SEPTEMBER 2017 14 | FRONTDOORSMEDIA .COM

SEPTEMBER 2017 FRONTDOORSMEDIA .COM | 15 supporting fundraising events, said he wanted to hit the “pause button” and determine how they can engage the community “in a more robust way and like we’ve never done before.” He asked his senior team members how they felt about creating an even greater impact on the community by having them serve on nonprofit boards. The idea, Sperber said, was not a hard sell for his team at the Raceway, which has supported dozens of charities in the Valley over the years via Phoenix Raceway Charities. “Everybody was really excited about doing it,” he said. “So I think we’ve got five or six of my senior people now on a variety of different boards and a lot of it is tailored to their personal tastes, where they have a passion.” Members of his team have since become embedded in organizations across the Valley, from the Boy Scouts to the Grand Canyon Association to Playworks, a nonprofit that seeks to transform children’s social and emotional health via the power of play, which is hosting a fundraiser at the track called Run the Raceway. “I couldn’t have asked for a better scenario where the timing is right, the project’s gaining attention and now, because of our senior staff being so much more engaged in the community, events to host at the Raceway become more possible,” he said. Phoenix Raceway, the venue with a grandstand capacity of about 45,000, hosts two NASCAR weekends and one IndyCar Series race weekend annually, one of just 13 facilities on the NASCAR schedule to host more than one race weekend per year. It has been a part of the motorsports scene since 1964 with the biggest names in all of racing gracing its track, from Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson to Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Davey Allison. The new venue will boast a tunnel that connects the midway to the infield, an upgraded club, 32 renovated and 19 new suites, new escalators and elevators, new souvenir areas, a new infield Fanzone, new guest services and ticketing building and technology updates throughout that include free Wi-Fi and flat-screen TVs. Every part of the current venue will be touched, except the track. Sperber, who grew up in the south and spent significant time as an adult in New York at Watkins Glen International race track where he served as president, did not have a full appreciation of how motor racing is embraced in the Valley when he arrived on the scene in 2002. He was impressed by the diversity of the fans and the enthusiasm for the sport. “When I first got out here I thought, ‘Wow this is an incredible motorsports market and it probably doesn’t get the attention nationally it deserves for being a mecca for motor racing,’” he said. Since coming to the Valley, Sperber has seen racing undergo some key changes. “Our sport in general has been on an incredible trajectory,” he said. “I remember COVER STORY CONTINUED LEFT TOP PHOTO Photo: Getty Images. On April 4, 1993, Mario Andretti earned his last race win of his career at Phoenix Raceway, his 100th overall, and became the oldest winner in the sport and only driver to win in four different decades. 2018 will mark the 25th Anniversary of this race. LEFT BOTTOM PHOTO Photo: Phoenix Raceway. Jeff Gordon celebrates his first Cup Series win at Phoenix Raceway. The win tied him with the late Dale Earnhardt on the all-time wins list with 76 career Cup Series victories. Gordon celebrated with a victory lap around the oval while holding a flag with Dale Earnhardt’s famous No. 3.