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Originally Posted by aspen7709
Just got E-mail from Stepahanie at Firebird. The National WILL be held Feb 22-24 2013. This will be the last one in the current facility til further notice. I have also heard 2 different rumors on the tracks future. One being leveled and turned into a Grand Hotel and resort to compliment the casino. The other is that the tribe may renovate it and reopen it as their own. (They want ALL the revenue not just lease money). More updates to follow as I get them. My work place is a major program sponsor so they want us in the loop. I got the national event poster but I cant resize it to post it yet.
Kenny Newsome 7709 ?/sa stock eliminator
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The tribe taking over the track and running it as their own would be an interesting twist and something I'd think the tribe has taken or should take into consideration. The drag strip is not the only revenue source on that large piece of property. Firebird Lake is used for boat racing and Bondurant has their road course racing school there too. I think hotel/casino expansion could be accomplished on existing tribal land close to the current casino without leveling or closing any of the racing facilities.
There are always risks involved when building and operating a business on leased land. I know of three national event drag strips that are on leased land - Firebird, Pomona and Heartland Park Topeka. Heartland Park is probably the safest of the three as far as longevity of use is concerned. The land is owned by the city of Topeka and they know how much residual revenue is generated by racing through racers and fans spending money in their city. I've read that the Topeka NHRA national event alone injects somewhere around $8 million into the city. The local businesses love that, and the city really likes their cut collected in sales taxes