Abandoned Race Track in Savannah

It seems as if cities hate their race tracks. Orlando pretty much shut down an 1/8 mile drag strip at the Central Florida Racing Complex or whatever it's name is this week and our 1/4 mile drag strip is closing due to the current owner/lessee retiring and no one wanting to pick up the bill. It's a drag strip I know, but still an motorsports venue.

I've had pipe dreams of finding a facility like this and turning it into the next VIR, but then I wake up. Next time I make the trip through Savannah I'm def going to stop by this! So thanks for the info.

In just about every metro area there's the opportunity to build a venue like this, but the same complaint always comes up: noise. I was told the golf course around the savannah track was built after the track was completed, but the golfers complained about the 'possibility' of noise and since there are more golfers than racers in Savannah (or pretty much anywhere else), guess who won? Never mind the prestige having annual races in the heart of the city would bring; look at the Grand Prix of Monaco, the Long Beach Grand Prix, LeMans (run on public roads), or the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Toronto.

Noise complaints are what killed Blaney Drag Strip outside of Lugoff up here and the last I heard the Lowcountry Dragway outside of Moncks Corner was facing the same battle. The problem, as I see it, is twofold: 1) cars which are quiet to the average motorsports enthusiast are aggravatingly loud to those who pursue golf, sailing etc. and 2) those people are not willing to even temporarily suspend their demands for absolute silence.

DirtyBird222 wrote: It seems as if cities hate their race tracks. Orlando pretty much shut down an 1/8 mile drag strip at the Central Florida Racing Complex or whatever it's name is this week

!?!?!?! That's an industrial area. I didn't think there were any neighbors around at that hour to do the complaining.

DirtyBird222 wrote: and our 1/4 mile drag strip is closing due to the current owner/lessee retiring and no one wanting to pick up the bill.

Do you mean Bithlo? I hope they're not closing....

I went to the Savannah speed classic there last year. It's a pretty epic course.

Dad driving at Savannah

I took my Dad to the track for the svra event a couple of years ago and got to do some laps with him driving. I miss him alot

I'm a bigger fan of the fx50, if I could find one. 5.0 v8 vvel. more power than the 5.6. Soooooooooooooooooooooooper rare

JoeyM wrote:

DirtyBird222 wrote: It seems as if cities hate their race tracks. Orlando pretty much shut down an 1/8 mile drag strip at the Central Florida Racing Complex or whatever it's name is this week

!?!?!?! That's an industrial area. I didn't think there were any neighbors around at that hour to do the complaining.

DirtyBird222 wrote: and our 1/4 mile drag strip is closing due to the current owner/lessee retiring and no one wanting to pick up the bill.

Do you mean Bithlo? I hope they're not closing....

The South chase residents got CFRC shut down to go-karts only. I wonder how long its going to take the news stations to come up with another street racers gone insane story to scare us all with. They voted to shut it down even with M.A.D.D. there trying to keep it open along with several sheriffs depts testifying . Go figure the people that have to clean up the mess were even for the track staying open. Somebody got there pockets lined on this one for sure.

The Bithlo thing is up in the air though . I'm hearing the lease runs out in 2013 some time. The key seems to be that its grandfathered in as long as they hold a certain amount of events. If not the land goes to residential zoning and the track becomes a memory.

f86sabjf wrote:

JoeyM wrote:

DirtyBird222 wrote: It seems as if cities hate their race tracks. Orlando pretty much shut down an 1/8 mile drag strip at the Central Florida Racing Complex or whatever it's name is this week

!?!?!?! That's an industrial area. I didn't think there were any neighbors around at that hour to do the complaining.

DirtyBird222 wrote: and our 1/4 mile drag strip is closing due to the current owner/lessee retiring and no one wanting to pick up the bill.

Do you mean Bithlo? I hope they're not closing....

