WEST VIRGINIA PROPOSED TRACKS NEWS/RUMORS
Websites:
unofficial: RaceWV.com(old and links do not work)
WEST VIRGINIA
- West Virginia racetrack plans still alive: Organizers want it known that the racetrack project in Eastern Kanawha County [WV] is not dead. And it never has been. “Our goal is not to build, own and operate a racetrack,” said Charleston lawyer Dave Higgins, who is the head of the nonprofit Thunder in the Mountains. “Our job is to get that done and go and sit in the bleachers with everybody else.” This saga started in 2002, when an Eastern Kanawha County racetrack project was awarded a grant by the state Economic Development Grant Committee. The track was scheduled to have a 2004 season, but a court case challenging the grant program eliminated the funding. In April 2006, Higgins formed Thunder in the Mountains, a nonprofit group made up of local, county and state members. Higgins was campaigning for state Senate at the time, but lost to Erik Wells. “The track is good for Charleston and Kanawha County, and it doesn’t make any difference if I’m in the Senate or not,” Higgins said. Now, Higgins and the group, including almost 30 board members, are holding monthly meetings at the Upper Kanawha Valley Enterprise Community Business Center. Despite the meetings, the location of the track is still up in the air, Higgins said. The group has an interested developer, which Higgins did not want to disclose. Higgins said there are several former strip mine sites and an old World War II airstrip in the eastern part of Kanawha County that would make perfect sites. Also, Thunder in the Mountains can now officially say it is NASCAR affiliated, Higgins said. At their January meeting, members gave $84 each to become an official NASCAR Members Clubhouse. These clubhouses are part of a trial by NASCAR, with West Virginia being part of the pilot program. The national program will go live next month, said Paul Mullins, president of the NASCAR Members Club in Charleston. The clubhouse membership allows businesses to use NASCAR logos in their advertisements and offer discounts to NASCAR Members Club participants. Higgins estimates the 3/4-mile track will cost $10 million to $20 million to build. The group wants it done with private money, he said. Still, the Kanawha County Commission put the racetrack on its 2007 legislative agenda.(Charleston Gazette)(2-2-2007)
- More on West Virginia Track: Secretary of State and Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Joe Manchin told a racing magazine last week that West Virginia is “going to have a quality NASCAR track here someplace, and I hope to be a part of that.” In an interview published Friday in Dirt America Online, Manchin also promised if elected to increase support for the West Virginia Motorsports Council, which was created by Gov. Bob Wise to promote racing. “I don’t only support that, I will support it and participate with them, prioritize that to get the most we can out of it,” Manchin is quoted in the article. “I don’t think we’re even touching the tip of the iceberg.”(Charleston Gazette; see full story at www.dirtamericaonline.com)(10-29-2003)
- West Virgina Track News: In public, he’s not ready to make a commitment. But in private, Secretary of State Joe Manchin is promising to increase state funds for auto racing if elected governor, and supports a proposed racetrack in Flatwoods, several members of the West Virginia Motorsports Council said Wednesday. The council met Wednesday for the first time since August, when the state Economic Development Grant Committee refused to give money to two proposed racetracks: Thunder Ridge in Flatwoods, and the West Virginia Motorsports Park in Quincy. Several council members spoke with enthusiasm about Thunder Ridge, while some criticized the proposed Quincy track. They said they were disappointed and shocked by the grant committee’s decision not to fund either track. Several singled out for criticism committee chairman Brian Kastick, who plans to resign as state Secretary of Tax and Revenue to work on Manchin’s campaign. He said didn’t believe the market was large enough for two racetracks, and eventually convinced other committee members to reject funding for both projects. Despite the setback, many members said they were hopeful Thunder Ridge would be built, especially because of Manchin. Other council members said Manchin is promising to “fully fund” the Motorsports Council, which Gov. Bob Wise set up in 2001 to promote racing and attract tourist dollars to the state. When Manchin was asked about his position toward either racetrack or the Motorsports Council, he said, “Many of these projects are important to our state and economy, but we