Last night, Dec. 2, the management of Riverside Motorsports Park located in
Merced County just outside the City of Atwater, CA, city limits made a
presentation to
Central Valley racers about the proposed track.
Most importantly, they already own the 1300-acre property located
due east of Castle Field and the new Federal prison.
The plan is to build eight different tracks for oval
racers--pavement and dirt--, go-kart drivers and road racers. The main
paved oval is planned for 7/8ths of a mile to keep racer action closer to
spectators. The road course is to be a duplicate of the now-departed
Riverside Int'l Raceway where several of the principals completed drivers
school. The found the original blue prints and duplicated the original with
a couple of exceptions. Turn 9 with its boiler plate crash walls wouldn't
meet FIA approval for 2003 so that was modified. And since they relocated
the pits to outside the track, the Turn 1 bump for the original's tunnel
entrance doesn't exist.
The San Joaquin River is a short distance east of the property.
The plan also includes a single-price admission fee. Pay your way
in and see every track in operation that day. It will be a Disneyland for
motorsports.
During the Q&A period, SFR's Don McKenna inquired about using a
portion of the huge parking lot for non-spectator sports car events and he
got a positive reply. The plan is to have as many of the eight tracks as
possible operating every weekend. There is also a race track "industrial"
area for car builders, preparers, etc.
Mike Yurick who managed Sears Point when it was Sears Point is the
man in charge of daily operations. After he left SP he went to Las Vegas
Motor Speedway where they have six tracks in operation. A key difference is
LVMS charges separate admission fees for each track. Most recently Yurick
has been running Indianapolis Raceway Park in Clermont, IN.
Ron Cortez, who operates tire seller AIM at Infineon and runs the
GTA series, will be Riverside's Director of Competition.
It looks like they have the money to pull it off. On board is the
noted paving contractor Granite Construction Co.
The real key is the five members of the Merced County Board of
Supervisors who can vote "no" if they don't believe the proposed track will
make a positive contribution to the community. The presentation included
dollar figures from Laguna Seca in Monterey which does five major
spectatorr events, and Lowes Motor Speedway in North Carolina.
Dollar figures from local civic bodies show how much auto racing
contributes to the surrounding community.
The vote will happen sometime in the next 90 days. They predict
construction will start in April 2004 and take 16-18 months. Thus a
preliminary race of some kind will be in late 2005 and a full schedule in
2006.
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