A sad sight and a good sight all in the same area.

Gary Ward

Gary Ward

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This race track opened in 2000 at a cost of 152 million in Sparta Ky. They lost their big NASCAR race a couple years ago and apparently all other races they had there.
I had flown over the place during a race weekend and it was all lit up and hundreds of campers were scattered over the country side. Glorious sight to see.

During Covid the parking lots were full of hundreds of semi truck trailers. Then Ford parked a hundreds of new pickup trucks there waiting for chips. This is a depressing sight and it also destroyed many local business that were started up because of the race track.
IMG_1995.JPG

IMG_1993.JPG

I have been scoping out a place to land here...many light poles and curbs.
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One of our vendors had a "client appreciation" event there a couple years ago and paid for us to participate in the Richard Petty Driving experience (or whatever group was running it). Regardless, I got to take a (retired) NASCAR around the track for 3-4 laps. VERY cool!

Sad that it's going to go into disrepair.
 
The good.
Then get this...they built a new airport because of the track. It is under construction now, I guess they are going to finish it? It is a very smooth concrete runway, ramp and taxiways. It looks to be between 4000-5000' long.
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You can see the race track on the left in this picture.
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When was the last time you saw a airport being built? I don't know what it'll serve, not much around here it doesn't seem?
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Must be very recent build or very old satellite images I’m looking at. Can’t seem to find where this runway actually is.
 
Sam Gordon said:
One of our vendors had a "client appreciation" event there a couple years ago and paid for us to participate in the Richard Petty Driving experience (or whatever group was running it). Regardless, I got to take a (retired) NASCAR around the track for 3-4 laps. VERY cool!

Sad that it's going to go into disrepair.
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I bet that was very cool! I would love to do that, probably never get the chance.
 
I would imagine that public funds were specifically allocated to build that airport, so it's pretty difficult for them to just stop halfway through without a bunch of political/administrative hoops. They'd probably rather avoid the giant amount of negative-PR associated with scrapping a multi-million dollar project versus the little bit of negative-PR from an airport that lost it's major reason for existing.
 
I wonder why it lost all its business.

Most times, they are charging too much. Also looks like they built it for one use, NASCAR/Indy car. No road race track through the infield. A lot of business with that from schools and track day events.
 
Pinecone said:
I wonder why it lost all its business.

Most times, they are charging too much. Also looks like they built it for one use, NASCAR/Indy car. No road race track through the infield. A lot of business with that from schools and track day events.
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Yes that is probably part of the problem. I think they had a few concerts there but that didn't make enough money to keep it open. Last night it didn't look like anything was going on there, deserted. It will turn into a urban exploration destination?
 
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Lachlan said:
Looks like the roundy-roundy went boogity-boogity. ;)
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I remember Darrel Waltrip was part of the group that attended opening ceremony back when it opened.
Lol that is funny!
 
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There's a 1/4 mile bullring on the infield and pit road that they use for Legends and Bandolero cars. I ran the track a couple of times against a lot of current NASCAR drivers.

NASCAR has a bit of an identity crisis. When the track was built it was owned by a group of outsiders when it comes to who gets Cup races. They got lower series races, but never a cup race. Until it was acquired by SMI. There's two major track owners on the Nascar circuit. SMI which is owned by the Smith family. And International Speedway Corp which is owned by the France Family...who owns NASCAR. NASCAR, ISC, and SMI have done a terrible job at promotion. Bill France Jr passed was a promotional genius. His kids on the other hand; entitled idiots with no clue on promotion and just chase corporate greed.

NASCAR got into a decade and a half long lull of these 1.5 mile tracks and some pretty boring racing. They'd visit Charlotte, Atlanta,Kansas, Texas, Chicagoland, and Kentucky for 1/3 of a 36 race schedule. The races got repetitious and boring and kept saturating the same markets over and over. They'd repave tracks, only to ruin what luster they had. Bristol used to be a beat and bang high bank one lane move the guy ahead of you to pass. Once they repaved it, well... they've had to put dirt on the asphalt to make it watchable.

They're just now realizing there faux pas after the CEO was ousted for a DUI and had pills on him as well. Not his first DUI either. But they still can't get it right and gave Chicago a street race. Which I suppose dodging a drive by shooting would add a layer of intrigue.
 
Texas World Speedway was busy 50 weekends of the year even with bad management and no NASCAR races after 1981.

Richard Childress once came into town to buy TWS, but the owner at the time ran him off so Texas Motor Speedway was built.

