Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Just read Bloomsburg Fair Raceway was ordered by a judge to shut down. 

Attempting to be a voice of reason in a world full of
irrationality. 

I admnit I had to look up where this track was. Looks like it's b/c of a sound ordinance. 65 decibal level? 
Things that are louder than 65 decibals

Kids laughing

Gas powered vehicles (gasp)

Shop Vac

Lawn mowers

concerts

Your radio

Keep It Real

That's ridiculous requirements. Looks like they wanted to make a concert venue out of the place which will be just as loud but acceptable apparently. Sad. Sometimes people suck.

College town, need I say more, they were trying to resurrect a track, only been reopened for 2 years I believe.  Strawser probably celebrating as Porr Royal management was involved in bringing back.

It's always been a concert venue in fact they tore down the stage for the track and started using a temporary stage during their fair which books headline concerts.

nah, you've said enough.

doug-

I checked this out on Google Maps. It appears to be a fairly flat track, a little longer than a half mile when measured at the center of the track, and it's on 40' wide on the straights and in the corners? And they race sprint cars there? How's the racing?

That's the old track that hasn't ran since the early 80's. They used to have midgets there, not sure about sprints. The new track was about 1/4 or 1/3 mile built inside the old one about 3 years ago. It never made much sense to me to build a track in that location - basically in town with houses right across the street. We alreadly have more tracks than we have enough race cars(or fans) to support in central PA. I liked the idea of adding a bullring however. I've been hoping for years that someone with money would purchase Selinsgrove and turn it into a bullring.

A

Specials only might have worked better than weekly shows I know they already tried it but the neighbors were not happy about weekly shows.

The track is 3/8 mile. I am not sure who thought it was going to work to reopen a track located in town which hadn't raced in 40 years. It was just not going to work in today's world. It is one thing to say the track was here when you bought your house but in this case it was not for most people.

Let's use a little common sense.  The track didn't get built overnight.   The idea was made public and then there were probably public city council hearings.  Zoning and whatever else for government red tape to get through.  So there were many hurdles that had to be cleared before the first foot of dirt was moved.  So how many articles were in the local paper and how many news stories on the local news.  So the public had how many chances to voice opposition to the track?  

I went to the USAC race in 2021.  It was sprints and late models. The show was over by 1030 pm.  I never heard of any shows running super late and the track never had a lot of divisions in one night.

I  hope the track has some pitbull attorneys.   If the people want to complain about noise, then all noise must be looked at.  That means time to shut the  fair down.  Maybe even the local high school sporting events and Bloomsburg University  football.  I love the fair , and I am not trying to be vindictive.   But it is time for fairness and common sense.  It can't be, well this is noisy but I like it so it stays.  We all have to get along in this world.  We all have different activities that are our favorite things to do.  But as long as it is legal all activities should be held to the same rules and regulations. 

Well I agree with what you're saying, there could be more to the story.  I will start by saying I have no info about this what so ever.  But I do know many times when things like this come up there can be many white lies or broken promises.  Some things that could've been said to people living nearby was "Race cars today have mufflers so there really not much louder than street cars", we (as in race fans) know that's not true but if you're not a race fan you might not know that.  They also might've promised to be done by 9 or 10 at night and then might have had shows go till midnight on some occasions.  I'm a race fan, I love racing but would I want to live across the street from a race track?  Absolutely not.  And I know that after 10 at night, I'm personally a lot less tolerant of things.  So if they're racing until midnight on a Sunday night across from my house, I'm going to be pissed off too.  And honestly if I want to sit out on my patio and grill and have a few beers with friends, I don't think anyone's going to enjoy having to scream over the cars to have a conversation.  I get the whole thing of the track being there when they bought their house but even though we know a realtor would never say something dishonest to sell a house, I'm sure there's more than a few of these people who were under the impression that the race track would never open but that's not necessarily the track's fault.  I hate to see tracks close too but if it was disturbing the peace at my house, I would probably scream about it too.  Again I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying there could be more to the story.  And again I have no info on what's going on here, I've just seen many things like this in the past.

Probably the most sensible post in this thread. What disappoints me most is how these fair boards are so inviting and willing to have someone improve their properties through a lease and then shit can those same people who invested the money in their property, pretty underhanded stuff.  PA needs another short track but the Mechanicsburg Grove should be the one changed, not Selinsgrove, I'm sure Kathy would sell it first. Special events may be what keep both of those places open due to lack of teams willing to participate frequently. I'd love to see Path Valley run sprints on Friday nights, but until the grove closes that probably won't happen.

They put a lot of money in the place to get it reopened. Nobody wins on this deal,  O wait,  the fair board got a bunch of updates done that didn't cost them anything. 65db is a joke,  the crowds at the football games need to whisper or the game should be stopped for over zealous cheering.  The people on council that agreed to this confuse me, aren't they the same people that allowed them to reopen ?

The Grove would be easy to make smaller. Just shorten the straights and extend the outer pit area to include the area outside turns 1-2 so all haulers would be outside. Just killed 3 birds with 1 stone - track is easier on motors and equipment, track is racier, fans have an unobstructed view. Most people think it's sacrilege to suggest altering the grove. I say the place needs to get with the times if it's going to survive.

A

I checked the track out when I was on the sky lift at the fair last year. Looks really small, definitely smaller than Lincoln.  If the old track was a 1/2 mile, then the new one is about half that. 

I hear last year that neighbors were complaining about dust. They added a new clay to try to alleviate the issue. 

A

I thought the bridge was going to be removed?

Track info and the 410 1 lap record is low 13's but you would argue with God if he told he that he made the sky blue.

The old track was built for harness racing and is longer than 1/2 mile.  They raced midgets on it in a era when people didn't mind the fact that it had a cinder surface and nobody complained about how the hard the length was on engines.  Of course, the engines were iron block and didn't cost two fortunes.  The new track is 3/8 and reminded me of a flattened version of Winchester.

Some of the complaints were legitimate - the track is in town and racing is noisy and dusty.  That said, the area is notorious for people not being happy unless they're unhappy.  They complain about the university constantly, they complain about the fair and any use of the fair grounds other than the fair, and anybody who tries to open a new business quickly encounters people who find some reason that it's a bad thing.  The only surprise about the track being shut down is that it took as long as it did to happen.

The Forest Lake, Minnesota, high football stadium is less than a half mile from my house.  I can hear everything loud and clear at my house.  When I was a kid I lived three blocks from the state Fair and the races in the 50's and 60's weren't as loud as the football games are now.  It's about the same distance.

Stan Meissner