Waterford — The New London-Waterford Speedbowl is scheduled to open for the 2015 season on May 2 flush with financial backing, new management and a clean slate with the Town of Waterford.

One might call it a bit of a rebirth for the historically embattled three-eighths-mile track, which first opened in 1951.

Last week, 40-degree temperatures melted an icy blanket of snow covering parking areas and the track, transforming the property temporarily into a marsh. New track manager Shawn Monahan, new owner Bruce Bemer and various staff wandered the property as a C.A. Pretzer Associates engineer, John Riley, inspected the grandstands.

"The foundation of the racetrack is much stronger than it ever has been," said Monahan, referring to financial support from Bemer.

The track is newly incorporated under the name New London-Waterford Speedbowl. Under former track owner Terry Eames, it was called the Waterford Speedbowl. Monahan has also changed the racing schedule from Wednesdays and Saturdays to Thursdays and Saturdays.

Promotions are still under development. Monahan is toying with the idea of sending racers to schools to talk about the track and bringing kids to the track to learn about racing, for example.

"We would like to cater not only to race fans but to the community as well," said Monahan.

First Selectman Daniel Steward, who along with other town officials met with Monahan and Bemer a few weeks ago, said that the track is "starting from a new slate." He said the new ownership will not inherit the financial issues - late property tax payments, owing money to the Waterford Police Department for services rendered - that plagued previous track leadership.

"We told them we don't want to go through what we went through before," said Steward.

As track staff made their rounds of the Speedbowl last week, they went through the same motions Eames went through a year ago as he, staff and volunteers prepared the track for opening day. Eames' focus at the time was fixing the grandstands, and Riley said during his visit last week that the stands remained in good condition.

Back when Eames was making those repairs in anticipation of the 2014 season, the future of the track was unclear.

The Speedbowl slipped into foreclosure for the first time in 2006. Eames sold 8 acres of overflow parking space to Harvey Industries in 2006 for $1.6 million, to make good with Washington Mutual, his creditor at the time.

Speedbowl creditors Rocco Arbitell and business partner Peter Borrelli came onto the scene in 2007, when they lent Eames $750,000 to cover the remainder of his debt to the bank. The creditors filed for foreclosure against Eames in 2008, and other parties later joined the lawsuit.

The track was slated for sale at auction on Halloween in 2009. The auction was canceled when Eames filed for bankruptcy. Eames lost his bankruptcy status in 2013 due to not following the payment plan set down in bankruptcy proceedings, allowing the Arbitell suit to again proceed to foreclosure.

The latest foreclosure proceedings progressed to an auction sale of the track in October 2014. Bemer, owner of Bemer Petroleum in Glastonbury, won the track with a bid of $1.75 million.

Monahan, a former Speedbowl racer, was among the subsequent creditors in the 2008 lawsuit. He said Tuesday that Eames had owed him roughly $47,000, of which he ultimately lost $35,000.

Title of the track didn't transfer to Bemer until February, following months of squabbling in court among creditors after Speedbowl lender Edward DeMuzzio claimed collusion had led to an artificially low bid that had robbed him of his stake in the track. Bemer described waiting on court proceedings Tuesday as "just time consuming" and "nothing out of the ordinary."

Bemer said the day of the auction that "it would be nice" to break even on the track, and last week said he had no set budget for covering repairs; he just plans to bankroll modifications as necessary. He said the main issue was that the delayed transfer meant management had less time to make desired improvements to the track.

For now, it's a matter of prioritizing. Monahan and Bemer have said they would like to replace the fencing on the track, but the work may have to wait until they start preparing for the 2016 season. More pressing are modifications to the bathrooms. Bemer would like to see them updated "floor to ceiling," and made wheelchair-accessible.

"How about, you'll enjoy going to the bathroom at the bowl," said Monahan with a laugh.

Monahan and Bemer said they had been in contact with Eames about acquiring the track's previous Internet domain speedbowl.com and about purchasing track equipment, such as grills and popcorn machines, that were not included as part of the auction sale. The track is currently using speedbowlct.com for its website, a link Monahan has said will remain active.

Monahan said staff were trying to do six months of work in one month: in addition to regular preparations such as paint jobs and cleaning up, Speedbowl staff are busy tracking down old sponsors and finding new ones; even finding old staff and racers, often through word of mouth. Monahan said the last task has been difficult due to his management team not inheriting old payroll materials or driver registration forms with the track.

"The actual paper trails are nowhere to be found," he said.

Many former staff members have notified Monahan of their desire or intention to continue working at the track. Monahan mentioned that former Director of Marketing Brian Darling is aiding the track as a consultant. Richard "Bubby" Brouwer, maintenance manager for the property for the past 13 years, is also still working on site. Brouwer, 50, is a former racer as well as great-grandson of Jack Brouwer, a co-owner of the track in the 1960s.

Wandering beneath the grandstands last week, where he was occasionally picking up beer cans left over from last season, Brouwer paused to comment on how the track was a "home away from home" for him.

"I spent a lot of time over here," he said.

Many, if not most, of those who work for the track have connections to the Speedbowl stemming back to their youths. Monahan, 37, came to races as a child with this father and started racing on the track when he was in his 20s. Bemer, 61, participated in demolition derbies at the track in the 1970s.

Conspicuously absent in preparations for the 2015 season is Eames, who has his own history with the Speedbowl. Eames, never a racer, began working for former track Manager Dan Korteweg as director of public relations in 1994. Day archives show Eames worked as spokesman for the track the year before. By 2000, he had bought the track.

Reached by phone last week, Eames declined to state his plans now that he no longer owns the track.

"I wish the new team well and hope that it remains a racetrack in perpetuity, but beyond that I really don't have anything to talk about," he said.

t.townsend@theday.com

Twitter: @ConnecticuTess