San Antonio Speedway property has officially been sold

[NickHolt]

Earlier this month, the remaining 28 acres that was once San Antonio Speedway - the part that the track actually occupied - was sold.  The new owner(s) have not announced their intentions, but from what I can gather, they are looking to put up a large service station like the large stations that are similar to Bucee's.  The other 30-something acres to the north were sold to City Public Service several months ago.

This should pretty much put any rumors of someone restoring the track to rest....

Nick

[ron.brown11]

9 minutes ago, NickHolt said:

Earlier this month, the remaining 28 acres that was once San Antonio Speedway - the part that the track actually occupied - was sold.  The new owner(s) have not announced their intentions, but from what I can gather, they are looking to put up a large service station like the large stations that are similar to Bucee's.  The other 30-something acres to the north were sold to City Public Service several months ago.

This should pretty much put any rumors of someone restoring the track to rest....

Nick

It was bound to happen, and a bit surprised that it took this long. Did CPS ever build/do anything with the part that they bought? They probably passed on buying the track footprint, because of the costs of remediation. I'm sure that the pit area would be classified as "toxic". My brother retired from General Electric Jet Engines 4 years ago. Right before he retired, GE bought all of the acreage of Tri-County Speedway, located about 10 miles north of the main plant. They turned that property into an office complex, removing most of the office workers away from the engine plant. He said that it cost more for the remediation then what they paid for the land/track. He told me about how many truckloads of contaminated dirt they had to remove, before anything could be built, I just don't remember now. The track was a 1/2 mile high bank track. I'd bet that there was at least 30 acres for parking. Then the original track owner/builder bought another 60 acres, and built a softball complex, that had 8 diamonds, with more parking. It was quite the sports complex. All of that now sits under a GE office complex. 

 

[rebelracewriter]

So you're saying no 1/4 mile dirt track and 1/8 mile drag strip????....Asking for some people....IYKYK....A gas station is the most logical answer with all the fuel, oil and other contaminants already in that soil.....Are there any parts/memorabilia left to strip?

36 minutes ago, NickHolt said:

This should pretty much put any rumors of someone restoring the track to rest....

Nick

Thank you Jesus!!!

[MikeReininger]

Great memories for so many people. I know our family would not exist without Highway 16 Raceway.

But in the end most of us knew it was over. All that's left are aches and pains 😔.

[metroracer]

Yah....  I raced at Hwy-16 Raceway some in 1980 & 1981 after Meyer Speedway Closed in 1979 in Houston.   I loved racing there for sure.  Great Racers to race with.

The San Antonio area Does Need a real Good Modern Paved Oval Track For sure.....

I guess that is all but a Pipe Dream at best now.....

Hwy-16 / SAS was good to me for sure......  I loved that Place.....

Edited February 25, 2024 by metroracer

[RodneyRodriguez]

Friends, I love you all but I think we all knew when that last finished that was it. All the obstacles we all know of were way too much. 

A new HWY 16ish track would be amazing but like Nick says who is ready to take that loss? 

Appreciate the memories and enjoy the videos it is a new time in racing and I don't see anyone wanting to lose their ass based on us being race fans. If you love pavement racing, go to Houston. Owen Pittman is putting his ass and $ counting on the passion you all have. See you there 11 times this season. 

[JamesHigdon]

Just an interesting point to bring up, I’ll be doing some research on it. 
 
The speedway property is still zoned BP, Business Park. In order for a gas station to be built there it would need to be C-2. I was down there 2 weeks ago, unless signs have been posted since then the property hasn’t been assigned a date for re-zoning.

To clarify, I’m not at all saying Nick is wrong (I don’t doubt it sold) just that this may not be as final as it could be. 
 

 

Edited February 27, 2024 by JamesHigdon

[24nomo]

Reeh Partners sold to Watson Road, Partners, LLC.   The three members of Watson Road Partners, LLC are Nasruddin Mahesania, Akbarali Maredia and Naushadali Maredia.    They use an Austin Address and Jefferson Bank Financed it

[Realfast]

I guess you didn’t see the gas station across the street.  The zoning is out the window. That place is long gone. Let it go.   I hate to be this way. But some people jump on every wagon that comes bye.  There is no parking anymore due to the CPS substation. 

 

[RodneyRodriguez]

yeah, she gone. Has been. 

[NickHolt]

On 2/27/2024 at 11:22 AM, 24nomo said:

Reeh Partners sold to Watson Road, Partners, LLC.   The three members of Watson Road Partners, LLC are Nasruddin Mahesania, Akbarali Maredia and Naushadali Maredia.    They use an Austin Address and Jefferson Bank Financed it

I think this group put up some sort of gas station further down Hwy 16 too.

[JamesHigdon]

On 2/28/2024 at 9:22 PM, Realfast said:

I guess you didn’t see the gas station across the street.  The zoning is out the window. That place is long gone. Let it go.   I hate to be this way. But some people jump on every wagon that comes bye.  There is no parking anymore due to the CPS substation. 

 

I don't disagree with anything you're saying save for the zoning is not irrelevant. If any one around here had any fight left in them the zoning could be made an issue but we don't so we won't. I'm not at a point in my life where I'm going to give up on things, most people that remember SAS are and that is their privilege. If SAS is leveled in 6 months so be it, I'll support the next closest track and if it closes then the next one and so on.

I'm going to support I37, support all our other local tracks, keep subscribing to RaceOn and spend 2-3 days a week at the Quarter Midget tracks with my family. 

[NickHolt]

On 3/5/2024 at 1:06 PM, JamesHigdon said:

I'm going to support I37, support all our other local tracks, keep subscribing to RaceOn and spend 2-3 days a week at the Quarter Midget tracks with my family. 

Good plan, James!  

