Story and photo by Dave Briggs
The good news is Ontario-born harness racing legend John Campbell will be the next president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Hambletonian Society. The bad news is the driving career of perhaps the greatest man to ever sit in a race bike is quickly coming to an end.
This week it was officially announced that Campbell will cease active driving at the end of June to take over from Tom Charters beginning July 1 at the Hambletonian Society. Reached at his home in New Jersey — near where he has starred at the Meadowlands Racetrack since the late-1970s — Campbell, who will turn 62 on April 8, said he looks forward to the challenge and isn’t, yet, viewing the end of his driving career with any melancholy.
“It’s exciting. (My wife) Paula and my daughters are very excited and happy for me… and they don’t have to worry about me getting hurt anymore,” Campbell said. “I was very fortunate. As a kid, all I dreamt about was driving horses and racing and I got to do that for a living. I think I’ve pushed the age limit and being successful for a long time, but I’d rather be stopping too early than too late.”
By Standardbred Canada accounting, which records U.S. and Canadian money at par, Campbell has already exceeded $303 million in his career. But by United States Trotting Association standards, Campbell is about $656,182 shy of the $300 million milestone. Since he has been based in the U.S. much of his career, that is the number most likely to be attributed to him. Campbell has earned $257,392 through the first 74 days of 2017. If he maintains that pace for the 106 days between March 16 and June 30, he will fall about $300,000 short of $300 million. But, with other tracks opening up soon and some stakes events in June — most notably those on the Pepsi North America Cup card at Mohawk — he still might just get to $300 million. He already is some $85 million ahead of the next closest driver — Ron Pierce — on the top of the all-time list and is second behind only jockey John Velazquez when drivers and jockeys are combined.
True to form for one of the classiest men to ever don a set of colors, Campbell said he doesn’t care much about hitting $300 million.
“I’ve never been one to look back at goals or numbers too much. I don’t think I’m going to get to $300 million and that doesn’t bother me one bit,” he said. “I don’t know just how many opportunities I’m going to get between now and the first of July. I’m going to be a lame-duck driver and probably not in-demand, so to speak, so we’ll just see what comes and weigh my options as I go along.”
Campbell, currently the president of the Grand Circuit, said he relishes the opportunity to lead the Hambletonian Society / Breeders Crown, which is based in New Jersey.
The Hambletonian Society is a not-for-profit organization that supports and encourages the breeding of standardbred horses by sponsoring and administering stakes and other special events in harness racing. The Society was founded in 1924 to organize the Hambletonian Stake, one of 37 races it currently owns, and one of the 131 stakes events it oversees. These races are some of the richest and most prestigious racing events across North America, held at 14 different racetracks, involving the processing of more than 51,700 individual payments totaling $11.6 million and responsible for the disbursement of more than $14.8 million in purses.
“It’s a new chapter, but it’s exciting and I’m looking forward to the challenge,” Campbell said.
What does he bring to the society besides 25 years as a Hambletonian Society director?
“Experience. I’ve seen so much,” Campbell said. “This is 45 years of driving, at every level. I’ve experienced harness racing at every level, from the bottom to the top. I’ve been (a director at) Hambletonian Society since ’92 and on the Breeders Crown committee… I’ve got an idea what management goes through trying to make money putting on harness races. All of that factors into a good education for going forward with this position.”
Campbell was elected president and CEO of the Society in a unanimous vote of the board of directors at the winter board meeting held Sunday (March 12) in Boca Raton, FL.
Charters informed the board last August of his intent to cut back on his schedule. He will step down as president, a position he has held since 1998. He will remain on staff through the Breeders Crown at Hoosier Park in October and on the Society board as a director.
“I don’t want to walk around like a doddering fool, with people conspiring to get me out of here,” Charters said Thursday afternoon. “So, last year, I told some of the officers and then I announced it to the full board that I wasn’t going to re-sign my full-time contract. I just wanted to have longer weekends to spend with my wife, do some traveling and whatever. I said I’d be glad to work part-time. My contract runs out in June and, although I’ve worked without a contract before, I think they want to keep a full-time president and CEO. I’m sure John is going to be in the office, I’m sure a lot of it (for me) is going to be part-time here and part-time there.”
Charters said the future is in good hands with Campbell taking the helm.
“We’ve worked on things before and I’ve reached out to him, not just for advice, but to ask him to intervene with racetracks because John Campbell’s name carries a lot more currency than Tom Charters’. Once John made it clear… that he wanted to cut back and quit driving or was willing to do this full-time, the executive search committee started focusing on him.
“I got a call asking what I thought of it and I said that I wholeheartedly endorse it. John has done a good job as president of Grand Circuit, which can be kind of a token position. And he takes it seriously.”
Campbell said Charters has made an outstanding contribution.
“I have so much respect for what Tom has done over the years,” Campbell said. “He’s just worked tirelessly on behalf of the industry and I’ve seen that firsthand from my time on the Breeders Crown committee. I’ve seen that since the first or second year that I was on the Hambletonian Society and, also, with the Grand Circuit. Tom has done so much work behind the scenes that he’s never gotten credit for.
“I’m looking to learn a lot from Tom and (director of publicity) Moira (Fanning) before the first of July, then getting together with the executive committee of the Hambletonian Society and running some things by them. I really serve at the pleasure of the Hambletonian Society. I can have my own ideas, but, at the same time, it has to be in sync with the members of the Hambletonian Society.”
Campbell said he was happy to be staying in the industry after his driving career ends.
“There’s going to be days when I’m frustrated, no question about that, but there’s going to be lots of days when I feel good about what we accomplish as well,” he said.
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