Jason Bonsignore, the fourth overall pick in the 1994 NHL Draft, owns and runs motorcycle racetracks in upstate New York. In May 2026, the former Edmonton Oilers and Tampa Bay Lightning center bought Freedom Motorsports Park and renamed it Raceland, Outside Groove reported. He played 79 NHL games, and he started running his first track while he was still in the league.
| Jason Bonsignore: then and now | |
|---|---|
| Known for | Fourth overall pick in 1994, 79 NHL games |
| Position | Centre, shoots right |
| Born | 15 April 1976, Rochester, New York |
| Drafted | 1994, first round, fourth overall, Edmonton Oilers |
| NHL career | 4 seasons, Edmonton and Tampa Bay, 16 points |
| Last pro season | 2007-08, Trenton Devils, ECHL |
| Current role | Racetrack owner and promoter, as of May 2026 |
| Tracks | Champion Speedway in Nichols, NY, and Raceland in Freedom, NY |
What happened to Jason Bonsignore?
Jason Bonsignore went into the family sport. His father, “Mean Gene” Bonsignore, raced speedway motorcycles, and according to the May 2026 Outside Groove profile Jason wore the same number in the NHL that his father had used on his bikes.
He leased Champion Speedway in 1997, the year Edmonton traded him to Tampa Bay, and bought it in 2000. The track in Nichols, New York, still runs motorcycle meetings under the East Coast Speedway banner, and the East Coast Speedway schedule lists racing at Champion in October 2026. He has taken over Action Track East three separate times and has been involved with Orange Show Speedway in California and Genesee Speedway.
Raceland is the newest and biggest project. Bonsignore wants a multipurpose stadium modeled on the old Ascot Park in California, with a quarter-mile flat track for motorcycles inside the car oval. Bob Reis, who has owned the Freedom track since 2015, remains promoter for the stock car events. “I grew up around motorcycle racing,” Bonsignore told Outside Groove, adding that racing had become his “stress reliever”.
He did not leave hockey entirely. Elite Prospects lists him as general manager and head coach of the Buffalo Stampede, a junior team in the USPHL, in 2021-22.
Is Jason Bonsignore the NASCAR driver?
No. The NASCAR driver is Justin Bonsignore, a Whelen Modified Tour champion from Long Island. Jason Bonsignore, the former NHL player, races and promotes speedway motorcycles. Search results often mix them up because they share a surname and both work in motorsport.
Jason Bonsignore’s draft: fourth overall in 1994
The Oilers took Jason Bonsignore fourth overall in 1994, after Ed Jovanovski, Oleg Tverdovsky and Radek Bonk. He was a prolific scorer in the OHL with Newmarket, Niagara Falls, and Sudbury, and he played for the United States at two World Junior Championships.
The picks right behind him became long-serving NHL players. Jeff O’Neill went fifth and played 821 games, and Ryan Smyth went sixth to the Oilers and played 1,270. Further down the same draft, Ottawa found Daniel Alfredsson at 133rd overall.
According to the 1994 draft table on Hockey-Reference, 83 players picked after Jason Bonsignore played more NHL games than his 79.
Jason Bonsignore’s career in numbers
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994-95 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 1995-96 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 20 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 1996-97 | Hamilton Bulldogs | AHL | 78 | 21 | 33 | 54 |
| 1997-98 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 35 | 2 | 8 | 10 |
| 1998-99 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 23 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 1999-2000 | St. John’s Maple Leafs | AHL | 29 | 6 | 13 | 19 |
| 2002-03 | Springfield and Lowell | AHL | 49 | 10 | 16 | 26 |
| 2003-04 | EHC Biel | Swiss NLB | 9 | 9 | 3 | 12 |
| 2005-06 | Trondheim | Norway | 17 | 6 | 6 | 12 |
| 2007-08 | Fresno and Trenton | ECHL | 28 | 1 | 12 | 13 |
| NHL total | 79 | 3 | 13 | 16 |
NHL figures are from Hockey-Reference. The table shows his main club each season. He also played in the IHL for San Antonio and Cleveland in 1997-98 and 1998-99, the ECHL for South Carolina and Las Vegas, and briefly in Finland for Pelicans and Ilves in 2005-06.
He scored in his only game of 1994-95, his NHL debut, and added two more goals for Tampa Bay in 1997-98. Edmonton traded him to Tampa Bay in December 1997 in the deal that sent Roman Hamrlik to the Oilers. Toronto signed him in July 1999 but kept him in the AHL, and he did not play in 2000-01 or 2001-02. His comeback included a Swiss second-tier title with Biel in 2003-04 and training camp tryouts with Atlanta and Carolina, but no return to the NHL.
Jason Bonsignore and speedway: his father’s sport
Jason Bonsignore has said he grew up at the track, and the move from hockey to racing began with his father’s old motorcycles, which he bought back. When he found his home track closed and run down, he took it over. In the Outside Groove interview, he said the politics of pro hockey, with trades and decisions made above the players, had taken some of the fun out of the game, while in racing he felt more in control of his own career.
Read more:
