I've been following this and it seems the Fair Board won't spend $400,000 to repair the electic service. This is the first I've heard of the ADA problem.Theres only 2yrs left before they were planning on shutting the track.

Unfortunately it appears the ADA compliance is the issue as well, according to the Mayor. Lanny Edwards, who owns Devils Bowl and Sapulpa manages the track but apparently it is not financially viable for him to provide the funding. I am only passing on the details that I am aware of at this time.

pg

Pete, we were there this past summer following the TNT Tour, we followed you in to the track, I told my wife,we will follow the Gulicks, they know where they're going, sure enough, right to the front door the night before.
Nice place,great facility,hope it all works out for everyone!

I signed it.

Hi Dan, We have been following the TNT your for couple of years so know our way around pretty good. It really is a nice place; lot of History. Shame to see it go this way. But, there are a lot of fans that are wheel chair bound and should be able to see the shows, so tough spot for everyone. Thanks and Happy New Year.

pg

This topic has gotten a lot of attention on numerous boards, and I have been mostly quiet. However, there is just a lot of half-truths and half-lies around this topic. The track has a lot of history -true. The track/fair board/city was sued for ADA access and was given till 2012 to make improvements -true. The track is leased to Lanny Edwards to run-true. The city/fair board decided to run the track until 2012 and the cease operations - true. The track is located well inside the city limits of OKC- ture. The track is not well liked by some of the neighborhoods around the city- true. The track has been lacking a lot of improvements and TLC- true. The city has passed several tax incentivites for captial improvements in the city-true. The city has targeted the fair grounds as an area that could stand to be redeveloped-true.

The following is where it gets interesting. Did the mayor make promises to the racers because they were concerned about the tax incentives and the future of the track? Is the "electrical code" issues just a political move to force the track to be closed sooner so redevelopment can happen sooner? Was the ADA lawsuit an inside job?

As an outsider, it appears that saving this track is a long shot. It is not wanted by the neighbors, it is not wanted by the city/fairboard, and the city/fairboard already has redevelopment plans for the land. This is like a marriage both sides have to want to make it work. Right now, you have two sides with different plans.

It has been mentioned that the mayor has talked about creating a multi-use facility to replace the track. Whether or not this has any merrit, is another question, but it seems to have better odds than saving the old track.

I just read a book today by Larry Woody a Nashville based stock car writer. In it he relates a story about the meeting to try and save the Cup races at Nashville, another fairgrounds track. It was going to be expensive to update the track to what Cup wanted, but there were millions to be made by keeping the date. He said he knew it was a lost cause when he witnessed the "debate" over whether the promoter or the board was responsible for fixing a roof leak in the office. He said the races were lost over a bucket of tar.

FYI, it was a good read although it was all stock car and I was disappointed that he didn't have any mention about Tim Richmond. But the stories were interesting that he did have.

I attended a cup race at the Nashville Fairgrounds in 1983. It was a great track. I remember thinking at the time it would be a terrific track for the USAC Silver Crown division. Sad when they quit running there, it was a racey track.
David.

David,

It now looks like they will be tearing it down if the mayor and city council gets there way. They seem to think that it is more valuable for development than it is as a race track. Where it is located, I certainly don't see it that way.

I would agree with your assessment. I never was able to attend a race at the Nashville track, but I've been there and I would not have thought that area would be prime real estate. And that was 25 yrs ago. The same could be said of the OKC fairgrounds area that I attended last year.