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Dixie Motor Speedway fans had better get strapped in for the Fully Loaded Friday nights that the new Manager and Promoter, Jeff Parish, has planned for 2009.

"We have our weekly competitors that put on outstanding shows," Jeff said. "We also do Eve of Destruction events and many travelling series.  Supers, Auto Value Super Sprints, Auto Value Michigan Legends, Short Track Trucks, MCR Dwarfs, GLS Super Cups, VROA Mods and other various events.  We have also had some modified driver interest in a few retro short track events.  So, we have some of those on the card as well.  Racing at Dixie in '09 will have something for the race fan in all of us."

Through the years, Jeff has been involved in almost every aspect of racing.  He's built race cars, built a few motors, spent about a decade or so customizing and restoring autos, written a few how-to books about racing, and managed a few tracks.

"I have built a lot of race cars from the ground up," Jeff said. "That's my favorite part of the sport.  I just don't have the time to pursue it anymore."

Jeff's all-time favorite driver is Alan Kulwicki, the 1992 Winston Cup Champion and one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers.

"I admired his reverse engineering style of figuring out what was going on with his car," Jeff said. "I like 'thinkers' in racing."

Jeff also remembers his favorite local short track heroes, what they mean to the sport and how important they are to the community.

"Growing up, we always had our local short track heroes," Jeff said. "Mike Eddy, Roger Avram, Tom Roseborough, MG Moll, Frank Seder, Jay Woolworth, Eddie Hayden, Buck Harsen, Tony Brabbs...there were nights when those guys were larger than life, and when you met them off the track it was special.  Racing was an escape, a place to watch your heroes at work.  We at Checkered Flag Promotion are going to make a concerted effort into getting racing headed back towards it's roots.  Our kids in the community need an escape from the world. We would love to lead our community back in that direction."

Dixie may be under new management, but it will be running under the same set of rules as last year.

"There were some very minor changes...," Jeff said. "With the economic climate the way that it is, we felt it was best for the classes to stay the same this year.  Our long term plan will be a closer and closer migration of the rules between Dixie and Owosso, but we are a ways from that and will proceed very slowly, to have the smallest impact on the classes.  When I was racing, I never appreciated rule changes much.  Rule changes usually created unexpected expenses for me.  We will always use that as a criteria for any decision."

Jeff and his wife Pam leased Dixie Motor Speedway on January 1, 2009.  They saw tremendous growth at Owosso Speedway last year and hope to  increase Dixie's strength by adding their form of community building to the well established racing program at Dixie.

The Checkered Flag Promotion team values their racing fans and considers their support to be a blessing.

"Everyday I encounter people with a passion for this track (Dixie)," Jeff said. "We are looking forward to them being part of our racing family this season!"