Unity Raceway owner Ralph Nason said he has thought about racing on Friday night instead of Saturday night for “four or five years.”

It will become a reality next season.

The Friday night racing will also replace the Thursday night entry-level race card.

He said he will “consolidate” the Thursday and Saturday night divisions into one Friday night program with “six or seven classes.”

The state’s other four tracks have their primary race nights on Saturday. Some also have midweek racing for entry-level drivers.

“By racing on Friday, that frees up the weekend for the family. They can do a lot of other things with their families. It also gives them a first crack at a paycheck. If they want, they can go racing somewhere else on Saturday night. It’s a win-win situation,” said Nason.

Nason said he will reduce prices for admission and for pit passes.

He added that he will push the starting time back from 7:00 to 7:30 p.m. so drivers will have more time to get from work to the track.

“I’m sure if they want to race, they’ll get there,” said Nason.

Nason said when they raced on Thursday nights, they used to attract drivers from the other tracks. He feels that trend will continue on Friday nights.

“I think we’ll have damned good fields on Friday night,” said Nason.

He said in the classes with 15 cars or less, they’ll ditch the heat races and just have the feature race.

Nason said their Thursday night cards did very well, attendance-wise and in the car counts. But they struggled on Saturday night in both areas.

“We made money on Thursdays and spent it on Saturday,” said Nason.

The decision has been met with mixed reviews from drivers.

“I’d rather stay with Saturday night racing,” said Starks’ Steve Rackliff, who won the Pro-Four points championship this past season. “I like the tradition. And I like to rest up on Friday and get ready for Saturday. I don’t have a lot of time to work on my car during the week so I spend Friday nights getting it ready.”

However, he also noted that “I can race at Unity on Friday and at another track on Saturday.

“I’ll try it [at Unity] for a few weeks and then try another track on Saturday and see how it works,” said Rackliff.

Rackliff said he knows of at least four regulars who won’t be racing at Unity Raceway.

“They don’t get out of work until 6:30 or 7 and they just can’t do it,” he said.

Corinna’s Andy Migliore, who won the Wildcat points title, said he likes the idea although he won’t be racing this season. Migliore’s wife just had their second child so he is going to take some time off from racing.

He said racing on Friday night “would have been good for me. It would free up my Saturdays.

“And most weddings and everything else [of that nature] are held on Saturdays. You wouldn’t have to miss as much racing on Friday nights,” added Migliore.

Migliore also said, “Real racers want to race as much as possible and, this way, you can race at a couple of tracks on a weekend.”