Full Throttle

Pahrump Valley, Nevada loses one of its local race tracks this week.

Pahrump Valley Speedway (PVS), the track where Kurt Busch began racing as a teenager in dwarf cars in the early ’90s, has announced its final race will be held on December 8th after 22 years of operation.

The tracks web page gives no reason for the closure with only the following note from the tracks promoter:

To all Fans and Drivers Of The Pahrump Valley Speedway, with a Heavy Heart and Deep Regret, I am Informing you all that the P.V.S will be Permanatly Closed, Effective Dec 9^th … Thank You For Years Of Support And Loyalty, And God Bless You All.

Sincerely,
Joe Rogers Jr

A little digging turned up the expected reason, the property is worth more as a commercial enterprise than it is as a race track. Low car counts and declining ticket sales over the last three years didn’t help.

By the end of 2008 a 25,000-square foot automotive center will be constructed on the site. And by 2010, Patrick Gaffney, an Irish-born Las Vegas real estate developer said there will be a 10,000- to 12,000-square foot restaurant in operation.

R.I.P. Pahrump Valley Speedway.

TThe United States Racing Association (USRA) is ending its operations in Texas

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

This looks like another case of will a speedway close, or will it survive another year. At this point Pahrump Valley Speedway’s continued existence is questionable at best.

The 1/4 mile dirt bull ring is scheduled to open in February but like many race tracks around the country on life support and under “observation” in some type legalistic intensive care unit it has “ownership problems,” with no less than three of them involved.

As the article says, “stay tuned…”

Pahrump Valley Speedway, Sports, NASCAR, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle

World’s Fastest 1/3-mile Dirt Track is how Atomic Speedway is billed. Located just outside Knoxville Tennessee was first opened in 1970 by Knoxville businessman Bob Martin.

A series of ownership changes through the years brought many changes to the speedway including a V.I.P. tower, a new Musco lighting system, a new scoreboard and graduated banking in the turns, an unusual feature for a dirt track.

Many of the nation’s top dirt drivers have competed at Atomic in various special events throughout the years. Scott Bloomquist, Billy Moyer, Donnie Moran, Jeff Purvis, Rodney Combs, Freddy Smith, Jack Boggs, and Bob Pierce are just a few of the names that have competed at Atomic.

In a test of the tracks billing as the world’s fastest, count to eleven; The eleven seconds it took you to count is longer than Scott Bloomquist’s late model record of 10.75 seconds set in 1991. Joey Saldana holds the overall track record set in a 410 c.i. sprint car with a time of 9.990 seconds in 1998.

The tracks Hall of Fame includes names that have gone on to appear in NASCAR including Friday Hassler, G.C. Spencer, Marty Robbins, Grant Adcox and L.D. Ottinger.

Atomic’s current owner, Lenoir City businessman Ed Adams, may be the tracks last.

The Roane County Planning Commission voted to rezone the track site to industrial to allow Crete Carrier, a trucking company, to move in. The issue now goes before the county board of commissioners for approval Dec. 11.

“We have tried all we could to keep Atomic open,” Adams said. “I have spent my life investments, I have borrowed money.”

As seen so many times with so many tracks “life investments” mean little to politicians or others with dollar signs in their eyes.

R.I.P Atomic Motor Speedway.

The second speedway death to report is a late obituary. Hawaii Raceway Park, located on the island of Oahu, closed in April after Mike Oakland, president of the Hawaii Motorsports Center, lease extension expired.

The closure was at odds with the state Department of Transportation. Scott Ishikawa, spokesman for the DoT said “I think the racetrack has been a great outlet for folks who do want to race in a safe manner, rather than on the freeways.”

Hawaii Raceway Park was the site of the Hawaii International Racing School, the track also hosted non-wing sprint car and late model races and contained a drag racing facility.

To be fair Hawaii Raceway Park may yet see life. Through lobbying efforts last May by the organization, Save Oahu’s Race Track (SORT), they have successfully convinced legislators to set aside $1 million in the state budget to use toward acquiring the park.

