Some new plans emerge for a San Antonio area paved oval

[NickHolt]

Hopefully, things will work out well.

[RodneyRodriguez]

Hope the plan happens,  I remember when CTS ceased operations I mentioned to some gathered people after going to list a property in San Antonio via I-10, " there seems to be plenty of room at San Antonio Raceway (at the time) for an oval and talk about location"

Wonder if I get some profit sharing, not sure anyone in that bar told anyone my idea lol

[NickHolt]

Sure thing, Rodney.  Better check with your bank to be sure they can handle that much money all at once..

 

[TSRSONETWO]

This would be nice

[metroracer]

Well said Hunter!!!......Lets just stay Positive, Grateful,  & Patient on this deal. "We DO NEED this to go through however".....bottom line !!!!

Edited September 29, 2018 by metroracer

[toyotatim]

please add a little to it and make it at least a 3/8 mile.   

[Nathan]

I dont see that happening Tim

[chevyfan]

One of the most fun tracks I raced on is 1/4 mile CC speedway is a blast !

[metroracer]

.

Edited September 28, 2018 by metroracer

[toyotatim]

1/4 mile will tear up more equipment than there is money to fix.  It is cool, fans love hearing the metal crunch.  Just an economic disaster for the racers

[Nathan]

That's not exactly true.  There are plenty of 1/4 mile tracks that aren't "wreck fest".  It all depends on track layout and the drivers.  Mostly the drivers.

[DriverX]

Or we could all be thankful that someone is willing to take the risk and build an asphalt track of any size after seeing so many close? I'm excited to see what takes place over the next few months with this!

[Nathan]

I totally agree with Driver X

[HiTech]

WHY did my name show up /lol....    we still have a pro sedan  and with most likely building a new dirt car .the old 7 we are racing now is still mostly set up for paved wont take much to change over . if they can make it wide that would help .. one of cc biggest problem was needing new expensive asphalt .... hope they build and you know they wont have problems getting cars . bullrings are fun ..

[RodneyRodriguez]

and lets remember.. Houston Motorsports Park October 20th Speedfest, gonna be a good one only question on this deal is weather. Be Therrrreeeeeeeee!

[rocket55]

Another asphalt track to run at?!! This is amazing news....I'm 100% in for whatever is built, I can agree with what others have said about the design. I've never raced a 1/4" mile track but if they make it wide enough to comfortably have to grooves it sounds like a blast. With that said, we might be replacing more body parts but just having another track to run at is more than enough for me. 

I look forward to seeing the progress made 

[JamesHigdon]

I'll have a little more time to post up more info later but the facility was laid out how it was due to zoning issues with the city; no more impervious coverage could be added to the property than is already there so the track is laid out over existing asphalt. I will post up some of the detailed drawings when I get a chance but the layout allows for long-wide corners with moderate banking and smooth transitions to hopefully make for a fast track with a lot of room for passing. 

[arob]

Pattern it after Pan American Speedway.

[JamesHigdon]

1 hour ago, arob said:

Pattern it after Pan American Speedway.

After the rest of the family is asleep I spend more evenings then I should watching racing from all over the country and since this project has come together I’ve spent most of that time looking to see what makes a 1/4 mile track competitive and fun to watch. Bowman Grey vs say Anderson Speedway is a good comparison; Anderson is known for good, competitive racing and Bowman Grey is the WWF of the racing world.

 

Moderate banking that is cost affordable but progressive so it allows for 2 and 3 wide racing, broad-long corners so cars to the outside can gain ground in the middle and coming out of the corner, shorter straights so you don’t end up with the “drag race” layout of tracks like Martinsville; all of this has been considered.

 

The layout has been setup to accommodate drifting, SCCA style autocross, karts and in some iterations a road course incorporating the asphalt pad behind the current stands; we’ve managed to get the drifting group originally lobbying for their own track at ACM to throw their support and weight behind this project; everyone is being considered.

