Bank Forecloses on Dells Motor Speedway
At least it’s not for a strip mall or housing development, yet. That will have to wait until after the bean counters at Gulf Coast Bank and Trust start counting. Dells Motor Speedway is located in the heart of the pictuesque Wisconsin Dells area of the state.
In the fashion of Lorain Speedway that quietly closed its doors last month this is another “stealth” closing as the track website makes no mention of it and still has a Kids Pepsi Night on schedule for the end of this month and the August 19th appearence by NASCAR drivers Kenny Wallace & Wisconsin native Scott Wimmer.
But closed it is, and the Mid-West has lost another excellent short track that has a history of featuring Cup drivers such as Matt Kenseth, Scott Wimmer, Dick Trickle, Ted Musgrave, and Dave Marcis on their way up to the “big-time.”
Owner Bryan Severson filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April. This past Wednesday Federal Bankruptcy Court Judge, Thomas Utschig, granted relief from an automatic stay when Severson filed the original bankruptcy proceeding. The judge’s motion hands the property to Gulf Coast Bank and Trust out of Louisiana.
According to the WISC News Severson has been in financial trouble in the past including a $800,000 loan from the First National Bank of Blanchardville. That institution has since closed for allegedly exceeding the bank’s lending limits. (Birds of a feather I guess)
Severson released a statement announcing the closure “until further notice” and the “track will be listed for sheriff’s sale.”
Enter the strip mall or housing development. Or… if it can’t be a race track maybe a very large take out restaurant featuring Wisconsin’s famous Bratwurst! Wishful thinking I know.
This is a double whammy for Wisconsin short track fans. Lake Geneva Raceway, located in Southeastern Wisconsin, dropped its “white flag” on the final season of racing (also for a housing development) after 44 years this past April.
R.I.P Dells Motor Speedway!
Dells Motor Speedway, Lake Geneva Raceway, Wisconsin, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle
Myself and my Husband are absolutely delighted about the good news today, Aug 1, 2006. The Dells Motor Speedway is back in business. We feel like kids at Christmas. We, along with drivers and many many fans are delighted. We have gone to a couple of different racetracks, NONE CAN COMPARE WITH THE DELLS MOTOR SPEEDWAY AND THE GREAT ANNOUNCERS THEY HAVE. WE ARE THRILLED!!!
I,m very happy for you Linda and all the fans and drivers. However as I write this the speedways website has disappeared and WISC has no mention of the track being back in operation.
I wish you had provided a link to a story noting it’s return from the dead.
There is a thread at the Online Racing forum that gives nothing specific except a pending news release that is being described as “good news.”
Looks like Dells Motor Speedway is being sold today:
http://www.wiscnews.com/wde/news/102095
It’s very sad. My family went there 4 years ago and saw one hell of a race that had Todd Kluever (now racing Busch and Nextel Cup) racing that night, at least I’m almost positive it was him. And what I liked about the track was that it actually had pits inside the track. That night after the race all fans were invited to the pits to meet the drivers, get their autographs, and check out the cars. I’ve never seen this before at a midwest short track. It was fun and the kids had a blast that they’ll remember for a long time.
Sad to see Dells Motor Speedway go…
Sorry, that website doesn’t date its stories, so the one I posted above is probably older than today, since I found this one from today:
http://www.wiscnews.com/wde/news/102563
Sadly, within 2 minutes of bidding for the speedway, it was sold. Its history now gone…to the almighty dollar.