Bakersfield's Mesa Marin to close

[JBaiza]

http://www.bakersfield.com/special/m...-5550199c.html

It's the track where Kevin Harvick began his career and where Billy Vukovich III lost his life. The hot California real estate market finally became too good to avoid not letting the place go to housing.

I just hate it when this stuff happens, but you can't blame the owners. They know their business better than anyone. It's still sad.

[Cant_hit_apex]

I attended a race there once. What a great little track. Shame.

[Tony Johns]

Well, having worked the Southwest Tour for a year a while back, I have to say that I'm not surprised that Mesa and Cajon are both closing.

But it doesn't make me very happy.

[Lee Roy]

Originally posted by Tony Johns
Well, having worked the Southwest Tour for a year a while back, I have to say that I'm not surprised that Mesa and Cajon are both closing.

But it doesn't make me very happy.

What's happening? Is the price of land too much to pass up? Are housing areas getting closer and closer to where noise issues will soon begin to cause trouble?

Just curious.

[carl s]

Originally posted by JBaiza
http://www.bakersfield.com/special/m...-5550199c.html

It's the track where Kevin Harvick began his career and where Billy Vukovich III lost his life. The hot California real estate market finally became too good to avoid not letting the place go to housing.

I just hate it when this stuff happens, but you can't blame the owners. They know their business better than anyone. It's still sad.

About 8 years ago the city council debated on renewing their license and were quite shocked at the amount of fan input received to the contrary but the handwriting was on the wall.
The Collins family finally dedided to sell before another political situation was created that would drastically reduce the value of their investment. I'm told that Marion originally paid $300 an acre, the profit will be in the millions.

It is a great loss to those of us in SoCal and the Central Valley and besides Billy V, Tom Naylor (Supermod) lost his like in the same 3rd turn wall. My wife would never return to that track having witnessed the accident.

El Cajon in San Diego (county cancelled it's contract due to planned airport expansion) is another great loss and another end to the legacy of those whop raced at Balboa Stadium prior to its demolition for the Football Stadium

Next in line is Perris Speedway which is being surrounded by planned communities that chose to move next to the track and will soon be clamouring for it's removal from "their" neighborhood.

carl s
Indio, CA

[Jamski]

We've lost two here locally just recently. Huntsville (AL), in business for eons and a great venue, has shut down, and Riverview (Carthage, TN) is dark as well. Twin Fountains, near Shelbyville, didn't last long, and that was a nice place.

Tough times for short tracks, these.

[Canth]

Originally posted by carl s

Next in line is Perris Speedway which is being surrounded by planned communities that chose to move next to the track and will soon be clamouring for it's removal from "their" neighborhood.

carl s
Indio, CA

Yeah, you gotta love that about people. Move into next to a track then complain about the car noise. Or my personal favorite, the idiots in Illinois who built houses next to O'hare, then ***** and moan about planes flying overhead.

[Hardscrabble]

Originally posted by Canth
Yeah, you gotta love that about people. Move into next to a track then complain about the car noise. Or my personal favorite, the idiots in Illinois who built houses next to O'hare, then ***** and moan about planes flying overhead.

Kind of interesting that you don't hear the same complaints about Midway, which is literally smack-dab in the middle of a residential neighborhood where the landing gear from the airplanes barely clears the roofs of the bungalows.

[carl s]

Originally posted by Lee Roy
What's happening? Is the price of land too much to pass up? Are housing areas getting closer and closer to where noise issues will soon begin to cause trouble?

Just curious.

Yes

[Scott]

Even though it wasn't a spectator track, the noise complaint issue resulted in the closing of a brand new road course used for SCCA/NASA events near Phoenix, it was called Arizona Motorsports Park and it was a great facility. The irony is that it was located next to Luke Air Force Base, which flies F-16s all day and night, yet the homeowners complained that they could hear the amateur racers from over a mile away. I was at the track and you couldn't hear the cars because the planes were too loud and that was from 50ft. away.

[carl s]

What do you all think of Dan's letter to the editor @ Racing West?

http://www.racingwest.com/news/story...1145/index.htm

The reason why NASCAR does not care about the closing of historic weekly racing tracks is they are only concerned about NASCAR fans, not race fans. The phenomenal popularity of NASCAR is a result of the promotion and marketing of NASCAR, not racing in general. The majority of people who attend NASCAR events are NASCAR fans. They do not know about local and/or regional racing, and most have never attended such events. That is the difference most people overlook. That is why in a time when NASCAR is at its peak, the local and regional tracks are having a hard time making ends meet and some tracks are closing.

NASCAR wants to expand even more into the western United States but they know they do not need western states tracks or racers for that to happen. Whether there is short track racing in an area or not will not affect a NASCAR fan from going to a NASCAR event.

A national corporation will have factories throughout the country and from time to time will close a factory in a region and/or city to help the bottom line of the corporation. The closing will be devastating to the region and/or city; however will have benefit to the corporation. NASCAR is running their organization in that same manner. A few weekly racing tracks closing will have little to no affect on NASCAR as a whole. Given the number of weekly tracks in the country, it is unlikely there will become a time when the driver pool in which NASCAR draws from will dry up. It will just become more regionalized, just like the early days of NASCAR.

This becomes a big disadvantage to racers in the West. The presence of NASCAR in the west is not enough when a driver does not have any tracks to showcase their talents. Bottom line is do not look for NASCAR to solve the problem of diminishing tracks in the west.

Tracks in the west must use the same approach to success as NASCAR in that they must appeal to people who are not “race fans�. The entertainment opportunities in every area is far greater than in the past and most people are looking to maximize their entertainment dollars. Race fans and drivers do not necessarily like the “entertainment� that is intertwined in the weekly racing programs, however that puts people in the stands and more importantly keeps them coming back. Unfortunately, people want more than just a good stock car race.

Dan Kassik
Lake Havasu City, Arizona 86406