When Willamette Speedway owner, announcer and promoter Cory Penfold was doing his usual duties in the pit tower in late October 2024, he felt what seemed like a small popcorn kernel stuck in his throat. Five days later, Penfold was having surgery to remove stage four throat cancer in his neck. 

Another surgery, one which removed 39 cancerous lymph nodes in his neck, wasn’t enough and soon Penfold was going to have to do the thing he never wanted to do: Chemotherapy. Suffering a 15 week course in five, Penfold went through hell and back doing the last thing he ever wanted to do. 

“I can’t have any more radiation, ever” said Penfold. “I’ve had the max radiation one can get” 

Those around him and at the track banded together. For about a year, Cory’s wife Sandy took the reins and along with her, many of the tracks other prominent people utilized every resource to keep the show moving.

Cory went through beating cancer once, having it come back just to beat it again, all to find himself back at the announcers table in October 2025, just a year after his initial diagnosis. The crowd erupted upon hearing his voice echo across the PA system, a testament to the track’s family atmosphere.

“Everyone getting out of their car and walking to the track stopped, and you could just tell they’re going ‘What the hell? Was that Cory?’” said Sandy Penfold, “So many people were happy.” 

Cory’s perseverance goes beyond his fight with cancer, and it’s visible with the love he’s put towards the facility since he and his wife purchased it. 

Cory and Sandy Penfold bought the 1/3rd dirt mile Willamette Speedway in 2022, fulfilling a lifelong dream for Cory, who has been around the Willamette Valley and the speedway his entire life. The new partnership with NASCAR adds more storied history.

For a long time, Cory had given up on his dream, but it was Sandy who reminded him to never give up before they inevitably bought the track. Cory had done too much, and still had much more to give to the sport, to give up now. 

“I told myself at 12 years old that I was gonna own this track someday,” Cory, who stopped racing himself in 2012, said. 35 years later, the track faces one of its biggest opportunities yet with NASCAR. 

The partnership with NASCAR’s local series brings bigger purses, larger fields and opportunities beyond just the Pacific Northwest. While a slight change in format may ruffle some feathers, the bigger payouts and chance to race for a track, state, regional and national dirt title may settle them. Now, a division one driver who captures the national title could walk away with up to $50,000. 

“We have guys here that have a good chance of winning a national. 100%. This is the most untapped market in United States dirt track racing,” said Cory.

The Penfolds would have made this happen sooner, but Cory’s cancer put a wrench in those plans. However, for the change to happen now, ahead of the track’s 60th anniversary, it reads like a movie script. 

Not long after NASCAR executives flew from Daytona Beach to small town Lebanon to see the track, the change was put in motion, and was finally announced just last week. That same day, Cory was already hearing the positives. 

“I had a driver call me two days ago and say ‘Thank you’, I said ‘Thank you for what?’ and he goes ‘Your decision to go NASCAR just made all of our lives easier. What you did makes it so much easier for us to land sponsors on our car,” said Cory.

Everything the Penfolds do is to make it better for the drivers, because they’re the show. That in turn, makes it better for the fans. 

“They’re the reason the fans are here, and they’re the reason the place is open. How can we give our thanks back to them?” said Cory. 

The new change to NASCAR sanctioning isn’t the only upgrade for the speedway. Right now, track hands are working on redoing the bathrooms and concessions. While there’s plenty headway to make, the underside of the grandstands are fitted with a nice new sheet of white paint. Something that is sure to pop when the lights are on at night. 

If there’s one sentiment that the Penfolds made abundantly clear, it’s that you have to change with the times, even if it means leaving traditions you hold onto dearly. 

Over the years, Cory has brought an energy and excitement for dirt racing that has generated a consistent amount of race fans to the track. His commitment to racing and racecraft has been evident ever since he became owner. As Willamette Speedway gets set to kickoff its 60th season, the recent partnership with NASCAR was a no-brainer for the track. 

“Everyone locally has been doing the same thing, so you have five cars at one track, seven at another and nine at the next. We wanted to step out of that realm and do our own thing,” said Cory. 

One step to facilitate that change will be to combine Sport Modifieds and Modifieds into a single division, a change that frustrates some drivers, but the Penfolds know you can’t make everyone in racing happy. 

“Some guys are upset, cause they haven’t seen all the rules we’re releasing, and there’s not a lot of change”, said Cory. “If drivers want to go run the other sanctioning body, they can, with very minimal changes to the car.”

It isn’t the first time the owner has made a change to help car counts. In 2024, Cory combined the Sportsman and Super Sport divisions. Many said he couldn’t put the two cars on a level playing field, but they did. Car counts went up and the division went on to have 17 winners in 22 races, proving the package he found worked. Cory’s eventual time away from the track provided a new perspective as well. 

“Getting to sit home and watch our product on TV, seeing it from the outside, not being here where I’d usually be answering questions and trying to announce, it let me focus on our product,” said Cory. 

That focus has led them and the speedway to a new and exciting era with NASCAR that facilitates growth for the venue that had already been in motion before the deal was done. The first race of the season will be the Dirty Diamond 60, a showcase of multiple divisions in a 60 lap shootout to celebrate the venue’s history. 

“We’re gonna turn them loose and put on a heck of a show, and I think we’re gonna have a lot of late models here,” said Penfold. 

Cory Penfold’s story is one of perseverance and determination, not only from completing his dream of owning Willamette Speedway, but from beating cancer twice. Now, with him back at the track ahead of their partnership with NASCAR, the owner can get some sense of normalcy back in his life. 

As I’m sure the Penfolds lives have changed in the last year and a half, so has the landscape of dirt racing and the things that keep it sustainable. 

Change is an inevitable part of life, but people like Cory and Sandy Penfold know better than anyone that in order to stay afloat, you have to embrace change first and foremost. 

“I don’t like change either, but you gotta do it. How do you make something better if you don’t? I’ve had a year to think about it while I was fighting for my life.” said Penfold

The Dirty Diamond 60 drops the green flag at 6:00 PM PST on April 18th at Willamette Speedway.