Even one weekend of the lower amateur races brought more money into the local economy than one Texas A&M home football game.

I was at a race there one time when a plane landed on the back straight, a victim of poor fuel planning. Not the only plane to land on the back straight. (hint)

The race track used to be a visual check point for landing at Easterwood Airport. (CLL)

Texas World Speedway was where I started and ended my craptacular ARCA career.

06e173da02d9ec95a1c048d4f0ae0482.jpg



https://www.hotcars.com/heres-what-happened-to-nascars-texas-world-speedway/

Racerx said:
And International Speedway Corp which is owned by the France Family...who owns NASCAR. NASCAR, ISC, and SMI have done a terrible job at promotion. Bill France Jr passed was a promotional genius. His kids on the other hand; entitled idiots with no clue on promotion and just chase corporate greed.
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Whole lotta truth here, sadly.
 
Agree that if they could somehow also make a road course out of it it could bring life back to it. I remember hearing advertising about that track years ago making fun of the rough surface. Played a supposed recording of a driver on the radio who sounded like he was driving over a brick paved road.
 
WDD said:
Agree that if they could somehow also make a road course out of it it could bring life back to it. I remember hearing advertising about that track years ago making fun of the rough surface. Played a supposed recording of a driver on the radio who sounded like he was driving over a brick paved road.
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When I raced the little 1/4 mile, even pit road was like going through a whoops section on a motocross track.
 
Pinecone said:
No road race track through the infield. A lot of business with that from schools and track day events.
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Might not be big enough. It looks like a 1 or 1.5 mile oval in the pic. If you provide garages, an infield hospital, etc., to be able to host a Cup or IndyCar race, it would be difficult to cram in an infield road course.

At TWS, they managed it by crossing the back straight and going outside the oval rather than confining the road course to the infield.
 
Zeldman said:
Texas World Speedway was busy 50 weekends of the year even with bad management and no NASCAR races after 1981.

Richard Childress once came into town to buy TWS, but the owner at the time ran him off so Texas Motor Speedway was built.

Even one weekend of the lower amateur races brought more money into the local economy than one Texas A&M home football game.

I was at a race there one time when a plane landed on the back straight, a victim of poor fuel planning. Not the only plane to land on the back straight. (hint)

The race track used to be a visual check point for landing at Easterwood Airport. (CLL)

Texas World Speedway was where I started and ended my craptacular ARCA career.

06e173da02d9ec95a1c048d4f0ae0482.jpg



https://www.hotcars.com/heres-what-happened-to-nascars-texas-world-speedway/



Whole lotta truth here, sadly.
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Yep! I was there as crew for a SRF driver a couple of times. Took home a win one year. It was a fun event, with lots of competitors.
 
@Zeldman I put many laps down at TWS, ‘the house that Foyt built’, running Formula Mazda ( original tube frame and the 1st gen carbon tub cars). Also ran some spec Miata races. We ran the road course that included the entire front straight as the main straight. It was one of my favorites albeit a bit bumpy for the carbon tub cars. It has since been leveled for a housing development :(
 
I saw an ARCA race at TWS one time in the early 1990s and that’s all I can remember taking place there for a few years in that time-frame.

There was a very cool coffee-table style book that I wish I had bought about the famous and abandoned drag strips in the US. There was a heyday pic and trees-on-the-track pic with a story that each track played in the history of the sport. What amazed me is how quickly nature takes over man’s creation.
 
Pass by there on I-71 on the way to/from Rough River POA Wing Ding. Always wondered what happened after the big hoopla opening a few years ago. There’s some new hotels that were built around the area. I suppose they’ll eventually go Kaput as well.

I’ve been impressed by the KY Department of Aviation. They seem to recognize the value of GA to their economy.

Cheers
 
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The old North Carolina Motor Speedway known as the “Rock” at Rockingham NC . Word is that it will soon be sold for back taxes .
 
Shepherd said:
I stopped watching NASCAR, et al, about the same time they "ruled" the winged Dodges and Plymouths out of contention.
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:yeahthat:


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:D


I haven’t really followed NASCAR in many years, though I’ll watch a race once in a while, especially on a road course. The oval races are somewhat boring for spectators. Outlaw sprints on dirt are much more entertaining.

NASCAR was more interesting when the cars were actually built from street cars, without the tube frames and custom motors. That made the manufacturer duels a bit meaningful.
 
