Monroe, WASHINGTON – May 26, 2021 – Evergreen Speedway is known for its local community involvement and successful partnerships with regional companies. One of the success stories of recent years on that score has been Granite Construction (Granite) joining the Evergreen Speedway family as title sponsors of the hugely popular Super Sprint Car Series.
Granite’s involvement at Evergreen Speedway is the brainchild of Snohomish-based Mark Ottele. Born and raised in the Seattle area, Mark is a Senior Project Manager for the Pacific Northwest Region of Granite, a heavy-civil construction company, based in Watsonville, California, delivering infrastructure solutions throughout the nation.
A graduate of the University of Washington, Mark has always been involved with employee morale and team building events at Granite and has also been a regular at the track for many years. A few years ago, while attending a race, Mark recognized the high attendance of construction workers in the crowd at the race track and cleverly put two and two together. We caught up with him last week to tell us about Granite’s association with Evergreen Speedway and this is where he picks up the story.
“It just kind of hit me, why aren’t we here,” he said, recalling that weekend a few years ago as a patron in the grandstands. “So after Saturday’s racing I went management at Granite and said, ‘We should be at the race track’. I started calling the track to figure out what that involvement would look like. We’re very active in the community in other ways, we’re always recruiting and I know some of the racers. It’s good exposure and a fun deal for all of us.”
Granite began sponsoring a “Night at the Races” for all employees and this year’s edition of the event is on June 19 but Mark wanted to go further, “We need a car to cheer on! We need to see a Granite sticker on a car.”
A family connection to Cameron Neisinger led to sponsoring his car which led to sponsoring the Sprint Car Series as a whole. After interning with Granite, Cameron now works for Granite full-time as an engineer.
Mark concluded by pointing out how the wonderful spirit among racers at Evergreen Speedway reflects Granite’s own company values, “I’ve been around the pits and got to know some of the teams. I noticed that the Sprint car guys are always helping each other which mirrors our culture at Granite – helping each other, comradery and high integrity. It really made sense to get involved with the Sprint Car Series particularly. We like being involved with the local community and so does the track. Doug and Traci are great to work with and it’s an honor to work with the Sprint Car teams. It’s been crazy but it’s been fun.”
Granite’s ‘Night at the Races’ at Evergreen is on June 19 with over 300 employees, friends and family will be in attendance to enjoy a terrific night out and fully catered meals. In 2021 Granite Super Sprint Series races are scheduled for June 19, July 3, August 7, September 4 and September 25.
The extraordinary looking “flying wedge” Super Sprint Cars are one of the most popular series on the circuit and make for very exciting racing. In 2020 Randy DuBois was crowned Granite Super Sprints Champion with 220 points while Chase Goetz edged out Even Margeson for the runners-up spot by one point, 209 to 208.
This year’s Championship got underway May 22 and saw a win for Troy DeCaire driving the Mike Newman owned Hurricane Chassis to victory. Taking advantage of an outside starting position, DeCaire went high on the start. After following second placed Randy Dubois for several laps he made the pass and set sail chasing race leader Even Margeson. After Margeson jumped the lights twice in a restart after a red flag, DeCaire had the front row to himself for the final two lap shootout and won comfortably in the end. DeCaire won from Dubois, Jake Mann and Thomas Richardson.
It promises to be just as exciting and we can excuse Mark for giving a special cheer should Cameron’s Granite sponsored car come home first!
About Granite Construction: As a diversified construction and construction materials company and a full-suite provider in the transportation, water infrastructure and mineral exploration markets, Granite delivers Infrastructure Solutions for public and private clients throughout the Americas. Locally, Granite brings over 100 years in heavy-civil contracting experience in the Pacific Northwest, from developing greenfield data centers in rural Quincy to constructing the Seattle Waterfront. Granite is an industry-leader in safety and an award-winning firm in quality and sustainability.
About Evergreen Speedway: Established in 1954, Evergreen Speedway has a rich history in racing. For 60+ years, amateurs, aspiring professionals and seasoned veterans alike have raced at Evergreen, including 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion Kevin Harvick, David Pearson, Bill Elliott, Sterling Marlin, Derrike Cope and Hershel McGriff. Today, Evergreen is recognized as the marquee racing facility in the Northwest region and a noted training ground for tomorrow’s racing stars. The facility hosts over 130 events annually and attracts over 270,000 fans each year. Evergreen Speedway is home to experiences from motorsports to concerts to rodeos to festivals with covered grandstand seating for up to 7,500 fans rain-or-shine, with additional uncovered seating for 5,000. Proudly the only NASCAR track in the Pacific Northwest, Evergreen Speedway is a gem to the region and deep roots with local communities.
