USA International Speedway to Close
It’s been some time since having to add an entry to the Speedway Mortuary - which is probably a commentary on how much news I miss rather than any great resurgence of short track support around the country - but word is USA International Speedway will shut its pitgate after hosting its final race this weekend.
Once the flagship track for the Hooters’ Pro Cup Series the 3/4-mile track and its property were recently sold and will be converted into an industrial park, speedway executives said.
Originally the site hosted the Lakeland Interstate Raceway, which operated a 1/4 mile paved oval from 1971 to 1977 and from 1987 to February 1995.
Racing resumed in October the same year under the USA International banner and hosted races for ARCA, ASA and the Hooters Pro Cup Series during its relatively short lifespan.
The last event is Saturday’s FASCAR Sunbelt Super Series Late Model 125 and FASCAR Pro Trucks 50.
USA International was the site of testing by NASCAR teams throughout the years, with many of the country’s prominent NASCAR teams and a wide variety of other categories within motorsports utilized the facilities for testing year round.
Driving schools were also featured at USA including the DriveTech Racing School.
USA featured one of the countries more prestigious winter events the Speedfest that featured the Super Late Models and the Crate Late Models.
Those with a sharp eye will note a couple familiar faces in the image taken during this past January’s SpeedFest.
That’s David Stremme to the left helping out Kyle Busch as they thrash through a quick engine change on the #51 NOS Energy Drink Camry prior to the Friday night 100 lap qualifying event. (Pictured right is the David Stremme Hamke #35 Camry)
If I’m not mistaken, other than Daytona testing that also took place in January, the SpeedFest was the first appearance of Busch driving a Camry. At any rate it was the first time he took the track when a trophy was up for grabs.
Jeff Choquette won the 200 lap event with Busch finishing fifth and Stremme 18th after going several laps down due to mechanical problems and crash damage.
Alas as an old song goes, “another one bites the dust,” or in this case 3/4 miles of asphalt as yet another industrial park wins out over one of Americas short tracks.
R.I.P. USA International Speedway.
Technorati Tags: Kyle Busch, David Stremme, USA International Speedway, NASCAR
The fate of short tracks throughout the land have been virtually inversely proportional to the (last 15-yr.) growth bubble of Nascar pro divisions. Apparently they do not realize that they are the top of a pyramid and the once 1,200-odd weekly tracks were the base. One would think that Nascar would set aside even a small percentage of their considerable R&D efforts to help build affordable, stable specs packages for the weekly tracks. They have largely ignored them. But the stench of this mordant “Golden Goose” will soon reach even to the top of the pyramid.
SAS, guess you never heard of the Camping World East & West Series’.
Both sanctioned by Nascar and unless something has changed along with the sponsorship package this year they run with NASCAR approved crate engines.
Presumably you’ve never heard of NASCAR sponsoring 60 plus local tracks in addition to their Home Track program.
Short tracks come and go and the major reason they go is the price of the land they sit on is worth more than what its worth as a race track.
As omnipotent as NASCAR is the one thing they can’t control is the cost of land.
Marc:
You, sir, are obviously not a “veteran” race fan. That is not intended as a derogatory remark, but rather a request for you to further research the matter in order to expand your knowledge. Hey, we were all new to racing at some point.
The Camping World Series, formerly Kodak Elite Series, and Slim Jim All Pro Series before that, is apparently a respectable series. I, however, choose not to participate in it, due solely to it being NASCAR sanctioned.
“Home Tracks” - Come on; Get real! It’s nothing more than a television commercial!
NASCAR, sir, does not “sponsor” venues. I believe what you are referring to are NASCAR sanctioned tracks. NASCAR has been in and out of many speedways over the years, including a few in my area. I hate you reminded me of that. It brought back bad memories of all the money that they still owe to champions of a local speedway for their titles back in 2000. Failure to pay their bills is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the cons that come with a speedway becoming NASCAR sanctioned.
