Official: Firebird International Raceway closing april 2013

[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

[GarysZ24]

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

Kenny, can you find out if they're having the divisionals like they had this year, afterwards too? If so, count me in for that....some good news for NHRA buffs is that Rocky Mountain Raceway is back into the fold. However, the track is over 700 miles away, so it'll be a bit of a haul...better than going to Fallon, Nv, or Sonoma, Ca., from Phoenix though...

I wish developers would leave our race tracks alone, or laws would be made that would hinder them from developing land near race tracks and airports...DIA was created after residents kept complaining about Stapleton International Airport as well, and now those flippin' developers are again getting closer and closer with houses and businesses to DIA. However, I think they (Denver) zoned enough surrounding land to keep those developer jerks from becoming next door neighbors....we need to do that here, with our race tracks (like our Phoenix airport has done with allowing only businesses to be close to the airport)!

[BobOrme]

Originally Posted by GarysZ24

I wish developers would leave our race tracks alone, or laws would be made that would hinder them from developing land near race tracks and airports...DIA was created after residents kept complaining about Stapleton International Airport as well, and now those flippin' developers are again getting closer and closer with houses and businesses to DIA. However, I think they (Denver) zoned enough surrounding land to keep those developer jerks from becoming next door neighbors....we need to do that here, with our race tracks (like our Phoenix airport has done with allowing only businesses to be close to the airport)!

Gary, if you haven't been to Bandimere in the last few years, you would be amazed at how many new homes have been built on the other side of the valley south of the Alameda Parkway. It's only a matter of time before some people who buy or rent those homes with a direct view of the drag strip will start trying to change the zoning designation of the Bandimere property. If or when they manage to force the closure of Bandimere, some of the same people will be complaining that they can hear music from Red Rocks.

DIA was inevitable. Stapleton couldn't handle the ever expanding air traffic and had no options for growth. It was better to build a much larger airport and close Stapleton than try to keep it open while still building a much larger airport ala Chicago Midway and O'Hare.

Construction of a NASCAR track with a drag strip next to it (a "new" Bandimere Speedway) close to DIA was stopped by the vote of 184 people in Adams county who were supposedly opposed to the facilities due to more automobile traffic in the area. That was a very small tail that wagged a very large dog.

[GarysZ24]

Originally Posted by BobOrme

Gary, if you haven't been to Bandimere in the last few years, you would be amazed at how many new homes have been built on the other side of the valley south of the Alameda Parkway. It's only a matter of time before some people who buy or rent those homes with a direct view of the drag strip will start trying to change the zoning designation of the Bandimere property. If or when they manage to force the closure of Bandimere, some of the same people will be complaining that they can hear music from Red Rocks.

DIA was inevitable. Stapleton couldn't handle the ever expanding air traffic and had no options for growth. It was better to build a much larger airport and close Stapleton than try to keep it open while still building a much larger airport ala Chicago Midway and O'Hare.

Construction of a NASCAR track with a drag strip next to it (a "new" Bandimere Speedway) close to DIA was stopped by the vote of 184 people in Adams county who were supposedly opposed to the facilities due to more automobile traffic in the area. That was a very small tail that wagged a very large dog.

Yes Bob, I've been by there in recent years, and it bums me out the new homes built near Bandimere Speedway, but since John Bandimere Jr. (and Sporty...aka John III), put up a credible argument about why it needed to stay there to thus have that C470 highway built next to it, instead of going through the facility (the original plans), back around the time that massive expansion that created their current timing tower/suite building, evolved from.

As for Stapleton & DIA, I'm puzzled as to why it needed to be built, when Stapleton had not only their original two east/west runways (like Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport), but they had three north/south runways that extended north of I-70 east of Quebec. Given that Denver is only the nations 27th largest city, and Phoenix is either 6th or 7th on the list, I'm surprised that Denver needed such a large airport, when in reality Phoenix needs it more, because they have many more residents than does Denver...bigger city, smaller airport? I don't get that one, except to say that Denver made the mistake of letting private residence be near the airport plane paths, and Phoenix was smart enough to not allow that to happen. Your expanding air traffic comment has some merit, but I remember hearing many times while I lived there that neighbors would complain about the noise of the planes, yet they chose to buy houses that were in Park Hill and Aurora that the planes flew over or near to...these people should've bought houses somewhere else if the planes were an issue for them. :<

As for that vote that stopped "World Park" from happening, I'll never like that one since people associated with that now-defunct "Pikes Peak International Raceway" (south of Colorado Springs), and Former Governor Richard Lamm's son (as well as a Wall Street Investor, with ties to the raceway), helped smear what I believe was "Amendment 2B", which would've allowed the building of that facility to occur, but people were complaining about the potential noise there, and "FALSELY" claimed it would do harm to the horses nearby. That was a bunch of CRAP, because an Equestrian Center, a skeet shooting range, and even "Burt Automotive Group", plus other family friendly things were going to be built out there. Moreover, there's a horse-riding ranch near Bandimere's current location, and they have no problems with the race track (even during the Mopar Mile High Nationals)!!! I laugh now that the lowsy track is closed and has been collecting cobwebs for several years.....they got what they deserved....

[Greg Reimer 7376]

Any racer who has lived in So Cal for 50 years or so could tell you about race track closures.Nothing new anywhere else.

[GarysZ24]

Greg, I don't like race track closures anywhere...especially when residential development messes up the efforts of a track to stay operational. Colorado has lost a few historical tracks as well, and I was hoping when I moved here (Arizona), that Fontana would've kept itself going as a regular Div. 7 track, with a divisional event and/or the Jegs Sports Nationals on the schedule as well....although I preferred the divisional living here in metro Phoenix, due to it's being much closer/easier to get to than Sonoma, or Fallon. Back east they have many tracks in a specific area of regions/states (it helps that many of the eastern states are geographically smaller than out west too), however we don't have that luxury out west, so when any of our states lose a track, it hurts us worse than it would eastern racers. I'm sorry to know about the other historical SoCal tracks, but again I'm equally bummed about any track losses anywhere.

[BobOrme]

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

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

[Albert Lee]

Does anyone have a factual update on racing in Lake Havasu City, AZ?

Al

[Tim Kish]

Originally Posted by Albert Lee

Does anyone have a factual update on racing in Lake Havasu City, AZ?

Al

My grandmother lives in Havasu and continually gives me updates from whats in the paper there. She said the site for the potential track has moved from Sara Park out to the other side of town near the airport. Said that there has been activity in that area with earth moving equipment leveling the site.

[Jeff Lee]

1st I've heard of this...any more info?