SALEM — After their contract with the Quaker City Raceway was not renewed, the owners of Core Promotions promised the Steel Valley Super Nationals would still be held and would be returning to another community. Promoters Corey Ward and Brian Caiazza are announcing the return of the event to the Canfield and Boardman area. Next summer, the event to be called the Stadium GM Superstore Steel Valley Super Nationals will be held at the Canfield Fairgrounds the weekend of June 25-27. It will be the first time the event has been held in Canfield under the Core Promotions Group, which purchased the event from the Dave and Ed promotional company, the group that hosted the event in Canfield for 25 years. Caiazza said Core Promotions will be celebrating its fifth Steel Valley Super Nationals back in Canfield, where they have been welcomed back and the event can be very large. “It will be a lot bigger with more vendors and we’ll be able to fit a lot more people,” Caiazza said of the Canfield show. “The after party will be much larger. Everybody is happy.” When asked whether the need to go in a different direction after the contract was not offered again in Salem was working out well, Caiazza said, “It was always going to work out.” The weekend will feature people from all over the nation enjoying cool cars and thrill shows. The three-day weekend estimates to draw crowds of over 20,000, along with over 2,000 hot rods, street machines, motorcycles,and muscle car participants. Not only does this event feature the best of the past, present, and future in vehicles, Caiazza said, but the latest in the aftermarket industry at the performance marketplace, burnout competition, Miss Super Nationals contest, family fun zone, main stage, food, games and more. Many new features will be added as the Super Nationals return to Canfield. The after party cruise will again be held in the Boardman area and with a couple of Salem faces leading the event. Core Promotions announced its intention to again team up with Community Promotions to host the after party, the same group led by Mike Grimstad and Barb Weikart-Kuder which hosted the party in Salem. “We were very pleased with our arrangement with them,” Caiazza said of Grimstad and Weikart-Kuder. “They always did everything they said they were going to do. We were happy to work with them at the new location.” Weikart-Kuder said Wednesday night that Community Promotions was happy to be helping with the after party event. “We’ve had a good working relationship and the after party enhances their event,” she said. “They asked us if we would assist with that one. It made sense for us to do that.” At the same time, she said they continue to look at ways to bring events to Salem and are disappointed about the loss of the Steel Valley Super Nationals event to Salem. “It is really unfortunate the mayor did what he did to force the event to go out of the area, because it really is a boon to the area,” Weikart-Kuder said
