Raceway Park

[MosportGreen66]

Did anyone else see the blurb in Hot Rod about Raceway Park possibly closing due to noise complaints from the locals? I'm glad to see operations are back!

[GM-26]

Our local drag strip, Long Island Motorsports Raceway, closed a couple of years ago. It was located in Westhampton and wasn't the best facility in the world, but it was a place to "run" your car without having to drive to New Jersey. One of the reasons for it's closing, was the huge amounts of noise complaints. It had gotten so bad that the track would not allow you to run "open headers" and if by chance you came to the track without mufflers, they added another $20.00 to your admission fee.

http://fire.prohosting.com/limoto/

[Chevy454]

That kinda thing is happening all across the country, even here in Missouri. MoKan over in western Missouri has been going through this the past few years...it's out in the middle of nowhere, but a doctor (not local to the area) bought several acres a couple miles from the track and used it just for hunting. Well, that's big duck hunting country, and he pitched a fit because he could hear the track in the distance while he was duck hunting. So, he kept filing lawsuits and injunctions and what not trying to get the place shut down, after it's been there pert-near forever. The guy all but bankrupted the track, but it's still in business, for now...

[Salvatore]

Pay the good doctor a visit!

[RichSchmidt]

Long island was on a downward spiral for a long time,and the penguin ran it into the ground.It was a catch 22.The owner didint invest in the track so the track lost busness,The loss of business left him with a shortness of funds to fight the local complaint department.In the end,he made his money selling it to developers.It became a hate/hate relationship between him and the racers.The slower it got at the track the more he duped them out of payout money and the less effort he put into running the track,and the more PO'ed the racers got and the more of them that left the facilty for good.The last time I was there,he managed to collect entry money from about 200 cars to run test and tune.Despite this fact,he had no tech inspector,so if you arrived to race after the racing started,you had to wait in the tech line for about a half an hour until the guy who was pulling the lanes on the starting line could run over real quick and sign off your tech card.The track had no airhose which isnt the end of the world,but the icing on the cake was when the gas attendant up and left at noon,and his solution was to tell racers they couldnt have any gas.One of my friends towed almost 100 miles to get there and arrived at 1PM only to go home without any runs because the track had no gas.What kind of crap was that??


As for Englishtown,the track is much better managed and much larger,and has more resources to fight the complaints,but my personal take on it is that the racers need to step up to the plate and ALL install effecive mufflers on their cars,even for Sunday brackets.I know racing has always been about being able to be an outlaw and go real fast and make lots of noise that you could never do on the stret,but unless we all want to be racing out in the middle of the forests 200 miles outside of town,we need to be realistic about our sport.A healy car could sound BETTER with good mufflers on it,and is much more enjoyable to drive,and any racer who tells you that they cant make their 800hp engine quieter without killing the power is wrong.The difference between open headers and a well designed set of quiet race mufflers on a 1000 hp car would be less then 25 hp,and for lesser cars the loss would be less.There is no reason to want a loud car then the desire to be loud and obnoxious.I would stand 100% behind a muffler rule if I thought it would do good,but I am beginning to doubt that even quiet muflers on all sportsman cars will pacify the complaint team.

[Supergas990]

Vern is correct, this is happening everywhere. At Great Lakes Dragaway in Union Grove, WI, they've got a curfew for racing - 11pm regardless of circumstances. There will be events postponed or stopped because of the curfew. Then the racers will have to be finished another day.

In the "good old days", the race would run till completed then there was the all night bonfire party!!!

If I thought doing any one specific thing (mufflers) would fix the NIMBYs, I'd support it. But, if I've learned one thing from watching politics... Incrementalism is the way to eliminate things. Once the opposition gets mufflers, then they'll find something else to whine about. Maybe leaded racing gas, or traffic congestion???

Some times you have to stick to your guns. The track owners ought to be dealing with the developers and zoning people when the proposed subdivision or zoning change request is first placed on the table.

JMHO

Blair

[Belair62]

Damn..I dodn't know the Grove was getting any heat....no one lives near the place except for a few farm houses

[Chevy454]

[ QUOTE ]
The track had no airhose which isnt the end of the world,but the icing on the cake was when the gas attendant up and left at noon,and his solution was to tell racers they couldnt have any gas.One of my friends towed almost 100 miles to get there and arrived at 1PM only to go home without any runs because the track had no gas.What kind of crap was that??

[/ QUOTE ]
That's common...Martin, Mid-Michigan, Gateway, Memphis MP, those are just all off the top of my , and all big facilities, and none have air on the grounds, and you can generally only get fuel for the first hour or two that the track is open...I've learn (the hard way) that if I'm gonna need it at the track, I'd better bring it with me...

[Xplantdad]

Here in Arizona, land of open space...we had the Arizona Motorsports Park..a road racing facility close abruptly due to noise concerns from residents (who had only been living there for a few years)...and this raceway is right down the street from Luke Air Force Base, where they fly all hours of the day and night!

On the other hand we have a local track, other than Firebird Raceway called Speedworld...that has racing every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday...and just had a race that was "no lights on at the track, no Christmas tree, etc."
It was like the old time street racing, run what ya brung...with flag men as starters! This race started at 11pm and ran until after 3 am...and this track(Speedworld) is only about 10 miles from the other track!

[427TJ]

[ QUOTE ]
Here in Arizona, land of open space...we had the Arizona Motorsports Park..a road racing facility close abruptly due to noise concerns from residents (who had only been living there for a few years)...and this raceway is right down the street from Luke Air Force Base, where they fly all hours of the day and night!

[/ QUOTE ]

Luke AFB is a huge cash cow for the state. That, plus a huge retired military community, adds up to government dollars on a massive scale. Local residents can holler all they want about F-16s in afterburner (among the loudest of fighters) but Luke brings in far too much "gummint" money and money from retiree spending to be closed due to jet noise. It all depends on the politics of who is making the noise vs. who is complaining. I lived on Laughlin AFB when I was a USAF pilot and I loved all that noise. Luke would even be better because an F-16 in "blower" is an incredible sound. I'd love to live next to Luke.