Looks like it is a done deal and a sad deal but developers hunger for large chunks of land tends to cause them to offer huge sums for race tracks that are in prime areas. Looking at the map that looks like a lousy area to put an industrial park though. No rail service to the area that I can see and it is pretty well surrounded by small lakes and boggy land. https://www.google.com/maps/place/P...0:0x28bf1536e196d193!8m2!3d26.9172!4d-80.3054 It doesn't seem to have any of the things you normally need for an industrial park except the acreage. The local half mile paved circle track that has been home to circle burners for 60 years and kept a lot of guys involved in racing and out of trouble in the process closed and has had part of it sold off. The owner who is well beyond the age of wanting to operate the track couldn't find anyone who would buy it as a track and the guy who was operating it passed away last year. Now it is a 66 mile tow for the guys who used to often sneak their circle track car up a few alleys and back streets to the track if they didn't have a tow rig.
According to the article they have a lot goes on. That is to bad for all those effected if they close. The sad part is this is the future all over the land .
My mom had a condo maybe a half hour away. Used to sometimes take a trip to the track when visiting her during winter or spring break. It was a busy place in the eighties and nineties. We went back maybe six or eight years ago, and the facilities had gone downhill. More importantly, the participant and spectator turnout were both rather pathetic. It was only a matter of time. The population of South Florida is probably ten or more times since my grandfather lived there in the sixties. Lots of radio ads for the strip then. Now there’s not enough interest to support the track, despite the increase in population. Times chance, and we’re dinosaurs.
Our closest dirt oval is 60 miles from us in SoCal. It’s on Fairground property but that doesn’t mean much anymore..
In Florida there was a great track, St. Augustine Speedway. Dirt late model racing there was intense, it was paved in 1996 and gone by 2001. Closer to home, we lost Islip Speedway after the 1984 season. That was within spitting distance of home for many of us, need something... run home and get it. We lost all the drag strips, National Speedway was home to big races. Westhampton followed in 2004. It also had a nice 1/2 mile banked oval, I regret never going there. By 1978 it was closed. Now we have a "track" at the old Grumman facility out east. Last year 2 sanctioning bodies ran it, there were 1/8th mile and 1/4 mile strips. When I went last year with some friends that were racing, the body running it wasn't able to get stands set up and the 1/8th mile strip wasn't set up to give time slips. There is no permanent infrastructure set up so far. I hope it catches on, so far no shortage of people looking to race.
Sooner or later, all venues of this type, have to be able to pay for their footprint and be solvent money wise, or suffer the bulldozer of monetary leverage and be turned into something that really doesn't consider the needs of those, that enjoyed it as a cool race track ! Sad to see another track get sold !
And to make matter worse, there is this: https://www.speedsport.com/drag-rac...nals-will-mark-final-race-at-houston-raceway/ Which in some cases will lead to News like this that happens a couple times each week: https://www.azfamily.com/2022/04/13...om-leaves-4-year-old-girl-critical-condition/ A lot of us old guys remember a time when law enforcement would get behind clubs to promote safe racing and even TV shows that used it as a theme and a message, sad how things have changed from corporate greed.
Yeah, a done deal. It was mis-managed for years. Prices were high and the owners never missed the chance to make a bad decision. Still, it will be greatly missed in these parts.
I just pulled it up on Google Earth. As Mr48Chev stated, it doesn't look like a great place for an industrial park! The track is completely isolated and surrounded by miles of open land. Couldn't the investors build an industrial park next to the track, instead of on top of it?!
The reason it is valuable for redevelopment is because it has already been filled and compacted and has the required utility infrastructure. Both Amazon and Walmart has considered it as a regional distribution center, I believe.
The cost and time (red tape) needed just to get a permit to possibly backfill is completely nuts. Joe
Correct! Not sure it would be described as surrounded by open land. More like surrounded by miles of swamp. Draining swampland is probably frowned on these days. The track land was probably drained and filled sixty years ago. Also, the road past the track, (Beeline Highway) is straight as an arrow, with no lights or cross traffic. Pretty straight shot to the toll road and Interstate. Not really all that far from the ports, either.
Islip Speedway got turned into an industrial park in about 1985 or 1986. The anchor business was a cookie factory which since has closed. There were always a plethora of noise complaints from neighbors. The site was formerly an airport, this was in the sticks back then. The owners (not racing people) caved into selling it at the end of the 1984 season, the rug was pulled out from under us with a 1 month notice.
Yes, before the Federal Government passed laws prohibiting draining and backfilling w/o a lengthy and expensive process, if allowed at all. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has jurisdiction over such private lands. The track is a high dollar piece of real estate today, as it is exempt. Joe
It's all a matter of economics. There is a farm in my area, one of the last remaining around and the owners are getting old. I was talking to one of the owners recently and he told me that his kids want no part of it. He told me that every so often some developer offers him insane money to build houses on the property. When he passes his kid's will take them up on their offer. Why work when you can sit back and count your money?
I used to take LIE exit 70, Edwards Avenue, up to the Baiting Hollow scout camp with my kids. While some of the sod farms still exist, the potato farms were sold off and huge tracts of houses sprang up.
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