Well the lawsuit from the Marrs against the Johnson’s is now published publicly. Our question should be who released this information and why? Maybe we should start with Aly Van Dyke of the Topeka Capital Journal. Her email (aly.vandyke@cjonline.com)is listed on her story write her note and ask how she received the information.

Here are the facts:

Racinboys stated on their January 24 radio show that Donna Marrs had called them and they spoke with Don Marrs. They then called Mike Johnson.

The Topeka Capital Journal reported the Marrs filed the suit on January 13th and the Johnson’s were served on January 17.

The Lakeside Speedway Schedule is still not released. Most tracks release their schedules on or about December 1.

To find the lawsuit, you can type in a google search for Johnson County District court, when it comes up click on public search, last name or business name type in the last name of the group you are seeking, click on civil, click on partial name search.

The Johnson’s have successfully run I-35 Speedway since 2008. During the 2014 race season this track was one of the highest in the area for weekly car count.
Numerous drivers, business owners, and workers have come out on Facebook in support of the Johnsons.

Yancy Shepard owner of Yancy’s: With all this legal issues going on at Lakeside speedway between Mike & Kyle Johnson and Don Marrs all I can say is WOW! Ive been a business partner with Mike & Kyle in the past as well as being friends for over 20 years. This makes absolutely no sense to me. He has been the one to run the show at Lakeside and make things happen to try and help the racer, right or wrong.You are always going to have people think differently of how things should be done but I know for a fact that all that has been written about him & Kyle is downright BS! The truth will come out in the long run. Just a thought, Google or search Mike Johnsons name involving Lawsuits and see what comes up. Google Marrs treeservice or Don Marrs in Johnson county and see what comes up. I count 33 Lawsuits he has against people. I believe this is just an attempt to try and run the Johnsons out of Lakeside. The bad thing is he don’t realize is that the racers are the ones who are going to pay for it! I’m sorry for the long rant but I feel sorry for all of them including the boys Austin and Houston cause now they will be judged over something that will be proven wrong in the end!

Followed up by another post from Jamie McGinnis Powell: I could not have said it better. It’s sad that the Johnson’s reputation is being dragged through the mud. Mike and Kyle have worked their butts off to give the racers a good track and the fans a clean facility. They never asked for special treatment in fact, just the opposite, officials were told NOT to treat the boys or Marrs differently. Also, I believe at the very first drivers meeting at the Marriott it was Don Marrs who stood in front of the group and stated “I don’t know a thing about running a race track. I’ll leave that up to Mike. I just want to race.” In the lawsuit it says that the Marrs weren’t given paperwork or payroll information how can that be true when they prepared all the W2s and 1099s and even stated in the lawsuit that during an audit by their accountant there were discrepancies. Sounds to me like they have the paperwork….how else would they know there are discrepancies??? If they were so worried about losing money why was Donna Marrs taking pizza orders on the hill last year instead of encouraging those folks to buy food at the concession stand. I could continue but like Yancy said the truth will come out in end.

Finally to those who read the Topeka Capitol-Journal: There was a vetting process in bidding to operate the Heartland Park Topeka racetrack. This process included requirements for bank references and insurance company references. Those documents were provided in the MK Investment RFP proposal. Maybe the media should do a little more homework in presenting all the story before trying to incite a ruckus.

A person is innocent until proven guilty, we will let the courts decide the outcome. As my mother-in-law stated tonight, isn’t it a shame the money spent on attorneys would make a great purse. She doesn’t even care about racing.