The value of a business’ land being higher than it’s income for a specific period, sir, only comes into play when that business is failing. It is a hail Mary effort to either recoop some losses or minimize or eliminate losses while simultaneously escaping financial debt and a burden to produce income sufficient to repay that debt. In other words, the owner of the speedway is facing imminent bankruptcy, foreclosure, etc… and must sell the property for development based on the fact that the property can be sold for either a profit or an amount sufficient to minimize losses. It’s a ray of light when times are tough. It’s an opportunity to “cash out” rather than continue gambling. It’s simply an “easy out”, and it applies to any business.
Finally, NASCAR IS THE DOWNFALL OF STOCK CAR RACING! PERIOD! We could go on forever about that, but the important thing is that it can all be traced back to the France family. Unfortunately, The current “France in charge” seems to be the worst yet. The strongest arguement to be made to attest to NASCARS’s destruction of racing, fortunately, is also the most simple one. I once received a survey card from a popular national magazine in the mail. One of the questions in the survey was related to sports. There were several professional sports listed, with numerous options to be marked indicating how many hours per week you watch these sports on television. The choices included, verbatim; Football, baseball, basketball, tennis, track & field, equestrian sports, golf, NASCAR. …Did you get thaty, man?… N-A-S-C-A-R ! ! ! It did not read “auto racing”, “stock car racing”, “circle track racing”, or anything like that. It read “NASCAR”. Football was football, not the NFL. Basketball was basketball, not the NBA. Baseball was baseball, not MLB. Golf was golf, not the PGA. Racing, however, didn’t exist - There was only NASCAR.
I invite you, Marc, to attend any race of your choice before the close of the season that is not NASCAR sanctioned. If you like NASCAR, you will really love real racing. There are thousands of tracks and series in action every weekend from March through October. Many of them are on Saturday night, which is why NASCAR races on Sunday. At one point in time, the grandstands at a NASCAR race would have been empty if they habitually raced on Saturday night, because the racers and fans are at their local track “doing their thing” on Saturday night. I’m not sure that would be the case now, as Brian France has turned NASCAR into a sport appealing to the opposite of a racing fan. …Get it?
I hope to see you at the track soon!
Faster 1 - And you “Sir” should have done something else besides looking ill informed rather than writing a mini-novel that is based on thin air.
For example, rather than demonstrating your lack of research skills (that you falsely claimed I didn’t possess) you could have hit the little thingy at the top of the page that says “Author.” If done I suspect there was a VERY good chance you may have learned I may have been in and around racing, including driving for five years, and FAR longer than YOU and I suspect a decade ot two longer.
Secondly, and to point to your utter clueless mindset. The Camping World Series’ were preceded by the Busch North and East Series, NOT the “Kodak Elite Series, and Slim Jim All Pro Series” as you have deluded yourself into believing. For the record the Slim Jim series was NASCAR sanctioned although it was only in the SouthEast and DID NOT morph into Camping World.
As for this nonsense: “NASCAR, sir, does not “sponsor” venues. I believe what you are referring to are NASCAR sanctioned tracks. NASCAR has been in and out of many speedways over the years, including a few in my area. I hate you reminded me of that. It brought back bad memories of all the money that they still owe to champions of a local speedway for their titles back in 2000. Failure to pay their bills is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the cons that come with a speedway becoming NASCAR sanctioned.”
Correct they do “sanction” tracks, AND that is why your claim they shorted tracks and drivers money is patent bullshit, as a sanctioning body they don’t put-up prize money, local owners and promoters do. Of course if you can name the place, dates, and drivers shorted (with a link to a news story) I might consider that BS as valid but I won’t hold my breath.
As far as your grasp of land costs and how it relates is FAR less than your knowledge of my racing history, origins of the Camping World Series and for that matter most anything else I suspect. But I will give you one example that lays your theory to waste. Ascot Speedway in Cali was a highly profitable track up to the day it was closed, it died along with many other short tracks because the surrounding development raised the cost of land far in excess of what the track could ever produce in revenue. Furthermore, failed business practices on the part of some owners has ZERO to do with the cost of the land that business sits on. PERIOD, end of story.
You “sir,” and I use that with all lack of respect, suffer from what is commonly called BFDS, Brain France Derangement Syndrome, seek help.
Now begone with you.