Baptist family makes Bible
the policy manual for Boyd track
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___BOYD--Linda Plato knows just the moment when owning a dirt track became fun. It was when her track manager and son raised his Bible above his head and told the drivers that would be the policy manual for the track.
___Plato and her husband, David, were not really looking to buy a race track when they purchased the Boyd Speedway in 1997. That inspiration came from above.
___"God led us there," she said. "We've always been around racing of some sort--my husband and I met at a race track. But we were not looking to buy a race track. We just wanted a business we could work with our kids and leave to them as a legacy."
___The first three years of their new venture did not go as planned, however.
___"We sensed that God wanted us to do something special with the place, but the first three years we were there were very difficult. The business was difficult. The employees were difficult. The drivers were difficult. The kids even started fighting.
___"Last year we did enjoy it, though," she said. "After we backed up and decided we were going to run the place by God's principles, everything started to be more fun."
___Her son set a new pace last year at the first drivers' meeting.
___"He stood up before all those drivers and held his Bible up in the air and said: 'Guys, we're going to stop some of the stuff that's going on around here. Do you guys know what this is? This is the Bible, and this is the standard by which we're going to run this track this year. If you don't like that, you can leave."
___A few drivers did leave, "but we haven't missed a one of them," she said.
___The difference at the track has been remarkable, Plato said. Drivers now are encouraged to bring their families into the pits. Some of the traffic areas have been rerouted to make it safer for the children. A number of drivers have become Christians over the year, mainly through the efforts of Christian drivers who already were there.
___"It's not really been through any ministry we've done other than clearing the air of all the other stuff that used to be in the pits," she said. "Once we let it be known that this was Christ's place, it's just been easier for Christian drivers to share their faith--to go to one of the others and say, 'Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior?' They had always been there, but there just was not a climate where they could be more obvious about their faith."
___Plato admits some drivers still drink and use bad language.
___"We didn't run them off; we didn't want to that. We just want them to play by our rules. We have segregated them in the pits, though. We told them, 'All you guys that want to drink, y'all go to the other end of the pits,' and they did."
___Another thing that surprisingly helped the morale of the track was to cut the prize money. Plato believes that made the drivers who would do anything to win go elsewhere.
___"We cut the purses for two reasons: One, we weren't making any money, but the second reason was we had guys out here who were doing it to make money. At this level, it has to be a hobby, one where you know you're going to spend five dollars for every one you make. We thought if we cut the purses the people who were here for the wrong reason would leave, and they did."
___Plato, a member of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church No. 2 in Wise County, said the track tries to work with churches in the area. They are always open to youth groups looking for a place of ministry, and once a year they have a youth group night when area churches can bring their teenagers in without charge.
The Baptist Standard
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