New NHRA dragstrip coming to Concord, NC

[b2089]

I'm not sure how many here are into Nascar or drag racing but I thought someone may find it interesting. I'll be brief and try to be impartial.

Concord is home of the Lowes Motor Speedway. Plans have long been under way to build a dragstrip whether the city officially acknowledges that or not. We all knew it was coming, it's been 10 years in the making. Well now new homes are being built in the area around the speedway so the city amended it's zoning. Before it said "zoned for auto sports" and they changed it to say "zoned for auto sports except drag strips".

The Speedway was going to be closed, the city sued etc. so now the city has backed down and not only is the drag strip being built but it looks like the state is paying for it and the city is loosing money on incentives.

Chain Notes - city trys to screw rich man. Rich man gets angry. City can't afford to loose rich man so city takes it up the....

[04REDGT1]

I just hope the NHRA Drag Strip dosen't put the final nail in the coffin for Rockingham. Of coarse the Rockingham strip is IHRA and someone did just buy the track. So I guess there is hope for Rockingham. As for Concord, there's tons of stuff going on there. I can see why the locals didn't want the strip.

[b2089]

With Pillowtex, Corning, and now Phillip Morris closing the town is dependent on tourists brought in by the speedway and milked at Concord Mills Mall.

I'm not actually sure what sort of affiliations the new strip will be but the local rumors are NHRA since there isn't one in the state. If it stays just NHRA maybe it will actually help Rockingham because it will increase awareness while not directly competing. that's wishful thinking, but it could be.

The reason the citizens didn't want it because they moved next to a track and then wanted the track closed. It was there first so I have no sympathy for them. I got a nice letter from the mayor today telling me that the drag strip was never actually in question but they wanted to find a way to force Smith to file detailed plans. It aparently is illegal to re-zone an area without the owners consent (which Smith said all along that he was the one with the right to determine his land).The strip would have been "grandfathered in" according to the mayor. I've never heard the term grandfathered used to mean new building before.

[Trudgn]

Moral of the story, don't mess with Bruton Smith. If he wants a drag strip build, he's gonna get it built. And he has the money to move and build a track anywhere he wants, and from what I heard, there were many Charlotte-area towns that were offering tax-incentives to get ISC's attention.