must keep in mind that our government must get its financial house in order before making a commitment to any program.” Track co-developer Joe Mattioli said he introduced Manchin to NASCAR legend Bobby Allison earlier this year. “It certainly appears he understands the economic benefits of Thunder Ridge to the state,” Mattioli said. Track developers are looking at many possible sources of funding, including Powerball winner Jack Whittaker. The Hurricane multimillionaire was supposed to meet with Mattioli and other track developers Tuesday, but he canceled the meeting because of a personal crisis, said Motorsports Council Executive Director Eric Denemark. Ashley Ness, a marketing specialist for the Motorsports Council, said state Development Office Director David Satterfield told him at the state tourism conference up to $7 million in state funds could be available for the tracks. Satterfield said Wednesday he couldn’t remember having that conversation, and doesn’t know of any money that might be available. Other possible sources of funding include the state Housing Development Fund, private investors, or property tax increment financing, said Terrell Ellis, director of the Braxton County Development Authority.(Chatlotte [WV] Gazette)(10-16-2003)
- West Virginia Track News: The developers of two proposed motor sports racetracks in West Virginia are still looking for government help even though the state Economic Development Grant Committee denied them funding. But experts familiar with existing tracks say public funding is unusual in the motor sports industry. "People aspiring to have public financing are relatively new," Stewart Doty, publisher of Racing Promotion Monthly, said. "It hadn't been considered until recently." On the contrary, he said, people involved with most of the tracks around the nation have taken pride in privately financing enterprises that have grown in stature and contributed significantly to the economies of their communities.(see full story at the Daily Mail)(9-17-2003)
- West Virginia Motorsports Park to begin development: Officials for West Virginia Motorsports, LLC announced intentions today to begin the development of it’s $19.8 million West Virginia Motorsports Park on 77 acres at Quincy, in eastern Kanawha County, West Virginia, following approval for funding by the West Virginia Economic Development Grant Committee last week. The state-of-the-art facility, which was unanimously endorsed by the Kanawha County Commission in June, will feature a state-of-the-art motorsports park with a park-like riverfront design setting around the three-quarter mile paved asphalt oval. The race facility will include
multiple racetracks, including a one-quarter mile oval, pit road and karting track. Grandstand seating and luxury suites will accommodate 6,500 spectators initially. An additional 3,000 spectators can be accommodated in berm hillside seating around the periphery of the track. When fully developed, the track could be expanded to seat 15,000. According to Drew Payne, Managing Member of West Virginia Motorsports, preliminary work on the eastern Kanawha County racetrack is now on the agenda. He expects to break ground in early spring [2003] for a spring 2004 opening that will include 35 racing dates on Saturday nights between April and October. The schedule will include weekly racing and major touring series special events. The operators intend to submit an application to NASCAR for a potential sanction to allow West Virginia Motorsports Park’s inclusion in its Weekly Racing Series short track program, NASCAR’s regional touring series and when appropriate for Craftsman Truck Series events. National major motorsports sanctioning bodies such as ASA, ARCA, USAC, USAR and regional series will be consulted for potential scheduling. Playing key advisory roles in the development of West Virginia Motorsports Park is state native Bray Cary, a former NASCAR Vice President of Broadcasting and Technology.(West Virginia Motorsports Park PR)(11-24-2002)