In the recent past, you have made sincere efforts - some behind the scenes and some quite publicly - to work with folks interested in restoring San Antonio Speedway to a viable facility. I sincerely applaud you for your efforts. 

Before your direct involvement, James, over the past 15 years there have been a couple dozen efforts/plans/schemes to restore/rebuild SAS in which I was directly involved to some degree or other. As we all know, most were simply pipe dreams with no legitimate chance of ever coming to fruition.

However, there were at least four instances where entities with plenty of resources approached me with their plans. I will not name them because, in each instance, I was asked to keep their identities to myself until complete plans and financial arrangements were in place.  In each case, they backed out after doing due diligence that led them to believe there was no realistic way to ever recoup their investment.

As I have always said, it would have taken someone with very, very deep pockets, an irrational love of the sport, and a willingness to never see a financial return on their investment to get it restored to its original glory,  I was hopeful that such a person was out there, but where??? 

Nick

[Realfast]

Well James was right.  The track is reopening. But he was wrong. It will now be a gas station.  

Edited January 19 by Realfast

[RodneyRodriguez]

man Burger King AND Pizza Hut? That's a deal!

[MikePeters95]

That's an interesting deal since YUM industries owns Pizza Hut / Taco Bell / KFC / Long Johns and A&W Burgers, yet there is a Yum brand and BK there. 

A real sales guy would have sold YUM a Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and A&W Slot!

RIP San Antonio Raceway.  Sad.  But like TWS, the poor dead horse will be beaten no more and can rest in peace.

[NickHolt]

I wonder how they got around the lender's due diligence on this particular property with known issues. Cash deal maybe?

[HiTech]

2 hours ago, NickHolt said:

I wonder how they got around the lender's due diligence on this particular property with known issues. Cash deal maybe?

  NICK  figured you had the time to investigate .. you fallen down on the  job .  i suppose the pay isnt so great . checks in  the mail . no delivery  date to be found  . just  have  to wait  . so many still waiting  on selma 

[NickHolt]

Hush-hush financial deals and questionable tax incentive offers surrounded most of the property near the former Highway 16 Raceway about the time Toyota let the city/county know they planned on building a plant nearby. We learned about one of those questionable deals thanks to a San Antonio newspaper reporter who figured out that certain city officials may have been involved. 

But, to me, the big question is: How is the soil - known to be contaminated - being remediated, if at all? Perhaps it's perfectly fine for a gas station to sit on that particular corner, contaminated soil, or not. 

[jdpboom]

Realize I am about a year late to this party, however due to many comments here and other websites I feel the need to ask a question.

Why do so many people assume that just because there was a racetrack there that the site would be contaminated with toxic chemicals? Do you honestly think racers just purposely dump engine fluids all over the ground? That we aren't responsible enough to drain them into containers? When fluid containing component breaks on a car and leaks on to the track, where do you think it ends up? If you think it seeps into the ground, then you know nothing about racing surfaces and the lengths track crew members go to to clean up the spills! They don't only do it for environmental cause,  but mainly for safety for the next cars down the strip!

[rebelracewriter]

5 hours ago, jdpboom said:

but mainly for safety for the next cars down the strip!

Due to this wording I'm gonna guess that you are confusing the old asphalt circle track(San Antonio Speedway) with the drag strip(San Antonio Raceway)?

As for the the speedway, that had soil samples taken years back that showed that it was contaminated and soil used for the banking came from the Applewhite(dome dirt) dig.

Now, the drag strip may have its own issues, not necessarily from racers, but track clean up, scraping, etc. That was swept/blown off the lanes to the edge and down in the water gully along the edge.

[NickHolt]

4 hours ago, jdpboom said:

Realize I am about a year late to this party, however due to many comments here and other websites I feel the need to ask a question.

Why do so many people assume that just because there was a racetrack there that the site would be contaminated with toxic chemicals? Do you honestly think racers just purposely dump engine fluids all over the ground? That we aren't responsible enough to drain them into containers? When fluid containing component breaks on a car and leaks on to the track, where do you think it ends up? If you think it seeps into the ground, then you know nothing about racing surfaces and the lengths track crew members go to to clean up the spills! They don't only do it for environmental cause,  but mainly for safety for the next cars down the strip!

Actually, you are a few decades too late to this party.  The sources of contaminates at the San Antonio Speedway site are well-known:

1) To start with, the track and parking area sits on an abandoned, un-remediated oil field that includes several buried wells and its infrastructure (pipes, tanks, etc).   

2) The large underground fuel tank utilized for several decades by the track had a serious leak. An (EPA?) study completed when a developer was looking to build a subj-division across the road, showed that fuel had worked its way to the Medina River and thoroughly contaminated the immediate area in the infield. For many years owners/promoters believed that someone was stealing fuel since so much was missing every month. 

3) An area north of the main grandstands was once a mud drag strip. When the drags became unprofitable that bog was used as a dump for everything you can imagine - used oil, old racing tires, trash from the concession stands to name a few. 

4) The track's "septic system" was in a field just inside turn 1-2. While it worked as designed for the first couple of years, it failed for the next few decades. Even in drought conditions, that area was always muddy or very wet with raw sewerage. No one ever went out there unless they absolutely had to. 

5) When the Alamo Iron Works property was being remediated in preparation for the building of the Alamodome, they trucked out contaminated heavy metal material for weeks. One smart SAS promoter witnessed truck after truck passing the track on the way to its South Texas "hot dump." And since there was an area outside the back pit gate that would turn to mud after a good rain, he figured he'd flag down a few of those trucks and have them dump that contaminated gravel right there.  Probably two dozen loads were deposited right there next to Highway 16. It's a wonder that place doesn't glow at night. 

6) And, as you correctly pointed out, normal track operations over 3+ decades produce various contaminants. 

I hope this answers your question.