Full Throttle

As regular readers know on occasion I make note of various race tracks that for varied reasons fall victim to the wrecking ball. From the South East to the North West and all points in between (including a Hawaiian track) have gone on to their final resting place.

In most cases that place is under the asphalt of a strip mall or condos parking lot.

To be honest I never thought I would make mention of a race track in Alaska facing restrictions on how the track is run, if not shut all together. Not that Alaska doesn’t have a place in auto racing history.

Fact is 99 years ago The Great Auto Race Of 1908 made a stop in Valdez Alaska as contestants raced from NY to Paris. The Race was ultimately won by the American Thomas Flyer driven by George Schuster Sr. of Buffalo, NY.

In the present day, officials of the Alaska State Fair want a higher authority to review a decision to ban auto racing at the fairgrounds beyond the two weeks the fair is held.

Fair director Joe Lawton on Tuesday appealed to the Palmer City, AK., Council a Feb. 7 decision by the city Planning and Zoning Commission to bar auto racing at the fair at any time other than the roughly two weeks that the fair runs.

The commission heard from many city residents and deliberated for more than a month over the fair request for a summer-racing permit. Most who testified or wrote to the commission asked it to deny the State Fair request.

Many residents claim racing events held in the of summer 2005 were loud and disruptive.

The location may be a bit unusual, but the locals complaints of noise certainly mimics those heard by many track operators worldwide.

The Half-Vast Staff™ Staff of Full Throttle hopes differences can be ironed out and racing can continue this year. The “year” being all of two weeks.

However, there are other forms of entertainment in Alaska, some that aren’t dependent on two weeks of “summer weather” or auto racing.

Take the yearly Fur Bikini contest at Chilkoot Charlie’s for instance.

Not that the Staff has ever attended the event. We only have second hand information. From a “friend.”

Yea… that’s it a friend. And we’re stickin to that story.

Sports, Alaska, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle