- Tulare City [CA] Council OKs motor sports complex: The Tulare City [near Frensno CA, approx 250 miles from Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA] Council, in a split 3-2 vote, approved late Monday night the proposed Tulare Motor Sports Complex, a 711-acre project that calls for the construction of a race track, a drag strip and commercial and retail development in south Tulare. Tulare Mayor Craig Vejvoda, Vice Mayor Phil Vandegrift and councilman Richard Ortega voted to approve the project, while councilmen David Macedo and Wayne Ross casted a “no” vote. Fresno-based developer Bud Long, who is fronting the project, said he was excited about the outcome. The vote came at the end of a lenghty, three-and-a-half hour, single-issue special meeting held at the Tulare Senior Center, drawing an estimated 240 people. The project will now go before the Tulare County Local Agency Formation Commission in about a month’s time. The Tulare Planning Comission had already approved the project at a meeting earlier this month.(Visalia Times-Delta)(12-30-2008)
- Rusty to consult in development of N Calif track: Riverside Motorsports Park and Rusty Wallace Inc. (RWI), announced that the two companies have entered into a five-year agreement that enlists NASCAR Champion Rusty Wallace as a consultant in the development and construction of Riverside Motorsports Park in Merced County, CA. The terms of the agreement call for the 1989 NASCAR Premier Series Champion to provide track design enhancement engineering to the eight world-class motorsports venues within the RMP facility, which was approved for construction in December 2006.
Originating in August 2000 as RMP Founder and CEO John Condren's concept for the future of motorsports in California and first announced as a development proposal on 12 August 2003, Riverside Motorsports Park will include eight different motorsports venues, offering 15 race tracks within a single recreation and entertainment park:
" Northern California's first world-class oval speedway (length: 7/8-mile) for all major stock car and open-wheel racing series
" A 3.2-mile road course for sports cars, endurance and open-wheel racing (closely replicating the world-famous Riverside International Raceway, which closed in 1988)
" A 1/4-mile (5,000-foot total length) drag strip
" An integrated 1/3- and 1/2-mile, banked paved oval tracks for stock cars and sprint cars
" A 3/8-mile dirt oval track for motorcycle, stock car, sprint and midget racing
" A 3/4-mile karting course (for sprint and shifter karts)
" 1/2-mile motocross and 1/8-mile BMX courses
" A 1-mile off-road course for trucks, buggies, rally cross cars, etc.
(Rusty Wallace site)(4-7-2007)
- Riverside Track gets approval: In the Merced County [CA] Board of Supervisors Meetings on December 12 and December 19, Riverside Motorsports Park received votes of approval and entitlements for the construction of the project in Merced County, California. Riverside Motorsports Park is a 1200-acre, motorsports-themed family recreation and entertainment center in development in Merced County, located in the heart of California's Central Valley. The Park plans include eight different types of tracks, including a paved super speedway; 3-1/2-mile, multi-configuration road course; 5,000-foot drag strip; kart course; integrated paved oval tracks; integrated dirt oval tracks; an off-road circuit; and a motocross course. Riverside Motorsports Park's multiple tracks will provide a racing venue for every form of automobile, truck, motorcycle and kart racing—meeting the needs of professional and club racing sanctioning organizations across the United States.(Riverside Motorsports Park PR)(12-28-2006)
- Track Approved in California: Kern County [California] Planning Commissioners blessed a new paved, half-mile banked-turn raceway in Kern County Thursday night. It was the final go-ahead for a project that's been brewing for a year. Racing starts in spring 2008. Commissioners said the plan for the half-mile track -- the rebirth of east Bakersfield's iconic Mesa Marin Raceway -- will be nothing but good for Kern County. Not a word of opposition was raised during the meeting. Larry Collins, son of Mesa Marin founder Marion Collins, said racing negotiations will now start with NASCAR, even as construction work on the new raceway begins. A name for the raceway is in the works. The driving force behind the raceway came from two Kern County families, the Collinses of Mesa Marin and the well-known Destefani farming family.(Bakersfield.com), note: this track will not host Nextel Cup/Busch races.(12-16-2006)
- New 'NASCAR' track proposed in Tulare CA: Officials say they are one step closer to bringing a NASCAR worthy race track right here to Tulare County after the Tulare Agri-center board just approved for the track to be built. Action News took a look at some of the risks of the project and how long it could be until we see NASCAR right here in Tulare [near Frenso CA]. It's a $250 million dollar project that could bring 3,000 jobs to the south valley. Private developer bud long wants to build a 50,000 seat race track complete with hotels and restaurants. But it could be years before the racing association comes to the area, if it comes at all. The plans are to hold regional races and other smaller events first. Though the developer insists Tulare and NASCAR are on the same page, other small market race tracks have struggled to bring the biggest NASCAR races to their facilities. Tulare city officials say they're confident the race track deal will get done.(abc30.com)(12-9-2006)
