CONCORD, N.C. — Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf will not force dirt-track racing venues in the state to close amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak across the United States.
Wolf confirmed the news during a virtual press conference where members of the media sent in questions for Wolf and his team of advisors to answer. The press conference was streamed online.
The exact wording of the question, as asked by reporter Allie Berube from ABC 27 in Harrisburg, Pa., was, “Three mid-state dirt tracks ran races as scheduled this weekend with thousands of fans in attendance. The promoters have said they will not cancel races unless forced to by the government. Will you force this business to cancel races and what is your message to the fans who attended races this weekend?”
In Wolf’s response to the question, he urged promoters and race fans to take the health and safety of each other into consideration before attending races in Pennsylvania.
“No, I’m not going to force them to cancel,” Wolfe said. “This is something that, again, all of us, 12.8 million Pennsylvanians, are in this together. We owe it to each other not to expose them to any symptoms that we might have or to not expose ourselves or our family members. People will be making their decisions what they do with their lives all across the Commonwealth for the next days and weeks and months.
“What we ought to do is think not what should we do in terms of what the law is, but what we should do in terms of what we owe to our fellow citizens. That is what I would ask of the folks at the race course.”
Three Pennsylvania race tracks — Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown, Pa., Port Royal Speedway and Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa. — were all active last weekend. All three tracks are scheduled to be in action again this weekend.
Gov. Wolf says he will NOT force race tracks to close, while also ordering statewide shutdown amid COVID-19 outbreak.
Adds “this is not the government mandating anything, this is your fellow public servant telling you what the right way to handle this public health crisis.” pic.twitter.com/0v8VJSu3ro
— Allie Berube (@allieberube) March 16, 2020