Stateline Speedway opened on July 21, 1956 in front of 1,700 spectators to watch 22 drivers compete for a $1,500 purse, $300 of which went to the winner, Emory Mahan of Warren, Pa. Photo by Kyle Windsor

A Westfield native and his wife are now the new owners of Stateline Speedway in Busti.

Bill and Lisa Catania confirmed Thursday that their purchase of the 1/3-mile dirt oval from Jim and Jean Scott and Ronda and Chip Turner has been completed and “right now it’s all about making Stateline very successful.”

“This is a business that I want to have for the rest of my life,” said Bill Catania, a 1994 graduate of Westfield Academy & Central School. “This is a business that I want my kids to have in 20 or 30 years. I have no interest in building it to sell it.”

For Bill Catania, who is the founder and chief executive officer of the Orlando, Florida-based OneRail — “we manage the complete fulfillment of product from the store to the home, or the warehouse to a job site or to a repair shop,” he said — it will be his second foray into overseeing Stateline operations.

Reportedly, Bill Catania reached an agreement in 2014 with Seamens Speedway Inc. to lease the property with hopes to purchase the track. Upon reaching that agreement, he announced an 18-month renovation plan that continued through the 2015 racing season, but that summer Catania released a statement confirming an insurance coverage lapse led to racing cancellations.

Ultimately, the Scotts and the Turners purchased Stateline Speedway from Jenifer Seamens. The Scotts and Turners were the owners until the Catanias made the purchase official this week.

“That was probably one of the most disappointing and devastating things that has ever happened to me personally and in my professional career to have a business fail,” Bill Catania said of his experience nine years ago. “I’ve never had a business fail.”

Citing “personal matters” as one of the reasons for the closure, the Cornell University graduate also acknowledged that “overexpansion was another huge factor.”

“I had purchase agreements on four additional tracks and I spread my resources way too thin, which in combination with the personal matters, was simply too much to overcome.”

This time will be different, the Catanias maintain.

“We are 100% focused on making Stateline successful,” Bill Catania said. “Once we feel we’ve fulfilled that mission, we may consider expansion.

“Ten years older and wiser.”

The track has a lengthy history. Stateline opened on July 21, 1956 in front of 1,700 spectators to watch 22 drivers compete for a $1,500 purse, $300 of which went to the winner. Emory Mahan of Warren won the first race driving a 1955 Chevy. In 1984, Fritz Seamens purchased the track. During his ownership, weekly races saw high attendance numbers, low prices and high payouts.

Bill Catania joked that his love for racing, and Stateline, can be “blamed” on his family, particularly his grandfather in the early 1960s and, later, his father, beginning in the mid-1970s. So by the late 1990s, Bill Catania found himself behind the wheel at dirt and asphalt tracks in the tri-state area before moving and competing in the southern United States.

“I grew up around it,” he said. “That’s where a lot of friendships were built and I think, for me, I always wanted to be a competitor, and I still do. This has been the longest I’ve been out of the seat. It’s been three years, because we’ve been so busy with our company. I do plan to get out there and compete at Stateline, unlike the first time I ran the track, so I’m looking forward to that.”

Lisa Catania, who has experience in event planning and real estate, will be bringing a unique perspective to the operation as well.

“She’s not a lifelong race fan, and that is exactly who we need to attract to this facility,” Bill Catania said. “That, to me, is one of the hidden gems of the partnership between her and I. I feel like it’s a perfect situation. We’re in a position from a capital standpoint to do it, and I just feel there’s a lot that we can do to improve the sport, improve the track and build on the legacy that the Scotts and the Turners created.”

Lisa Catania said her first and last trip to Stateline was three years ago.

“It was amazing to see all the improvements they’d done … and the thought they put into everything,” she said. “They just continue to put their heart and soul into it. I think the promise and commitment now is that we’re going to continue that same thing and put our heart and soul into the next phase of Stateline.

“There’s a foundation there and we’re going to expand on it.”

One of those ways for expansion is to have more events, beyond racing.

“If I put my track owner and promoter hat on,” Bill Catania said, “I think, honestly, racing isn’t doing a very good job right now. I think the sport has lost the young fan base. I don’t think they ever had it. … I think there’s kind of a 2.0 that’s needed in how race tracks are operated, how they generate revenue and how they get fans in the stands.”

Lisa Catania said she can’t wait to return to Stateline later this month. For one day, however, she admitted that her husband was going to enjoy their acquisition.

“Today is ’18-year-old Billy,’ who wants to work on his car in the garage,” she said with a laugh. “I think by next weekend when we come back up to start planning and rolling up our sleeves to get things ready for the next season is when ‘adult business Bill’ will put his hat back on and take the reins of the next phase of Stateline.”