I attended several IndyCar races at Kentucky Speedway as a crew member. The track isn't close to any motels and restaurants. The crews stayed in Florence, south of Cincinnati. That was about a 45 minute drive.

As someone mentioned above, the 1.5 mile cookie cutter tracks were an outgrowth of NASCAR's huge popularity in the late 90s and early 2000s. They all differed somewhat, and required different race setups, but the racing they produced wasn't good IMO. IndyCar never drew many fans to those tracks. NASCAR's popularity has collapsed in the last 20 years, and the attendance falloff has been significant.
 
OTOH, Summit Point and VIR are in use something like 360 days per year
 
ANY road racing is good.

But yes, F1 is amazing. I have been a fan for a LONG time. I even attended at Watkins Glen twice.
 
X3 Skier said:
Formula One for me. Can’t beat the racing, locations and the Hoopla.

Cheers
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For me, at least, F1 requires a great deal of attention to be enjoyed. I used to follow F1 closely, back when I was racing sports cars. That was when Senna, Mansell, and Proust were at the top, then later Schumacher. I had subscriptions to several racing magazines, followed websites, etc., and I was usually up to date on the technology, different teams' strategies and testing, what the engineers were doing, all the stuff that was happening in the background. It was fascinating, and races were the proving ground to see who got it right.

Now that I'm no longer putting that sort of time into it, the races themselves are okay, but not nearly as interesting when I knew all back stories. F1 is racing where the drama gets played out over days and weeks and seasons, not just on race day.
 
Half Fast said:
:yeahthat:


View attachment 109172


:D


I haven’t really followed NASCAR in many years, though I’ll watch a race once in a while, especially on a road course. The oval races are somewhat boring for spectators. Outlaw sprints on dirt are much more entertaining.

NASCAR was more interesting when the cars were actually built from street cars, without the tube frames and custom motors. That made the manufacturer duels a bit meaningful.
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My Grandpa in the late 70's or early 80's and his ARTGO Firebird at what looks like Lake Geneva. Nearly 30 years later I'd be the last track champion in 2006, before the track was sold and eventually torn down for a housing development.

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Gary Ward said:
This race track opened in 2000 at a cost of 152 million in Sparta Ky. They lost their big NASCAR race a couple years ago and apparently all other races they had there.
I had flown over the place during a race weekend and it was all lit up and hundreds of campers were scattered over the country side. Glorious sight to see.

During Covid the parking lots were full of hundreds of semi truck trailers. Then Ford parked a hundreds of new pickup trucks there waiting for chips. This is a depressing sight and it also destroyed many local business that were started up because of the race track.
IMG_1995.JPG

IMG_1993.JPG

I have been scoping out a place to land here...many light poles and curbs.
IMG_1992(1).JPG
Click to expand...
I flew over this just the other day and thought the same thing. It was such a boost to have it in the NASCAR family and then just a let down when they said they are pulling out.
 
Half Fast said:
:yeahthat:

NASCAR was more interesting when the cars were actually built from street cars, without the tube frames and custom motors. That made the manufacturer duels a bit meaningful.
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NASCAR Corporatized and got far from its roots. It used to be about the passion of who you rooted for or against. Earnhardt vs Elliott, Ford vs Chevy. Now, the personalities are bland and the cars are virtually identical except for the wrap on the outside. They killed the passion in the sport and the ratings and attendance show it.
 
kyleb said:
NASCAR Corporatized and got far from its roots. It used to be about the passion of who you rooted for or against. Earnhardt vs Elliott, Ford vs Chevy. Now, the personalities are bland and the cars are virtually identical except for the wrap on the outside. They killed the passion in the sport and the ratings and attendance show it.
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I remember something Tony Stewart once said about Indycar vs NASCAR. Keep in mind this was in the 90's. Indycar, if you had money or a sponsor to pay the way, you had an indycar ride regardless of how talented you may be. In NASCAR the door was open for talent...even if it was just a crack. I can't say the same thing in today's NASCAR. I raced against a number of the current cup drivers. I vividly remember a national race in Georgia. Bubba Wallace had a stacker car hauler and brought 5 cars to the track and a complete pit crew. He did OK, but the great thing about Legends racing is all the cars, tires, and engines are the same. So it's all set up and driver.
 
Shepherd said:
I stopped watching NASCAR, et al, about the same time they "ruled" the winged Dodges and Plymouths out of contention.
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Mopar guy since1971 here. I remember no one wanted a superbird or a Daytona because they were too ugly...

Now they are worth pretty big bucks...
 
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