SORT says they will continue lobbying for the state to condemn the property and turn it over to the racing community. “It’s not over yet, not by a long shot,” Evelyn Souza, a spokeswoman for Save Oahu’s Race Track said. “We’re going to persevere.”

With luck Hawaii Raceway Park won’t go the way of Kauai Raceway Park and a final resting place.

Hawaii Raceway Park, Atomic Motor Speedway, Sports, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle

Most, if not all NASCAR fans are aware of the anti-trust lawsuit filed against NASCAR and it’s parent company ISC by the Owners of Kentucky Motor Speedway. That suit is still in the pre-trial stage of venue fights and the discovery process.

This week NASCAR enters into the trial stage of a much less publicized lawsuit. Five years ago a 65-year-old woman was killed at Lorain County Speedway as two cars went into the crowd. 14 others were injured in the accident, making it one of the worst racing accidents in NASCAR history.

Ironically NASCAR had just started sanctioning events at Lorain County Speedway at the beginning of the 2001 season and a few short weeks later NASCAR, the owners and promoters of the speedway were faced with the tragic accident.

The outcome of the trial should be interesting and may dictate how NASCAR operates on the local level. As the “new kid on the block” NASCAR had mandated safety changes to the track prior to sanctioning events. It will be up to the jury to decide whether they are culpable in any way for the accident or sole responsibility is at the feet of the owners.

As Full Throttle reported earlier Lorain County had canceled it’s 2006 season in June with a surprise two day notice to owners and drivers.

Since that time the track has been taken over by former promoter in the 90’s, Terry Adams. The track held its Halloween Festival of Speed October 20^th and has scheduled Saturday November 25^th as a “Thanksgiving Weekend” event with all three stock car divisions in action.

Adams also announced a full 2007 schedule. Late Models will return after a one year absence and a return of the Ohio Stocks which is a Sportsman type division. Super Late Models will be back along with Super Modifieds, Midgets, Trucks, Legends Cars and Sprints.

All pending the outcome of the lawsuit I presume.

UPDATE: So much for “pending.” NASCAR settled the suit on the first day of the trial without admitting any responsibility or liability in the case. Details of the cash settlement to the victim’s family wasn’t released.

Lorain County Speedway, NASCAR, Sports, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle

Rumors about the future of Old Dominion Speedway have been swirling for a number of months. NBC 12 Sports is reporting what many have been fearing, the sale and potential closing of one of the legendary short tracks in America.

Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas Va. has been sold.

Track manager Haynes Dominick says the track was sold in the winter following pressure from developers and community members who complained about the noise. Dominick says the track will operate for at least one more season. It averages about 15-hundred racing enthusiasts every Saturday night.

It’s not known who bought the track or for how much.

In addition to the tracks storied history as a stock car venue it’s drag strip is the oldest on the east coast. The current owners, or were, Steve Britt and Charles Graybeal who bought the track in 2003.

The tracks history starts with it’s purchase by Al Gore, no not that Al Gore, in 1952. The list of drivers who have raced at the speedway is like a who’s who of auto racing; Richard (2 of Petty’s official 200 wins are at Old Dominion) and Lee Petty, David Pearson, Curtis Turner, Bobby Allison, Joe Weatherly, the late Neil Bonnett, Darrell Waltrip, Michael Waltrip, Morgan Shephard, Ned Jarrett, the late Elmo Langley, Junior Johnson, and the late Tiny Lund.

Lund raced at the speedway the night before he was tragically killed at Talladega Superspeedway in 1975. “I can remember Tiny leaving the track with a big jug of my mom’s chili under each arm,” recalls Dick Gore, then promoter of the speedway.

Matt Stanmyre has an interesting article on the tracks future in the Potomac News that includes a very long string of readers comments on the track. The Potomac News Blog also has a couple good entries and shots of current DEI driver Mark McFarland

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 19^th 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!

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