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A call to the post They're off and running, thanks to Ron Crockett By Bill Knight SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER NATIONAL SPORTS CORRESPONDENT UBURN -- In a sport that survives on gambling, Ron Crockett has bet $82 million on Emerald Downs. Once considered a longshot to make it to the starting gate, the Seattle businessman's new racetrack may take years to pay off. But thousands in the state's horse racing industry, slowed to a crawl for 3-1/2 years, hail Crockett for resurrecting their livelihoods and bringing live racing back to the Puget Sound area. The opening of Emerald Downs in rural Auburn is proof of Crockett's unrelenting determination to revive a sport that nearly died after Longacres closed in September 1992. "There are a lot of gambles in this sport and Ron Crockett made the biggest gamble of all, right here with this track," said Tom Michaelson, a veteran parimutuel clerk. "He dug into his pockets and without him this would not have happened, no question." Junior Coffey, well known as a University of Washington football star before becoming a horse trainer, had been pessimistic about the sport's future here. Crockett changed Coffey's mind. "We didn't figure anyone would take a chance on building another track," Coffey said. "I don't think you can measure what he's done for this industry. When I saw this place for the first time I felt the same euphoria of playing for the NFL title with the Packers in 1965." A recent edition of Washington CEO, a regional business publication, featured a cover photograph of Crockett with the headline: "RACING'S SAVIOR." Few in the sport would argue, considering the acrimony and conflict surrounding his effort to build the track. Two major federal agencies opposed putting the track at the Auburn site. Crockett was reviled and condemned by editorial writers and newspaper columnists from most major publications in the area for pushing an impossible project. Cartoonists had a field day harpooning Crockett, his vision and the racing commission. It's different now, with the track ready for opening day. "We set out to save an industry," Crockett said recently from the Emerald grandstand, Mount Rainier looming in the background. "It's obvious now that we will. We get a good feeling from those whose sport, their occupation, is back. That's the most important thing." Crockett is a local product. He went to Renton High School and the University of Washington and worked at Boeing before building an airplane overhaul and maintenance company from six mechanics to 700 employees. Like most of the 31 Emerald Downs investors, he is a horseman who understands the racing game. He owns more than 60 thoroughbreds. Barbara Shinpoch, who heads the Washington State Horse Racing Commission, thinks the sport and the racing industry, which includes breeding farms as well as trainers, jockeys and track employees, owe much to Crockett. "Without him, without his total dedication, I don't think the sport would have come back," Shinpoch said. "I'm so grateful he was at the helm. He stuck with it, even when the budget went from $51 million to $82 million. There were at least 10 different times when I wouldn't have blamed him if he'd just walked away. "He jumped through every hoop everybody put in front of him, and he paid the bill." Horse racing, once the only form of legal gambling, has been confronted by increasing competition in recent years from state lotteries, tribal casino wagering and off-track betting. Many tracks have struggled. Some have closed. "This business isn't a license to print money anymore, there's so much competition for the gambling dollar," Shimpoch said. "It took somebody with (Crockett's) commitment and money to stay it through." Shinpoch firmly believes Crockett's prime motive in pushing foward with the new racing plant was to save the industry. "He and the other investors could have made a lot more money with less risk investing it otherwise." Crockett's willingness to commit so much money in the present business environment of horse racing is based on what he feels is this region's unique situation. Unlike the conditions in Minnesota and Texas, where tracks flopped, the sport here has a long history with deep roots. Longacres ran for 59 years and its founder, Joe Gottstein, pushed to develop a strong breeding program to support racing. After Longacres closed, live racing was conducted at Yakima and fed by satellite to off-track venues around the state. The handle at the betting windows averaged more than $700,000. That's a huge head start, more than 50 percent, toward matching the $1.2 million betting action in the final seasons at Longacres. Crockett thinks another 20 percent of fans who didn't go to off-track betting spots or drive to Yakima will return for live racing. "Take any business where you feel you've got 70 or 75 percent of the goal going in, that's a pretty enviable position," he said. Crockett grew up in Renton, but he didn't have any close ties to nearby Longacres, such as mucking out stalls or selling hot dogs during summer vacation. His father was an auto mechanic, and the family originally moved to the Northwest from Italy to work in the coal mines. Growing up, Crockett was a school leader, a top student and a high school basketball player. He had a 3.8 GPA and was student body president in junior high and at Renton High School. He helped Renton make it to the state basketball tournament. Crockett received a partial academic scholarship at the University of Washington and worked part-time as a draftsman at Pacific Car to help pay college expenses. After getting a mechanical engineering degree, class of 1962, he worked for seven years at Boeing and then established his own business. The firm, Tramco, started with a half-dozen mechanics in 1970, focused on overhauling and maintaining airplanes. Growing steadily, it had nearly 700 employees when the company was sold to B.F. Goodrich in 1988. Crockett stayed for three years as chief executive officer. His loyalty to the UW is expressed in more than words. He is one of about 50 people who have donated more than $1 million to the school. Crockett also headed the Tyee Executive Committee, an advisory board to Athletic Director Barbara Hedges, and has been active in the School of Business, occasionally going into the classroom to share his expertise and insight with graduate students. Business associates credit Crockett's commitment and intensity with his success. He relates that to being a problem solver. He doesn't duck conflict. "I like the solutions to problems. When conflict comes about, I'm not adverse to it. So many people who bump into conflict stop. Something drives them away. I thrive on having a situation that needs a solution." He needed a wide range of solutions to get permits to build the track, but he persevered. "The most frustrating thing was dealing with the bureaucracy when they said, 'We don't write the laws, we just enforce them.' They said the same thing even when they bumped into something that seemed illogical to them. We would sit in those meetings and say, 'Look, we'll do whatever this room wants collectively, but tell us,' and we'd get four or five different answers. That's not good enough for me." Crockett was most irritated by opposition within the racing industry, "a small cluster, a selfish few, that did things behind our backs and threw up roadblocks that impeded getting the project done." That anxiety does not include the state racing commission. He calls Shinpoch a key player in the return of racing. "If she had succumbed to the media and political pressure to reopen the bidding, to go back to square one, this racetrack would not have been built," Crockett said. His interest in horse racing started when he bought his first horse in 1974. As his enthusiasm built, so did his stable. Two years Crockett's 3-year-old, Vaudeville, won national recognition and finished fourth in one of the $1 million races at the 1994 Breeder's Cup at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. As the track reached completion in recent weeks, no one has been more visible than Crockett, constantly chatting with workers, giving them encouragement. It's a common touch that he's turned into a strength. "He's always been able to relate at all levels," said Lance Williams, who runs the Emerald stable operation. "At Tramco he could be out there with the mechanics getting planes fixed and then go in the office, put on a suit and talk with the bankers. He's done the same in racing, hanging around the stables, getting a real feel for horsemen and the sport." Crockett looks forward to the day when he can pay back the Emerald Downs investors. "When I can say to them, `We're square,' that will be an important day.' " Will he ever be able to do that, given the precarious nature of horse racing? "I will," he answered with a smile. "We'll make this thing work. It'll be very successful. We'll get our dollars back, and people will have fun enjoying all this." Send comments to webmaster@seattle-pi.com © 1996 Seattle Post-Intelligencer The Hearst Corporation All Rights Reserved