How would you react if you learned that a local chapter of Hells Angels
wanted to buy the house next door for a clubhouse, or an adult bookstore
wanted to open a store at your streetcorner? You would react; swiftly and
loudly. We, as racers, are experiencing the same infringement on "our
pleasures" that the prospective homeowners will voice once moved into their
new "dream home".
People don't want a major airport near them; until they want a non-stop
flight to take them to Aunt Gertrudes house for the holidays!
There's two sides to the argument, and to keep the track open is going to
require concession on both sides or I can assure you who will lose: we
will!
The citizens in Silver Knolls (suburb of Reno, NV) fought long and hard to
deny a racing facility in their area on Stead airport property (home of the
annual Reno Air Races). They based their objection, NOT on noise but on
traffic congestion! What few of those residents even know (because they
can't hear it), is that there is an established major Go-Kart raceway on
the
east side of the airport! If it were possible to construct a raceway
without
the Silver Knolls people knowing about it, and if responsible noise and
operating limitations were put into effect, most of them probably wouldn't
even know the facility existed.
So how do you proceed? Education. Push everything POSITIVE about the
facilty; not the negative. Make the facility a 'teaching facility' to turn
the 'young teens' into defensive drivers, not race drivers, etc.
A racing facilty uses a lot of real estate. A professionally designed golf
course (and I hate golf!) will bring the "track haters" to the track to
play
golf year around. The presence of a race facility would be a small price to
pay to "swat that stupid little ball"! (I'm gonna hear from the "golfing
racers" over this one{!!!}). Not only would something like this be a
positive attribute to the raceway, but a revenue generator as well (and
that's what the politicians want to hear).
Being on the "other coast", it's unlikely I'll ever have the opportunity to
race at Summit Point. However, the same problems impact my racing facilites
(Laguna Seca, Thunder Hill and Sears Point), so I certainly understand your
dilemma.
Organize all the sanctioning bodies who use the facility and negotiate
strongly, but fairly. If not, I can assure you that you will finish "second
overall" in this race!
Carl McLelland
CSRG #247, series 1 Sunbeam Alpine
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