- West Virginia Track News: The proposed Quincy race track was among the projects approved for funding today by the [West Virginian] Economic Development Grant Committee. The Quincy track asked for and received $7.7 million. The grant committee, created by the Legislature earlier this year, has been meeting on and off to allocate more than $200 million to spur economic development in West Virginia. "It's been a long process," said Drew Payne, managing member of West Virginia Motorsports, the developer of the Quincy track. "We feel we have a very strong project. The hard work is ahead of us now." Payne said preliminary work on the eastern Kanawha County racetrack is now on the agenda. He hopes to break ground in early spring for a spring 2004 opening. He said he wasn't surprised that only one of the proposed tracks received funding. John Skidmore's Thunder Ridge [which had Joe Mattioli owner of Pocono and Winston Cup legend Bobby Allison involved] racetrack project at Flatwoods asked for $13 million but received nothing. Committee Chairman Brian Kastick said it is possible that projects that did not receive funding today will be funded later, if more than $215 million becomes available. More funds may become available through lower interest rates, and some projects may be funded with tax exempt bonds. Skidmore, who attended this morning's committee meeting, said he thought the merits of his project should have put it among the top proposals for funding. "I don't think they've done anything yet for north central West Virginia," he said of the committee. "I hope in the future, if money becomes available, we still are considered." Skidmore said there is no doubt that controversy over a cemetery being located on the Flatwoods property hurt the racetrack's chances for funding. However, the project's opponents were mainly family members of those buried at the cemetery while thousands of people supported the racetrack, he said. He said there is no way Thunder Ridge will move forward without grant money. He paused, then added, "there's a wealthy man behind the Quincy track -- Bray Cary. We're just poor folks at Flatwoods." Cary, who has worked with the developers of the Quincy track, made millions putting together television contracts for NASCAR. He has since purchased several West Virginia media outlets. Don and Rebecca Woodward, who said they owned the land where Skidmore would build a racetrack, also were at today's meeting. They said they sold the land with the understanding it would become a golf course. Don Woodward said they oppose the noise and pollution a racetrack would generate.(Charleston Daily Mail)(11-13-2002)
- West Virginia Track News: Developers planning an integrated motorsports complex along Interstate 79 in Flatwoods remain optimistic after meeting with state economic grant officials who will determine the fate of the proposed $27 million project. Flatwoods landowner John Skidmore, in partnership with Virginia businessman Joe Mattioli and sponsored by economic development officials in Braxton County, has requested $13 million in state funds for the 300-acre facility that will include four race tracks in its first phase of development. Skidmore, Mattioli, NASCAR Winston Cup driver Ward Burton and Braxton County officials met with the grant committee nearly 45 minutes Tuesday, touting the economic benefits of the complex as well as future developments at the site. Mattioli is part owner of the Winston Cup-sanctioned Pocono Speedway in Pennsylvania and president of South Boston Speedway in Virginia. He said the track, to be named Thunder Ridge at Flatwoods, could duplicate the success of both Pocono and South Boston, which run numerous races a year and attract nationally televised events and thousands of spectators. The Flatwoods facility is one of two racetracks being planned in the state. The other is the proposed West Virginia Motorsports Park, located near Riverside High School in Quincy. Officials with that project have requested $7.7 million in state money.(Daily Mail)(8-4-2002)
- Another West Virginia Track Proposed - Allison/Mattioli involved: John Skidmore, John Skidmore Development, Inc. of Sutton, WV, Joe Mattioli [Pocono Raceway], Protech & Associates of Long Pond, PA, Braxton County officials and Winston Cup legend Bobby Allison announced today plans to construct "Thunder Ridge", a new, integrated motorsports complex at Flatwoods on a 300-acre tract of land just off Exit 67 of Interstate 79 in Braxton County, West Virginia. Following a 3-day, due diligence and fact-finding inspection of Mattioli‚s South Boston Speedway last April, the West Virginia Motorsports Council and the West Virginia Development Office, were able to forge the necessary introductions and alliances between Braxton County, John Skidmore Development, Inc. and Protech & Associates, Mattioli's operating company, that culminated in Thunder Ridge at Flatwoods. Phase 1 of the $27MM-plus project will feature a 1.0-mile? asphalt oval (size not clear in story), a 1/5-mile asphalt oval for go-karts and miniature motorsports, a 1.5-mile asphalt road course, a 1/8-mile dragstrip, 10,000 unobstructed grandstand seats, sky boxes, on-site camping and large video screens. Proposed events include national touring series, weekly racing, musicals, festivals and fairs. Additional development possibilities include themed-retail and restaurants, an