It's really not the racing's fault. I said, it's this big societal shift. It's like nascar. I don't think it's all nascar. I think it's all these tv. All these TV channels and the phone.

[William Scoggin]

What.

[Kenny Wallace]

What's one of the last things that you can think of in your mind with this new societal shift and watching you survive? What else do you got to say?

[William Scoggin]

Well, I. We can. We can talk about the tv. Just a second. You know, everybody says in our. Our sport, the broadcast, it's killed racing. I'm gonna argue that a little bit on the local level, it is helped. On the touring stuff, it is hurt. So when I. When I say that is I can sit here and watch my tv. Well, there's a guy walking down, he's here and got it on his phone. So he's, he's double dipping. And then I look at the email address and this guy in Washington that can't come watches. So that was a guy I never got. So I, I disagree. The TV hurting, the local deal until you bring the Lucas Oil around or the world outlaw or hunt the front or something. Yes, that's a whole different animal because now summer national, same way we all argued. Hey, we don't want TV in this because it's taken from the gate. Yes, I think in some of that aspect it is. You got a 30 day grind. The, the guy don't want to go every time he can watch it on tv. Not to saying the model's broke, not saying this. We just as racetrack promoters say we need more, more, more. Just like the drivers say they need more, more, more. Yeah, everybody needs more. But I don't think the TV has hurt us as bad as they assume it's hurt us. It only hurts on the bigger shows, not the smaller shows, in my opinion, because I see my numbers and I know where I am. But I just, I think everybody needs to relax on that and learn how to work it together better. In other words, I get everybody thinking they need more money. They need more money because honestly, it has made racing a better aspect with the TV than without it. Yeah.

[Kenny Wallace]

In the long run, I think I'm thinking of my big brother, Rusty Wallace, right now. His, you know, in Rusty's life, it's, it's his wife Patty, and then it's Roger Penske. And Roger, you know, Rusty, Rusty told me I like to emulate my lifestyle after Roger Pinsky. So Roger says, rusty, you got to think big. The most dealerships you can have. So Rusty's now at 10 dealerships and you're telling me you got to pay more? Everything's got to be more, more, more. I got 12 rental homes. I need more so I can get more money per month. Is that where we're at right now? These super late model motors? I talked to Brian Shirley, I talked to all of them. $60,000 for a Ford Durham super late model motor. So now 10,000 win is not enough. Now we're going to 12 grand. So it's more, more, more. I hope I explained myself, everybody's more. More dealerships, more rental homes. That's where we're at.

[William Scoggin]

Yeah, I just, I don't, I don't, I think you got to sit Back and look at the overall picture and understand what helps, what don't help. And I don't think the TV is hurt as bad as everybody thinks. Yes. On the bigger shows, I'm gonna say that, yes, there needs to be an adjustment there so the racetracks can afford to do them. The problem is when you got a Lucas Oil hunt to front, you gotta. And I'm using late models as more of an example than anything. When them guys roll in and you got that five times that purse, plus a sanctioning fee. Yeah. Plus you got to advertise, plus you got your bills. That one. That one set of cars in one 24 set of cars, you're at 70, 75,000 before you know it.

[Kenny Wallace]

God Almighty. Yeah.

[William Scoggin]

And most people can't understand it's hard to do that week after week.

[Kenny Wallace]

Well, there he is, everybody. I believe we did it. He's got. How old are you, William? Really? I'm 62. Yeah, you got. You got a long way to go, buddy.

[William Scoggin]

But I don't know about that.

[Kenny Wallace]

Well, well, listen, congratulations. We're celebrating the racetrack.

[William Scoggin]

You're.

[Kenny Wallace]

You're gonna keep going. Nobody's dead here. I'm not saying that. I'm saying we are celebrating the Clarksville Speedway, and you got another year or so left. But congratulations, my friend.

[William Scoggin]

Well, I appreciate it, and I would like to thank all my family. My family's been a big help. My sister, my brother, they have done it. Anytime I needed something, they come. My employees. You can't do it without employees. Even though sometimes you go like, gosh, I wish I had better employees. But it is what it is. And then the fans. Without the fans, we are nothing. And the drivers and the sponsors, everybody that's helped me along in my career, I. I deeply appreciate it so much. They'll never know how much, because this is not a one person's job. This is ours. I never said I own the racetrack. I said, this is our racetrack. What happens here? Yes, I have to pay the piper, pay the bills, make sure everything going. But really, I never let a guy say, well, it's your race. No, it's our racetrack. So every driver's meeting I went to, I tried to make it where it's. They are a part of it. My drivers made. My driver's meeting are colorful, and I dropped the F word a lot, so. But. But that's the way it is. But I want everybody to have a good time. And at some point, you got to be serious, and sometimes you got to call a guy out. So I hope in my my career I'd done it the best I could. Not saying I could have done better, but after fact you think should have did this, should have did that. There's not a day goes. But I do appreciate everybody and anybody that had a part of this. I couldn't have done it without him.

[Kenny Wallace]

We're in, we're in war, buddy. When, when you're in the heat of the battle, there's nobody cusses more than me. So you're just fine, my friend. Okay everybody, there he is, the great William Scoggin. And as of right now, the signature is on the line. He's got a little bit more to go this winter, but for the most part the Clarksville Speedway is gone.

[William Scoggin]

Come see the Christmas lights. We got two more years of that for sure.

[Kenny Wallace]

That's right everybody. Okay, listen, go ahead William, go ahead somewhere else then you're going to take it somewhere else. Probably into the city of Clarksville, Tennessee. Listen up everybody. As we say at the end of all the time, if you want to see William's pretty face, you can watch us right here on the Kenny Wallace YouTube show. If you want to listen to it as you're driving down Interstate 2464 57, turn on Dirty Mo Media and you'll listen to it there on podcast until the next Kenny conversation. We'll see you next time everybody. Goodbye. Check out Dirty on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram.

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