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ALICIA CALDWELLAlthough the greyhound track has a new president, management promises to stick with tradition.
ST. PETERSBURG - Change comes slowly at a place like Derby Lane.
The same family has owned the St. Petersburg greyhound race track since 1925. Employees stay for decades. Since the beginning, handlers have walked dogs in figure-8s in pre-race parades.
But this week there was a changing of the guard at the country's oldest continuously operated dog track.
At a board meeting Thursday of the family-owned company, Art Weaver retired as president after 23 years. His son, Vey O. Weaver, 48, was promoted to take his place, adding president to his general manager title.
"I'm stepping back, but I'm not stepping out," said Weaver, 76, who lives in Tierra Verde and will retain his position as chairman of the board.
At other companies, a change at the top might signal a different direction. And why not at Derby Lane? After all, developers and real estate speculators have long eyed the 100-acre parcel, perched just off Gandy Boulevard on the edge of Tampa Bay. Moreover, on-track betting has been steadily declining, mirroring a national trend.
Might they consider selling the facility?
"No, we're going to keep playing with it," Art Weaver said casually as he sat on a couch Friday morning in his son's office overlooking the track.
"We're not changing anything," added Vey Weaver.
Part of the reason the track still makes financial sense is Derby Lane's popularity in Internet and simulcast betting. For the track's 2002 fiscal year, which ended June 30, nearly $140-million was wagered on Derby Lane races, said Vey Weaver. About $74-million of that was on-track betting - people who walked up to the windows at the track and made a wager. The rest came from newer, technology-based sources.
"We're handling more money than we ever did," Vey Weaver said. "Betting is just happening in people's homes."
Technology isn't the only development that recent times have brought to the greyhound racing industry. Canine illness and animal rights protesters have come and gone as well. Derby Lane has been closed twice since 1999 as greyhounds battled kennel cough and pneumonialike illnesses.
"I've seen a lot of good times and I've seen a lot of bad," said Art Weaver.
Chuck Marriott, who races 180 dogs at three Florida dog racing tracks including Derby Lane, said Derby Lane is the preeminent dog track in the country. He ascribed that to forthright relationships management has maintained with dog owners and customers, the partnerships Derby Lane has formed to take advantage of off-track betting revenue, and the cleanliness and appearance of the track.
"They've always wanted it to be a showplace," said Marriott, of St. Petersburg, who is president of the National Greyhound Association, an industry group based in Abilene, Kan.
Louise B. Weaver, Derby Lane's historian and great-grandaughter of T.L. Weaver, who acquired the track in 1925, said the gardens, the tradition and the stability of track operations are part of its charm.
"We are evolving," she said. "We are taking on new types of products to compete as best we can because there are new forms of gambling available. But otherwise you can be sure not much will change at Derby Lane."
- Alicia Caldwell can be reached at Alicia@sptimes.com or 727893-8145