Eddie Shoemaker, the new manager of Mobile International Speedway, wants to get drivers on the track again after the Irvington half-mile oval has gone almost two months without racing.

“Our first goal is to get our racers back on the racetrack,” Shoemaker said in a statement released by Mobile International Speedway. “Everybody needs to buckle up!

“We are working with all the people it takes to make racing happen, and we should have an announcement soon on when we will return to racing and what our schedule will be for the rest of the 2023 season.”

The owner of MAECO Fabrication in Grand Bay, Shoemaker also is the operator of U.S. 90 Dragway, which is adjacent to Mobile International Speedway. He was announced as MIS’ new operator on Sunday.

Shoemaker takes control of Mobile International Speedway from Gina Schild-Knowles, who became the track’s operator in 2021.

MIS hasn’t had racing since April 1 after two rainouts in April and two cancellations in May.

Opened in 1965, Mobile International Speedway was owned and operated by Lee Fields and his wife, Ida Fields, for its first 35 years. NASCAR Hall of Fame members Bobby Allison, Red Farmer and Rusty Wallace raced at MIS, NASCAR truck series winners Rick Crawford, Cale Gale and Grant Enfinger are former track champions as is 2022 NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott, and the most recent winner at the track is current short-track star Bubba Pollard.

Since the turn of the century, Mobile International Speedway has had a variety of managers.

“Once we get ‘The Fastest Fun Around’ back on the track, we will start working on the infrastructure at the speedway,” Shoemaker said. “We will use the same approach we have at the dragstrip, constantly improving the facility while we race, making it better for our competitors and our fans.”