Racing is alive and well, but not every facet of racing has benefited from the rise in its popularity and notoriety. Recently we have seen historic race tracks closing, being redeveloped or sold. But some are thriving, like Great Bend’s SRCA Dragstrip in Kansas, which happened just just a few weeks ago. SRCA is successful story for historic tracks and preservation, but it surely’s one in all few victories when there’s still numerous tracks closing throughout the country. Their endings were often shadowed by the cash needed to maintain them operating.
SRCA was fortunate that its neighbors and town were supportive of bringing the historic track to working order. SRCA is very important historically, because it played home to the first-ever NHRA Nationals in 1955 (it opened in 1953). In 2023, 70 years after its opening, a track inspection led to the closure of the track, KSN reports, requiring a whole rebuild of the surface. With the assistance of Great Bend, the track went through a $5.9 million renovation which included a brand new timing tower.
Over in Michigan, the IHRA was the helping hand that rescued Milan Dragway, as a part of a purchase order of seven tracks in 2025. Opened within the Nineteen Sixties, Milan eventually became the Detroit area’s home for drag racing following the closure of Detroit Dragway. Milan is now Darana Dragway, which has undergone a whole revitalization with a brand new track surface, stands and fan amenities.
Pick your poison: Noise complaints, money problems, or land development
But one other Michigan track has not experienced such fortune. Onondaga Raceway, home to a small 1/8-mile dragstrip that opened within the early Nineteen Sixties, has been embroiled in a war against its neighbors over noise complaints — a fate many tracks have needed to contend. Though common sense would say a possible homeowner should concentrate on the realm surrounding your future home, that basically doesn’t appear to be the case. Since 2013, Onondaga Township residents filed several nuisance cases against the long-established race track, in response to MLive. After several openings and closures following the loss and win of every criticism, the track stays closed because it awaits one other appeal as of this writing.
Its closure inspired the state to introduce a brand new law, approved earlier this yr called the “Right to Race,” providing protections to race tracks from “nuisance claims” from surrounding neighbors. Michigan is one in all several states, including Iowa, North Carolina, and Kansas to have introduced and passed similar legislative measures.
But when neighbors are usually not the issue, its likely wealthy individuals or firms with a disgustingly unquenchable thirst to develop these grand sprawls of land for homes or construct grossly wasteful data centers. Unfortunately, the acreage surrounding race tracks make for an important place to do either. In case your local race track has struggled to herald money, a pretty big check might unfortunately turn into a reasonably enticing ticket to freedom.
This Article First Appeared At www.jalopnik.com