The South chase residents got CFRC shut down to go-karts only. I wonder how long its going to take the news stations to come up with another street racers gone insane story to scare us all with. They voted to shut it down even with M.A.D.D. there trying to keep it open along with several sheriffs depts testifying . Go figure the people that have to clean up the mess were even for the track staying open. Somebody got there pockets lined on this one for sure. The Bithlo thing is up in the air though . I'm hearing the lease runs out in 2013 some time. The key seems to be that its grandfathered in as long as they hold a certain amount of events. If not the land goes to residential zoning and the track becomes a memory.

What counts as an "event"? Do the Fri night test and tunes count? If so, that should be easy...

well the problem is the guy that owns it wants out and to lease the equipment to someone else from what i hear. Guess the price is to high. There were RUMORS of the lakeland track taking over in some manner but hose have seemed to die down

The creators of Roebling Road even had a deed restriction about the track in the adjacent property to eliminate complaints and the locals got the noise police involved. Road Atlanta will be a subdivision soon for the same reason.

well a week after shutdown they've had there first street racing incident with a half dozen cars wrecked and 2 in critical conditon. Glad they made a sound decision on this one

In reply to f86sabjf:

Terrible thing to hear. Still, a lot of the NIMBYs won't think about it until it happens to one of their own kids. Sometimes even then they don't understand. Remember that woman who was posting here insisting that folks who were racing legally should pay into some sort of fund?

whenry wrote: The creators of Roebling Road even had a deed restriction about the track in the adjacent property to eliminate complaints and the locals got the noise police involved. Road Atlanta will be a subdivision soon for the same reason.

That guy got shot down a few years ago. He bought up adjacent property with the intention of building a subdivision, filed to build a subdivision and was told 'you knew the track was there when you bought it'. Road Atlanta protested the subdivision's permitting, saying it would lead to noise lawsuits. The county council agreed.

http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=106174&c=10

And I thought the always nearly empty Detroit GP track you can legally run backwards at 20 mph was cool.

Curmudgeon wrote:

whenry wrote: The creators of Roebling Road even had a deed restriction about the track in the adjacent property to eliminate complaints and the locals got the noise police involved. Road Atlanta will be a subdivision soon for the same reason.

That guy got shot down a few years ago. He bought up adjacent property with the intention of building a subdivision, filed to build a subdivision and was told 'you knew the track was there when you bought it'. Road Atlanta protested the subdivision's permitting, saying it would lead to noise lawsuits. The county council agreed. http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=106174&c=10

I remember when that happened. I still remember the first time I was assigned to flag T7 and saw people houses where the chicken houses used to be. There was a bit of a panic, but after this 2006 decision we kind of relaxed. Seems Hall County knew who was buttering their bread back in the day. IMO, with the economy worse now than it was then, there might not be another threat like this for quite some time.

I try to make it a point to be in uniform on when I walk into a store or restaurant over there, even on a club weekend. For last year's Mitty, a lot of the folks working in such places actually were asking, "..so, you here for the race?" just because I was wearing a racing t-shirt, and driving the Corrado.

A "Yes, I am!" combined with buying $45 of fuel and $30 on beer seems to remind the business owners that they need to talk to the city council from time to time. I'm glad Roebling Road is actually in Pooler, instead of within Savannah's city limits. This kind of stuff might be the only reason it survives..

At about the same time as the Road Atlanta thing, Bruton Smith (owns a bunch of NA$CAR tracks) was applying for a permit to build a drag strip on the Lowe's Motor Speedway property and a bunch of 'concerned citizens' from Concord, NC turned out against the proposal, causing the town council to deny the permit. He said 'OK, then I'll just shut down the whole thing, including LMS, and rebuild somewhere that the town wants the money'. Of course all the little hotels etc around there depend on the NA$CAR races for their livelihood.