- New Calif Track: A new NASCAR sanctioned raceway is planned at Interstate 5 and Enos Lane (Highway 43), on 80 acres owned by the Destefani Family [former owners of Mesa Marin]. The project is a joint venture between the Destefani Family and the Collins Family. The planned layout of the track is a high-banked half-mile paved tri-oval, with a smaller flat oval within the half-mile, and a 1/8-mile drag strip adjacent to the oval. The track will have a full service Pit Lane suitable for live pit stops. The Competitor Pit Area will be located in the infield. The track is designed with a vehicle and pedestrian Access Tunnel. Twelve Corporate Suites are planned in the initial phase of construction. The plans are to host NASCAR sanctioned races, plus community events, concerts, and other forms of motorsports competition. The official name of the new track will be announced at a later date, today the new track is referred to as "Kern County's New Home to NASCAR". Corporate naming rights are being sought. Planned opening 2007.(kerncountynascar.com)(12-5-2005)
- Track Closes after 2006: Stockton 99 Speedway [CA] officials have announced 2006 will be the final season of NASCAR racing at the facility, where competition began in 1946 and NASCAR sanctioning started nine years later. The property is scheduled to be sold to land developers after next season. The 1977 track champion was Ernie Irvan, winner of 15 Cup races as well as the Daytona 500.(The Record)(10-1-2005)
- Mesa Marin sold, closes at end of year: Mesa Marin Raceway has been sold and will close at the end of this season, track Vice President Larry Collins announced Wednesday. The famed racetrack -- which opened in 1977 -- sits off of Highway 178 in northeast Bakersfield, an area experiencing rapid housing development. Track President Marion Collins said after the news conference that he believes the buyers are planning a residential development on the land. The sales price and identity of the buyer were not immediately known. The deal involves 40 of the 56 acres the Collins' family owns in and around the track. Marion Collins said his family would retain 16 acres, including the property that houses race shops adjacent to the track. Wednesday's announcement came as a complete shock to most people attending the news conference, including a NASCAR official on hand for the confirmation that Nextel Cup star and Bakersfield native Kevin Harvick will drive in a Late Model race at Mesa Marin on June 23. The race will be Harvick's last at the Mesa Marin, where he won a track championship in 1993.(bakersfield.com)(6-9-2005)
- North Calif Track News: been a while, see a story at the Sacramento Bee: Major racing can rev up major cash: But is Yuba in position to capitalize? by Gary Delsohn(2-14-2001)
- North California Track News: Frustrated by a year of delays and eager to unwrap their ultimate prize -- a 1.3-mile oval auto racetrack -- Yuba County Motorplex officials reversed ground Monday and said bringing Indy 500-style racing to the region now is their first priority. Instead of opening a 15,000-seat drag strip as the initial piece of the $83 million Motorplex sometime next summer, developers have put those plans on hold and now plan to open a 40,000-seat oval track by early 2002. The oval would allow the Motorplex to compete for more glamorous and lucrative NASCAR and CART races sooner than if they had remained on their original schedule, the project's partners announced.(SacBee)(9-13-2000)
- North Calif track news: A Yuba County judge said Thursday he will rule early next month in an environmental lawsuit against a planned $80 million auto racetrack that developers of the facility say could kill the project if the judge rules against them. Filed by property owners near the racetrack site 10 miles south of Marysville, the lawsuit accuses county officials and project developers of violating the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. The dispute stems from how the county sought to grant development rights to Orange County racing entrepreneur Frank Arciero, who had been searching for more than a decade for a suitable place to build an auto track(Sacramento Bee)(7-21-2000)
- California Speedway Plans: A group told the Madera City(CA) Council last week that it wants to get started as soon as possible building an $83 million Winston Cup-quality racetrack just north of the city. The group, which calls itself Yosemite Motor Speedway Co., says it has a loan commitment for $82,840,851 from Morgan, Weinstein and Co., a Southern California financing company. Yosemite Motor Speedway Co.'s plans are to build a 1.25-mile speedway that could seat 55,000(Modesto Bee)(7-5-2000)
- New California Speedway? Backers are starting down a road that could end up bringing a $82 million speedway to Madera County(near Frenso CA). The proposed speedway would be built near the Madera golf course and airport, and would draw racers from the IRL --or Indy Racing League -- the Busch Grand National Racing League and NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series. The 56,000-seat site is generating a lot of excitement, but some neighbors oppose it. Speedway supporters made their first official pitch to local officials last night(Wednesday). The facility would be paid for with a private loan, but the city and/or county would still have to give it the green light. If that happens, the racing could begin by the end of next year(KSEE Channel 24 site)(6-23-2000)
