It has begun the end of Fairgrounds Speedway
 

Re: It has begun the end of Fairgrounds Speed
 

Sorry to read this. I have but one racetrack within an hour from my house. I can't imagine losing too many more in the area. I think I would seriously consider moving. I live about 5 minutes from where my childhood racetrack was, it's now a subdivision.

never been there and probably never would have went (to far) but its sad to see any race track get tore down.
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Re: It has begun the end of Fairgrounds Speed
 

Thanks for the video. Sorry to see it go by the way of the wrecking ball. Once we lose one, they never seem to build another one to replace it.:13:

Re: It has begun the end of Fairgrounds Speed
 

Glad I was able to see a race there.

Re: It has begun the end of Fairgrounds Speed
 

:13: Very sad news!! At least you know you made the best effort to save it!:19:

Re: It has begun the end of Fairgrounds Speed
 

Sad news. Looked like a great facility. I remember seeing pictures of the Birmingham fairgrounds getting torn down I think it was last year. So many of these great old facilities being destroyed.

Re: It has begun the end of Fairgrounds Speed
 

this is a bad deal and then they all wonder why kids today are in trouble..... they keep taking away things for them to do...

Re: It has begun the end of Fairgrounds Speed
 

I heard in the video they lost a court battle. Does anyone know the circumstances of the suit. Who wanted to keep it as a track and who didn't? Just curious. Hate to lose any racetracks!

Re: It has begun the end of Fairgrounds Speed
 

I was invollved in the whole ordeal. The City of Okc did not want the track. The reasoning they have said is that track had electrical problems and did not meet ADA rules. Early in the year people of Okc passed a sales tax for a new expo center to be located on the grounds of the fairgrounds. The mayor of Okc has gone on record as saying that Okc needs a racetrack just not at that location. The grandstands were nearly 50 years old. The upkeep on the grandstands were poor to say the best. Renovation of the bathrooms and new exterior paint is all that have been done. The lead city inspector even said in court that they had not been out there to the grandstands in many years to inspect the area.

The suit was brought about by Lanny Edwards. Lanny had two years remaining on his contract when the city/fairboard decided to shut the grandstand down. He claimed breach of contract. However, in the contract it said that if problems arose where the grandstands were not able to function in the way they were suppose to then the contract becomes null and void. The city claimed that they told Lanny about the electrical problem and told him that it would cost 400 thousand to fix the problem. They wanted Lanny to fork over the money for repairs.

The local racing comunnity wanted to keep the track around. We felt as if we could win the fight in court it would keep the track around. Many of us feel like it is the big money borkers in the city that are ramrodding this entire deal. The judge felt for the racing community saying that in the end it was us that were the loosers in the deal. He said this entire court hearing was a comedy of errors on both sides. However, he had to side with the safety concerns to the general public by closing the grandstands.

There are so many things that I could list about the comedy of errors issue but I have kinda blocked them out of my mind. But, one thing I do remember is one of Lanny's lawer's legal assitant went to the fairboad to pay the lease for the 2010 season. The girl at the front deak took the check but it was returned. Later in the court hearings the President of the fairboard, Tim O'Toole, said that the girl was not authorized to recieve payment and that is the reason the check was returned.

---------- Post added at 01:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:33 PM ----------

In the wheres there smoke theres fire department to. The American Le Mans series is think about bringing a race to Okc in the 2011 year as well.