CLAY TWP — If you want to be the best, go out and get the best.

Switchback Raceway owner Scott Roskovski subscribes to that theory — so he placed a call quite a while ago to Shane Schaefer of Schaefer Tracks.

Based out of Wisconsin, Schaefer renovates motocross and dirt bike tracks for a living.

“I’ve been waiting eight months for him to get here,” Roskovski said.

He’s needed such patience. Schaefer is a busy guy.

The University of Wisconsin graduate has been in the business of renovating tracks since 1997. He does roughly 20 to 30 a year, hundreds overall, in the United States and other countries.

“It seems that every other week I call him, he’s in a different country,” Roskovski said.

Schaefer has renovated tracks in Australia, Brazil, Columbia, France, Germany and Spain, among other countries.

“My passion is to move dirt and make dirt look good,” Schaefer said, smiling.

Schaefer and his two-man crew arrived at Switchback Monday evening and began work immediately. They’ve been at it from sunrise until sunset every day since.

He said he expected the track to be finished by early Saturday of this weekend. Bikes may be permitted to run on it as early as Sunday.

“This is our version of Field of Dreams,” Roskovski said. “Build it and they will come.”

The Switchback refurbishing includes:

Combining the two outdoor tracks into one long track.

Contouring the mounds and hills in such a way that water runs off them into a pond on the grounds.

Creating a mini-track toward the back of the facility for young riders and/or first-year riders to acclimate themselves to the sport.

Roskovski had been out of town for three days and returned to the facility Thursday afternoon to see Schaefer’s progress.

“Just phenomenal, gorgeous ... Fantastic!,” he exclaimed upon getting out of his car to view the new track. “This exceeds what I expected to see.

“There’s not a track built like this anywhere around, unless you go down to the Carolinas.”

Schaefer had been to Switchback before. He helped set up the facility’s indoor track and got a look at the outside “so I had an idea of what I’d be dealing with.”

He’s happy with the way it turned out as well.

“This could be a national track, right up there with the top 10 or 12 in the country,” Schaefer enthused. “Parking could be an issue, I suppose, but the quality of the course itself is second to none.

“When you’re combining two tracks to make one, you walk a fine line. You need the right mix of obstacles and turns to make it work for young kids and veteran riders 40 or 50 years old.

“But one course is easier to maintain than two. That’s good business,” he added.

Roskovski said that heavy rains in the past would render the track inoperable for a few days. That will no longer be the case.

“You could get two inches of rainfall ... It’s all going to run off,” Schaefer insisted. “You may have a puddle here and there, but the track could be raced on again pretty quickly.”

Roskovski indicated that he bought Switchback with the intention of filling a need in the region.

“There are a lot of people who want to ride who don’t have anyplace to ride,” he said. “We want to give them a place to ride that’s legitimate, safe and fun,.

“When I look at this, I see a lot of fun. This guy (Schaefer) is an artist out here. He considers that excavator an extension of his own arms.”

The overall renovation will cost roughly $15,000 to $20,000. For Roskovski, the investment is well worth it.

“I’m hoping to get with other tracks in other states and form a racing series — maybe a Mid-Atlantic series or Northeast series — involving us and other tracks no more than six hours away,” Roskovski said.

“That would introduce this track to other riders who may not know of it and would give our riders a chance to experience other tracks. No man is an island. We don’t want to be the only game in town.

“We want to thrive — and help others thrive,” Roskovski added.