SOUTHWICK – It has been a strange few weeks for area motocross enthusiasts following a bombshell revelation that this will be the Town of Southwick’s last summer of playing in “The Sandbox.”
Motocross 338, dubbed “The Sandbox” by local fans and competitors alike, will be closing its gates at the end of the summer. With its signature event, the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, running next week for the 35th and final time, laying to rest a Southwick institution which has been in operation for the better part of four decades.
“We’ve had a contract with National for the past 35 years,” said Ralph Pitello, who runs the summer race circuit at the track with his wife, Diane. He also said the decision to discontinue events at the facility is mostly based on finances, in an exclusive interview with The Westfield News.
“Money has a lot to do with it.” said the retired Pitello, who spends much of his time working with the Knights of Columbus, while his wife works as a physical therapist at the Wellness Center in Springfield. “(National) has certain requirements for it’s courses, and we would need to make improvements for the course to keep hosting their events.”
Motocross racing has grown immensely in popularity since the inception of the track in the ’70s, when the American Motorcyclist Association began using the facility for its professional motocross tour.
Pitello says that National wants to make the necessary improvements to the track and, if another group were to take over running the course, events could very well continue at the legendary venue again.
American Legion Post 338, the owners of the facility, are hoping to continue hosting events at the track, according to a statement from their executive board. However, as the sport has grown, beloved facilities such as Motocross 338 have become relics of a time gone by.
“With TV packages today, this track can’t accommodate,” said Pitello, before mentioning that older motocross events in states like Michigan and newer events like the one in Tennessee last year routinely draw between 20 and 25,000 person crowds. “Last year, we had maybe 12,000 at our big event.”
In a way, Motocross 338 has gone the way of another iconic yet antiquated New England sports arena, Boston’s Fenway Park.
Home of the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball for over a century, Pitello believes the comparison is apt, but only so much.
“Because of Fenway’s location in Boston, it couldn’t grow outward, so it grew upward instead.” He said, referencing the park’s recent expansion seating. “(The Southwick track) would have to grow outward.”
Indeed, in an effort to increase the safety of riders and spectators alike, the facility’s renovations would have to increase the size of the track, which would require the purchasing of additional property.
“It would be like the Big E,” Pitello said of West Springfield’s revered fall expo. “As it grew, the organization made the improvements and purchased more property.”
As the sport has become more and more popular, four tracks have been built in the six New England states during Southwick’s reign as the supreme course in the region. Two of those courses are located in Templeton and Wareham, Massachusetts.
With word coming from Worcester county that Keith Goyette, a Southwick promoter and former racer at 338, has approached the Town of Warren to construct a new course on land he recently purchased there, Pitello believes that the potential construction of a new track in Warren could affect future racing in Southwick.
But at this present time, Pitello and his wife are content.
“We’re close to retirement age, and it’s time to pass it on,” said Pitello. “We’re looking forward to being spectators again.”