- Northern Calilfornia Track News: IRL and NASCAR officials said they want to see the proposed Yosemite Motor Speedway get built before they consider holding races there. With a grandstand capacity of 55,000 and a 1.25-mile paved track, the$43 million speedway complex envisioned west of Freeway 99 in alfalfa fields just north of the Madera Municipal Airport would meet the standards of both national sanctioning groups. Yosemite Motor Speedway Inc. spokesman Barry Toepke said that the promoters of the 417-acre racing complex between avenues 17 and 18 would also want to persuade NASCAR officials to put Madera(CA near Fresno) on its Winston Cup map(Fresno Bee)(10-6-1999)
- North California Track Approved: Racing should begin in 2001 at the Yuba County Motorplex, raceway developers said Wednesday. Frank Arciero Sr. and his team made the announcement during a Marysville press conference. The press conference also was the first opportunity for Arciero to formally introduce his partner, Gerald Forsythe, an Illinois industrialist and racing team owner. Forsythe was unable to attend. Groundbreaking for the motorplex should occur next spring. By 2001, there will be grandstand seating for 40,000, a 1.3-mile banked oval and road courses inside the oval. Second-phase construction will include 10,000 seats for the 4,650-foot drag strip and expanded grandstand seating. That work should be done by the end of 2002. See the complete story was at GoRacing: New Track Set for Sacramento Area(11-19-1998)
- North Calif Track: Judge David Russell listened to about two hours of arguments and testimony. He decided just one of seven issues Arciero's lawyers raised as they sought a court order to bar Hofman from interfering with the $60 million Arciero Motorplex(Appeal-Democrat)(11-3-1998)
- N Calif Racetrack Lawsuit: Racetrack developer Frank Arciero wants a court order to stop Frances Hofman from interfering with his Yuba County(Calif) project, Arciero's attorney said Thursday(Appeal-Democrat)(10-31-1998)
- Northern California Speedway Construction: Baldwin Construction Co. crews this week began the prep work for improving existing roads around the proposed Arciero Motorplex site, the first physical work related to the $60 million raceway project. Arciero is hoping to hold his first major racing event - preferably a CART Indy race for which he is a team owner - in the spring of 2000. Plans are for a 1.7-mile oval and 55,000-seat grandstand, the raceway offices and other related facilities and infrastructure. The phased project will eventually include a 2.5-mile road course, a drag strip, driver's school and an 18-hole public golf course. Arciero also has set aside 77 acres for a business park.(Appeal-Democrat)(10-23-1998)
- Talks between concert promoter Bill Graham Presents and the developer of a Yuba County raceway appear to be disintegrating, but the Indy and NASCAR racing complex is still on track with plans to break ground by the end of this month(Sacramento Bee)(thanks Doug)(9-11-1998)
- Concert promoter Bill Graham Presents and as many as four major hotel chains have approached racing magnate Frank Arciero for a stake in his elaborate raceway complex in Yuba County(Calif) since he bought the property two weeks ago. Construction on the $60 million complex could begin early next year, Arciero said Tuesday. His first order of business is to expand the two rural roads leading into the Motorplex he plans on 900 acres of rolling grassland in southeast Yuba County. Already, Arciero and his architect have crafted plans for a raceway office, bathrooms and a chapel, along with suites to be built over race car garages. No firm decisions have been made on where certain design elements will go on the property. Right now, the designs are basically puzzle pieces that Arciero is moving around on the site. The first phase of construction on the racing complex will be the 1.7-mile oval racetrack, a 55,000-seat grandstand and the road course, estimated to cost a total of $45 million. The second phase will include a drag strip(Sacramento Bee)(7-18-1998)
- Developer Frank Arciero Sr. closed escrow Friday(June 26th) on 770 acres of southeast Yuba County(California) ranch land, territory he's marked for a sprawling racetrack and entertainment complex, which he expects to begin building as soon as this fall. Mike Smith, project engineer said about 500 acres of the project will house a $60 million Indy and NASCAR racetrack, road course and grandstands, but the property also is zoned for a golf course, offices, retail space and a concert amphitheater(Sacramento Bee)(thanks Mike O)(7-13-1998)
- "For months, titans of the auto racing industry circled Northern California in a cat-and-mouse game over who will build a new oval-track speedway that could eventually host up to 150,000 fans. Then wealthy Irvine cement contractor and racing-team owner Frank Arciero leaped to the fore, applying this month to build a $60 million, 55,000-seat facility in Yuba County, 35 miles north of Sacramento." The story also says: "William G. France, chairman of International Speedway Corp. in Daytona Beach, Fla., told a gathering of institutional investors in New York recently that the Sacramento area is one of three markets he is seriously considering entering, according to King. The others are suburban Chicago and Kansas City."(Sacramento Bee)(5-31-1997)
