New Chapter Begins for NYIR
George Pease - March 4, 2008
 February 22, 2008 Lancaster, NY -
Vito & Sylvia
Antonicelli of Lancaster, New York, announced that they
have purchased New York International Raceway Park in
Leicester, New York from Bob & Donna Metcalfe. The
premier race track which is nestled in Livingston County
on over 345 acres has played host to many IHRA
national events during its tenure along with weekly
bracket racing. Centered between Buffalo and
Syracuse, NYIRP is one of the premier race tracks in the
Northeast that also draws racers and fans from nearby
Pennsylvania and southern Ontario. The Empire
Nationals was one of IHRA’s most successful events on
the tour with over 700 racers and well over 30,000
spectators attending each day. The new owners have
indicated a desire to return the track to national and possible divisional event status in the near future.
One thing is for certain, they will be IHRA sanctioned and will be a part of the Summit Super Series
program which qualifies NYIRP to send a team to the bracket finals this year at Pittsburgh Raceway
Park.
Vito and Sylvia live in Lancaster, NY with their children Victoria and David. Vito owns and
operates Vito Antonicelli Race Cars in Cheektowaga, N.Y. a complete race car chassis and fabrication
business. Sylvia operates Complete 360 which is a book keeping business. Some of the finest race
cars have come out of his chassis shop including his personal Top Sportsman ‘63 Corvette’s which
won Best Appearing and Best Engineered awards. He also won an IHRA Iron Man in Top
Sportsman competition a few years ago at Toronto Motorsports Park. The family and crew bracket
race weekly at Lancaster Dragway and NYIRP when not attending an IHRA event.
Being racers, they know first hand what it takes to make a race track grow and prosper. “Our first
priority is to make everyone at NYIRP feel welcome,” said Antonicelli. “Sylvia and I want to offer the
racers and fans a safe and consistent race track with skilled and personable people who really put our
customers first. I know everyone would like to see the Empire Nationals return and I really hope that
within a short period of time, it will happen. Right now we just want to concentrate on getting prepared
for the 2008 season. We will keep most of the existing race programs intact for now including honoring
the ‘Bob’s Buck’s” program for last season’s winners and make some notable improvements in 2008.
Our goal is to make NYIRP one of the premier race tracks in the region. The racers and fans in this area
are remarkable and we have some of the best cars and drivers in the country. We want to capitalize on
that by giving them a place to call their second home, “ he continued.
The opening date is scheduled for April 19-20, 2008 and a drivers meeting will be held on
March 7, 2008 at the Holiday Inn in Batavia, NY from 7-10pm so that the drivers can meet the new
owners. Please feel free to call (716) 684-2205 for more information.
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