Just saw this...as an avid fan I would hate to see this happen.

Speedway season in jeapardy

Apparently there is a power cable that runs across the grandstands that has to be buried, at a cost of around $400,000. This is the speedway website.

State Fair Speedway

-Chris-

Thats a shame, as a regular attendee since I was a small kid it would be a shame for it to go.

Better yet instead of fixing the old one, maybe they should build a proper dirt track and maybe attract higher profile dirt racing..

Something that was reported during the campaign but I'm not sure anybody really noticed (I think by the Gazette): with passage of MAPS 3, the speedway is a goner.

Honestly this area could use a nice dirt, or possibly even paved racetrack. Maybe the OKC Speedway folks could get together with other race groups in the metro and look at developing one. Maybe even put in a 1/4 mile strip. If you brought SCCA into the fold, who knows what all would be possible? A motorsports complex...hmmm....

There are so many types of motorsports that would be easy to get people involved in, such as drifting, figure-8 racing, autocross, gymkhana...lot's of options that would even have the possibility of keeping teens off the streets a bit more.

Of course, I have been wanting a Rally America event out at Draper for years.

-Chris-

I always thought the expansion of Hallet into other forms of racing would just create a stronger grassroots motorsports population in Oklahoma, but the current owners seem to have no interest in it. I do know Hallett gets used a bunch and most of the SCCA/NASA drivers in the area (even as far south as Houston region) seem to like it pretty well for an older track. Most of them down here just don't like that long of a tow.

As far as the roundy-rounders, those need to be closer to population centers than most of the population would like, with the pricing it is really more of a family event than the sports car stuff that I went to all the time. I grew up within "earshot" of the State Fair Speedway when the big motor stuff ran, but then we could also hear the drag and unlimited hydroplane boats when they ran at Overholser. The unlimiteds were in the transition period from the big piston motors (the 16-cylinder Rolls-Royce & Allison aircraft engines) to turbines when I remember them running out there.

The noise never really bothered us...but then we were motorheads.

I grew up just north of the fairgrounds and loved to listen to the stock car races. Its still kind of a portal to my childhood to visit my parents in the summer and can hear the races. It will be sad if they close it.

Update: STF to close after 55 years

NewsOK

Think someone asked about it in one of the threads because the renderings of the new MAPS 3 building didn't include the Speedway?

Yes I heard it this morning on the news, it is closing down. It is a shame they are closing it down, there are generations of racers that compete at the track. It is odd that the group will not invest in the track and keep that history at the fairgrounds, but yet when it closes down you watch them beg for the funds to put up a 10 million dollar horse barn and still move that cable.

The fairgrounds has wanted to get rid of the track for years and now they have found an angle to do so. I have a feeling the track will not go away quietly.

hate to be the only one on the other side of this issue but as somebody who has to close all the windows and doors on friday nights to hear a conversation with the ol lady, i am glad to see it go.

maybe building a new track in a less populated area would be an alternative. however, (and i am not taking sides on global warming but only sharing a thought) in the event that global warming is a reality or even if we do face a fossil fuel shortage in our society, it would seem as if society could better utilize the fuels we have left to get more people from point a to point b than to watch racecars going around in circles.

by the way, i sold hot dogs at the taft stadium races as a kid so its not like i am anti-racing. its just that our world is looking at a different set of challenges today.

The residents were well aware of tyhe track when they moved into their homes. Should we tear down I-35 because its noisy to residents along it's route?
Ethanol
Like we need more horse barns?

Folks, the destruction of the Speedway was originally part of the ill-conceived fair reinvention put together by Skip Wegner a few years back. I thought this part of the plan had been aborted because of the loyal, core group of folks who enjoy the races.

I am not personally a fan of the races, but given that so many people are, I thought surely this aspect of the fair might endure past the Wegner Reign of Error. So much of the fairgrounds have been ruined under that misguided era of leadership...really sad.

The biggest problem with your comment is the fact that most, if not all, of the houses near the fairgrounds were built before the speedway.

Probably, but I suspect the large majority of the residents weren't.

Racing brought revenue into the city. Why would you want to close it down after 55 years?

yeah! buh bye.

This'll be a vast improvement to the State Fair's aesthetics. That thing was hideous. And for some reason. I seem to associate racing, especially on that dirt track, to rednecks. I don't know why. No offense to anyone, but it's a correlation my mind makes.

Why can't they afford 400k? They want city money for it? Sounds like they want a hand-out...

We've talked about this before. It has to do with zoning laws and construction laws. When's the last time the fair had any major work done? In order to get a permit to do something on that large of a scale, they would have to overhaul pretty much the entire fair grounds. This is why it is not a part of MAPS3. It makes more sense monetarily to scratch it. I'm happy it's going.

I guess I don't unerstand the mentality of "I don't like it so get rid of it" I guess with all the churches in our city I bet we could drum up enough support to get rid of bars. Heck I don't like fishing, I suppose I'll rally around closing boat ramps.

I think I've been to the speedway 3 times in my life, I just think it adds more diversity of attractions to our city.

Oh yeah horse racing is casinos are real redneck venues.

I'm a race fan, however, everything out lives it's purpose, and the Fairgrounds Speedway is one. If there's enough interest in this area, someone will step forward, find the appropriate place and build a new track, possibly a motor sports area. (oval, drag, off road, etc;.

The City/Fairgrounds needs to use this oppurtunity to make major improvements to the Fairgrounds, and start by building a new main entrance off of May once the Speedway is removed.

I'm soooo sick of this folks calling things 'redneck' whether it be racing, country music, our western heritage or whatever.

Oh! you mean like how there was enough interest in a convention center that someone stepped forward? Or a Whitewater Kayaking facility?

oh, wait..


lol

Oh NO, it's one of them. Some accept defeat, lick their wonds and move on, others "TROLL" and never get over it.

Nope, check the namecalling.

I didn't take part in any of the MAPS3 discussions. I don't live in OKC, I live in Edmond and couldn't vote.

But I do think it is hilarious that you use the Exact same argument some of the No people were using about the convention center and kayaking facility when speaking about the Speedway.