Abandoned Racetracks - Dark Clouds On The Horizon

"There really is no single group that works with oval tracks," Gosswein says. "Maybe there should be." Gosswein's network watches regional and state legislation that could have an impact on almost any form of motorsports, from antique car collecting to major races. "But most of the tracks get in trouble over local laws," he says.

Doty agrees. "A town council may pass some sort of noise ordinance to make kids put mufflers on their Japanese street cars, but don't realize at the time that it also may put a track out of business because it can't meet those limits," he says. The consequences are unintended, but they are consequences just the same.

Doty says some of those problems can be headed off by track operators who work within the political system and try to make their tracks conform to current rules or ensure they are "grandfathered" under older laws.

"But when you come right down to it, most track operators are pretty independent folks," he says. "They'd rather go racing than go politicking."

But sometimes it takes political muscle to stay in business. In Middletown, New York, the Wallkill Township tried in January to close the Orange County Fair Speedway by making it illegal for dust to drift off the dirt track's property. The township crafted a law that singled out only the dirt track, while ignoring similar problems from construction sites, concrete plants, or even major highways.

But the local lawmakers backed down when faced with an overflow crowd of 350 racing fans and drivers who demanded they reconsider the issue.

"If they passed it, we would have been out of business," Joanne Chadwick, track manager, says. The law also could have become a model for other local governments under taxpayer pressure to close tracks.

The problems at Middletown were created when the city grew to surround the once remote racetrack. It is a common situation for tracks around the nation.

Accord Speedway, an easy drive from the Orange County oval, was begun 43 years ago as a dirt track in the middle of a farm. "Now we've got people in town who just want to shut us down," says Gary Palmer, who runs Accord Speedway in upstate New York with help from his wife, son, and two daughters.

Palmer is a body shop owner and former racer who says he took over the dirt track three years ago but didn't appreciate the number of problems-including outstanding tax bills-that went with it. But his biggest concern is a group of neighbors who Palmer says simply do not want the track there.

"Sometimes it is like operating under siege," he says. The track operates under a year-to-year permit from the township council, and he worries about what could happen if the make-up of the council changes.

Palmer says he is strict about meeting a 96dB sound limit and not running engines after curfew. Last summer he shut down a race program before the final event because it couldn't be finished by curfew.

Much of a track's criticism is generated by people who don't buy tickets, yet still hear the sound of engines, and long-time operators say they'll never be able to do enough to keep in their good graces.

"It's a lot like people who want to live in the country, so they buy a place surrounded by farms, and then complain about the smell of cow poop," says Chuck Welsh, marketing director for Bloomington Speedway in Indiana.

Welsh says developers just put in about 150 new homes near the track, with the closest one within 200 yards of the north turns. For him, that type of community growth simply means more problems.

"Anytime you are going to have a racetrack, you are going to have complaints," he says. "The question is what to do with them."

Welsh canvasses the neighborhood each year with free passes, and the track has strict noise rules. "If you hit 106 dB, you either fix it or go home," he says.