Racing season is back across West Michigan.
Berlin Raceway will drop the green flag on its 71st season of racing this Saturday night.
"I'm anxious, certainly, but more than anything, just excited to get the season underway," said Jeff Striegle, the new General Manager at Berlin.
Striegle is a Grand Rapids native who has been the voice of Motor Racing Network for the past 24 years.
He took over as the track's next GM in February and went straight to work.
"I think the first thing we had to do was take inventory and figure out what we had, what was working, what we didn't have, and what we needed," he said.
And he wanted to put fan experience at the forefront.
"Obviously, there's some big construction projects that we wanted to do too just to enhance the fan experience."
That includes the new Brickyard Lounge on the main concourse, which is still under construction but will soon provide fans with an entirely new experience at the track.
"When we're done racing, we want to hold the fans here and give them something else to do," mentioned Striegle, "we've got a fire-pit, a brand new bar, we'll have lights, music, and a stage."
Not much is changing on the track itself other than an expansion to the mini wedge track which will be used for smaller divisions to race.
"It allows us to race a number of different types of cars that have never raced out here before, a legend, a bandolero, go-karts."
It's a lot of work to get done before cars hit the track on Saturday night.
"We probably won't have everything done by the 17th but as we work into the 24th and then May 1st when Kenny Wallace is here, we figure we should be in pretty good shape by then."
The track is allowed to hold 2,000 fans due to COVID-19 restrictions, in accordance with state orders, which adds up to nearly 20-percent of capacity.
They will also follow all state orders and have been in constant contact with the Ottawa County Health Department.
"We will sellout before Saturday so we'd hate for someone to show up here on Saturday wanting to buy a general admission ticket."
For a full schedule of events at Berlin Raceway or to purchase tickets for Saturday's Ice Breaker, click here.