RV resort, water park, amusements, convention/meeting facilities, amphitheater, indoor sports venues, hotels, a golf course, related industrial development and other interactive motorsports experiences. According to Mattioli, the Thunder Ridge program will be similar to that at South Boston, VA. Mattioli has indicated that, within the past week, he has received letters of interest from the sanctioning bodies of several national touring series. Those expressing interest in the Thunder Ridge complex, thus far, are ARCA, ASA, USAR and USAC. Additional sanctioning bodies aware of the planned development include the AMA, IHRA, NASCAR, NHRA, SCCA, WKA and the WoO, with formal applications for sanctioned events to be made when appropriate in the future.(Huntingtonnew.net)(7-2-2002)
- West Virginia Track UPDATE 2:: Plans are underway to construct a half mile asphalt race track, in Quincy in eastern Kanawha County (of WV). The track is being designed for NASCAR certification. A Craftsman Truck race is one of the events reportedly being targeted for the short track. The track plans on opening up for racing next June if all plans work out. A press conference is set for later this week to announce further details of the project.(WOWK-TV site)(6-13-2002)
UPDATE: The announcement will come Thursday. A private company, West Virginia Motorsports, will pony up some money. Kanawha County needs to get the rest. Planners hope to attract a Busch Series race. If built, it will be in eastern Kanawha County. It is expected to be a long process, but it is the first step in what many people think would be a profitable project in the state. Land near Riverside High School in Quincy is projected to be the home of the nearly 20 million dollar race track. 12.8 million dollars would come from West Virginia Motorsports. The rest, 7.7 million dollars would come from Kanawha County.(more at MSNBC)(6-14-2002)
UPDATE 2: Developers unveiled plans today to build a $20.5 million motorsports park near Riverside High School that includes an application to the state for a $7.7 million grant. The West Virginia Motorsports Park will be a half-mile paved asphalt oval with grandstand seating for 6,500 fans plus 12 luxury suites. About 3,000 more spectators could sit on berm hillside seating around the track, which could open next summer for a limited season of racing. A full season of about 35 events is planned for 2004. When fully developed, the track could seat as many as 15,000 people. “I think it’s really a perfect state-private relationship,” said Bray Cary. Cary is president and chief executive officer of West Virginia Media Holdings and a former NASCAR vice president of broadcasting and technology who has provided consulting assistance on the project. “I’m excited. This is one of the most perfect sites you’ll find for a track. The land is flat. The river . . . all of the stuff around it." In addition to the main half-mile low-banked oval, the facility also will have a one-third mile infield track for karting. For the 2004 racing season, 35 racing dates will be booked on Saturday nights between April and October. That includes weekly racing and major touring series special events. The lighted track also will have a parking lot for 2,600 vehicles, a family area, an area for campers, a hospitality area and competitor pits. Concession and retail facilities also will be built on site. In addition to racing, Payne said the facility will be the site of concerts and other entertainment events.(Charleston Daily Mail)
AND The press conference was held today and the plans are to have the track operational by early next year. They will be applying for a CTS race and possibly ASA and USAC races. The first season at the track will be a limited schedule but the following year they plan on running at least 36 races throughout the year. It will be located about 22 miles from Charleston, WV.(WOAY TV-4 report)(6-14-2002)
- NASCAR not with West Virginia Track UPDATE: NASCAR "has no affiliation or any commitments of any kind" to a racetrack that a West Virginia senator has said he is trying to get for the state, according to the president of NASCAR. NASCAR president Mike Helton, in an April 3 letter to West Virginia State Sen. Herb Snyder, D-Jefferson, asked Snyder to stop referring to a track he says he is trying to bring to West Virginia as a NASCAR facility. Helton said he sent the letter to Snyder after reading about the senator's plan in a clipping from a March 22 Morning Herald. In the story, Snyder said the attempt to land a NASCAR track in the Eastern Panhandle was at that time centered in Berkeley County and that investors in the project were looking for 500 to 1,000 acres along Interstate 81 near a Marlowe, W.Va., rest stop for the track.(Herald Mail)(4-17-2002)