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/concord-panel-approves-drag-strip-near-nascar-spee/nG2Fj/

friedgreencorrado wrote: I try to make it a point to be in uniform on when I walk into a store or restaurant over there, even on a club weekend. For last year's Mitty, a lot of the folks working in such places actually were asking, "..so, you here for the race?" just because I was wearing a racing t-shirt, and driving the Corrado. A "Yes, I am!" combined with buying $45 of fuel and $30 on beer seems to remind the business owners that they need to talk to the city council from time to time. I'm glad Roebling Road is actually in Pooler, instead of within Savannah's city limits. This kind of stuff might be the only reason it survives..

this is a prime example of automotive awesomeness in the community...hats off to you sir, bravo

4cylndrfury wrote:

friedgreencorrado wrote: I try to make it a point to be in uniform on when I walk into a store or restaurant over there, even on a club weekend. For last year's Mitty, a lot of the folks working in such places actually were asking, "..so, you here for the race?" just because I was wearing a racing t-shirt, and driving the Corrado. A "Yes, I am!" combined with buying $45 of fuel and $30 on beer seems to remind the business owners that they need to talk to the city council from time to time. I'm glad Roebling Road is actually in Pooler, instead of within Savannah's city limits. This kind of stuff might be the only reason it survives..

this is a prime example of automotive awesomeness in the community...hats off to you sir, bravo

Years ago Clemson fans starting takng $2 bills when they traveled to bowl games. Believe me, word gets around. The local mechants know what teams travel well.

I figured with the Clemson types they'd be trying to pass $3 bills, since that's as high as they can count.

I am more concerned with Panos doing the math and deciding that 250 acres in Hall County is worth $$$$............ Roebling now has quiet hours due to the issue.
The real problem is that there are more of them than of us and we dont always speak out. The image that the city or county council has of "racers" is not reality.

In reply to whenry:

Panoz is a smart guy and he knows what his property is worth. As long as his personal fortune can afford his personal passions and line the coffers of local government and business more than residential tax revenue, the track will stay open.

If the track becomes even more expensive, he could even sell his soul and look to host Nascar, Grand-Am and IndyCar events. A V8 Supercar would be nice, too.

I don't know what Dr. Panoz would do. One thing to remember, though..a lot of his personal "hobby stuff" is nearby. The winery, the hotel, etc. I suppose it's not inconceivable that RA could turn into one of those "motorsport country clubs" where rich folks bring fancy street cars to play around. One of the reasons we (Atl. Reg. SCCA) haven't been able to run a full-tilt club race at AMP is the 98db sound limit. A lot of our guys just can't get that low without some serious $$$$.

Personally, I'd with oldsaw. Bring on NASCAR/Grand Am/Indy. More big weekends means more money spent locally. The 2nd tier NASCAR series (whatever the Busch series is called nowdays) actually ran there in the 80s.

I would love to see Grand-Am there. The CTSCC would put on a fabulous show!! However, I don't think Dr. P will let a competing series on RA.

The historic stock cars run really well at the Mitty . . . can you imagine the new gear running there . . . and sound

friedgreencorrado wrote: In reply to f86sabjf: Terrible thing to hear. Still, a lot of the NIMBYs won't think about it until it happens to one of their own kids. Sometimes even then they don't understand. Remember that woman who was posting here insisting that folks who were racing legally should pay into some sort of fund?

Yeah, but her plan was to have that money go into a fund that would teach kids about the evils of street racing. This overlooks the fact that teenagers are ""programmed to take risks"; i.e. if you tell them something is risky, there's a good chance it will be viewed as an appealing thing to try.

The results suggest that teenagers are good at weighing up the pros and cons of their decisions (unlike children) but take risks because they enjoy the thrill of a risky situation more than other age groups -- especially when they have a 'lucky escape'. "The reason that teenagers take risks is not a problem with foreseeing the consequences. It was more because they chose to take those risks," said Dr Stephanie Burnett from the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, and the lead author.

spending money informing people about risk won't change a thing

bringing other series in was the justification for filling in the Dip and turning RA into a street course yrs ago. How did that work out?
Looking around the track now you can see deferred maintenance. AMP will probably be the nail in the coffin once everyone accepts that the west coasters have been dealing with strict noise limits for years.