 

I’ve spent countless hours on google-earth measuring and drawing out other tracks to get an idea of what they did or didn’t do that worked or didn’t. If a track had a corner entrance that allowed for two cars to enter side by side it was put into the “yes” spread sheet and if it didn’t then the opposite. CCS, THR/CTS, Pan American, Twin Cities, Altus, Rockford, Slinger, Anderson, Shady Lawn, The Wall and numerous others have all been looked at and incorporated into this layout. I originally lobbied for and worked toward a 3/8 mile track but when Essie said “this is the space we have” we made the best of it.

 

Nick Holt has said for many years any asphalt circle track that will be successful must be more than just an asphalt circle track and that has been taken to heart. My intentions are to flat wear this asphalt out as quick as possible and keep people coming out for more! 

 

[arob]

I messed that up. If you can get a two and three wide race track that would be awesome .

[toyotatim]

Just not much upside to a 1/4 mile track.  Wont get many, if any late models built for a 1/4 miler and doubt any touring series would come.   The corp sponsors want the late model clean looking nascar type cars.  These other ones are ok for support, but not your top class.   But, if you dont need sponsors and make it off of the the back gate, running the junkers will work

[NickHolt]

1 hour ago, toyotatim said:

Just not much upside to a 1/4 mile track.  Wont get many, if any late models built for a 1/4 miler and doubt any touring series would come.   The corp sponsors want the late model clean looking nascar type cars.  These other ones are ok for support, but not your top class.   But, if you dont need sponsors and make it off of the the back gate, running the junkers will work

Pretty much disagree, toyotatim, and, ironically, for several of the very reasons you list. 

I agree that many of the high-dollar teams in the "upper" divisions will tend to stay away from a quarter-mile bullring-type track and opt instead to run in the Southeast.  In my opinion, this is a plus, not a negative. 

1) It has been my experience that if you want to run an asphalt track into the ground, let a few of the well-funded teams dominate your field.  Sooner or later the teams that are not so well-funded get the message that they have zero shot at winning and decide that golf or fishing or time with the family is more rewarding.  And quite often  financially well off teams are in a better position to put pressure on the track to get them to see things their way.

2) It has also been my experience that the costs associated with bringing in a top-notch touring series outweigh the spike in revenue associated with the event.  Not only that, but since the touring series teams are usually based hundreds of miles away, some of their teams are no-shows. How many major touring series has HMP or CTs able to host over the past few years? Yes, SAS hosted some All-Pro shows before the turn of the century, but even then the red ink was more frequently used than the black. THey even lost money on some TIDA and ROMCO events. I know that for a fact.

3)  Corporations look at numbers when deciding where to put there advertising bucks.  Sure, shiny cars make for good photo ops for the corporate office, but unless the CEO has a personal interest (his son or daughter is a racer at that track/series, etc) the bucks always follow head counts, not car counts or who has the prettiest cars.

If the goal is bring back lots of asphalt racing for the masses rather than for the elite, then the quarter-mile track proposal makes good sense.

Nick

[HiTech]

 WELL I have to agree with nick .

[JamesHigdon]

Couldn't agree more with what Nick said above; as much as I love late-models and open-class modifieds no track is going to survive on them; you can't pay a big enough purse to make racing in those classes viable for anyone but the wealthy and there just aren't enough wealthy racers to keep a track open.

Tommy Grimes, John Kelley, John Heil and many other big names from SAS' latemodel ranks are running I37 right now; hardcore racers are going to race no matter what the track is. What tracks have to figure out is how to make the stands affordable for middle-class familes and make the "stock car" classes pay enough to help support those racers.

For anyone that would like to see a bigger track, more banking or even bigger latemodel counts we're looking for sponsorship!

Edited September 28, 2018 by JamesHigdon

[Nathan]

We should all be happy that someone is willing to use their own money out there to build a track.  Instead of whining and complaining about how we don't think it will work or not what I want.  I just hope the person building the track doesn't change their mind.