UPDATE: West Virginia State Sen. Herb Snyder told state racing officials Wednesday he is focusing on a site along Interstate 81 near Inwood, W.Va., for an auto racetrack he is working to have built. There are up to 3,000 acres of open farmland along the west side of I-81 beside the Inwood exit that could be used for a track, Snyder told members of the West Virginia Motorsports Council during a meeting of the group in Flatwoods Wednesday afternoon. Most of the property owners have not been asked whether they would be willing to sell their land for a racetrack, said Snyder. He said he has come up with a way of turning over land for the track that might be attractive to the owners. Snyder said property owners could turn over land in exchange for stock in the track. That method would ease the tax burdens on property owners, Snyder said. Snyder said he is sure there will be opposition to a track, but said such a facility has advantages over residential development because it does not stress the school system. Spencer Adkins, a race announcer and advisory member of the Motorsports Council, said he was not disappointed by Snyder's reluctance to identify the investors. Snyder has asked that the West Virginia Development Office research the feasibility of bringing a track to the state. Details on the track, including its size, would be up to a professional planner. Snyder said he's also considering a facility that could host equestrian competitions, concerts or other events. Motorsports Council members appeared to be supportive of Snyder's proposal, but noted he has a lot of work ahead of him. Snyder initially promoted the track as a NASCAR facility. But NASCAR President Mike Helton wrote to Snyder on April 3 asking him to stop referring to the track as a NASCAR facility. NASCAR is not affiliated with the project. Snyder said Monday he never said that races at the track would be sanctioned by NASCAR, although that is what he had hoped for. There have been instances in which tracks have been built and later got NASCAR race dates, council members said.(Herald Mail)(4-19-2002)
- West Virginia Track? Local officials trying to gather details about a proposal to build a NASCAR racetrack in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle have come up with no solid information. Sen. Herb Snyder said last week a group of investors was looking at the Eastern Panhandle as a potential site for a NASCAR racetrack. Jane Peters, executive director of the Jefferson County Development Authority, said Tuesday there has been a "lot of speculation" among county residents about what Snyder was talking about, but no one has any firm information. Last week, the Senate Economic Development Committee passed a resolution asking the West Virginia Development Office to study the feasibility of locating a track in Jefferson County. The agency has until December to develop a report. Although Del. Dale Manuel, D-Jefferson, is on a new advisory council designed to promote car racing in West Virginia, he said he has learned nothing about Snyder's proposal. Manuel said officials from Gov. Bob Wise's office said there was talk of locating a NASCAR track in southern West Virginia, but not the Panhandle. The Motorsports Advisory Council was formed to inventory the number of racing facilities in the state, determine how they can be marketed, and how new facilities can be developed, said Caryn Gresham, spokeswoman for the advisory council.(in part from Herald-Mail)(3-7-2002)
- West Virginia Track? Joseph Oliverio, West Virginia Republican Candidate for Governor 2000 is pushing a NASCAR type track as part of his platform. The story: "I believe that a NASCAR track in West Virginia would benefit the people of our state. There are a lot of NASCAR fans here in WV. We would need to build the track in a location that would be easy for our residents to get to and also in a place that would draw people from out of state. The geographic center of the state is Flatwwods. Right on I-79 and easy to get to from all over. The track could be built there by the state and leased to an operator or maybe the state could operate it itself. In either event, the profits would go towards lowering the taxes on our residents. The facility should be built in a manner that would allow for other uses in the off season. Possibly a school for mechanics, tractor trailer drivers, and other automotive disciplines. NASCAR is big business and draws people from all over. A track like this would lead to many other benefits for the people of our state. When I am elected I will strongly support this project."(Joseph Oliverio Site)(2-8-2000)
