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The Hunt Front dirt racing operation has added track ownership to its portfolio with the purchase of Southern Raceway in Milton, Fla., the hometown track of the HTF-founding Joiner family.

HTF made a video release announcement this afternoon revealing the purchase of the 3/8-mile oval from the Arnold family, which had owned the 38-year-old track since 2000. Tom Lowrey, who has promoted the track since 2016, will assist in the transition, HTF’s Joshua Joiner said.

The Joiners, including Joshua’s brothers Jonathan and Joseph, hope to turn the 34-acre facility into a “destination racetrack” in adding track ownership to their race team, media properties and Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series.

The track has announced a 27-race schedule including a season-ending Southern Thunder Super Dirt Series weekend in November and a six-race Crate Late Model Challenge that includes a $10,000-to-win Crate Racin’ USA event on Labor Day weekend.

The season opens Feb. 13-14 with United Sprint Car Series competition — the first of four Winter Nationals races — and concludes with Nov. 20-21’s Southern Thunder event, the lone Super Late Model action of the season. Most months have two weeks of racing apiece.

The Joiners have added to their workload amid an array of racing interests, but with father John Joiner and wives taking part, Joshua is eager for the opportunity to improve a racetrack where the family has competed for decades.

“It’ll be a family effort,” he said. "We have a long, long list of improvements to make, but it’s going to be a process done over time.”