Back when I was living down south, we went to this guy's swap meets at the Atlanta drag strip, near Commerce, GA.
As you may have heard, the dragway is getting sold and bulldozed. 2021 is to be its last season.
So he's trying to buy another track nearby, Gresham Motorsports Park, which has been relatively dormant of late. He plans to install modern drag strip, and basically renovate the facility.
Anyone who's interested, here's a link to the fundraising effort:
They're closing Atlanta Dragway? This is the first I've heard about it. Yikes.
In reply to MadScientistMatt :
Going a web search for articles relating to the closing yields surprisingly few results.
I may be old fashioned, or maybe just old and grouchy but, I have an issue with this business model. This is a for profit business that's looking for funding from charitable contributions. I support the heck out of my local track but I do it through my local, not for profit clubs and by doing what I can to promote track usage. I don't just give money to the track owners or the operator.
If you want to build a club or member owned track then that's great but if you want to own a race track and you can't find investors then that should be telling you something about the business viability. If you want to build a track but don't have the money and don't want investors I have an issue with that. I mean, I'd like a race track too, and an airplane and more race cars but I'm not going to ask other's to pay for them.
MadScientistMatt said:They're closing Atlanta Dragway? This is the first I've heard about it. Yikes.
NHRA sold it off. That area is getting a development boom. I keep being told that NHRA is doing great business-wise, but I'm guessing a fat check for the land was too hard to pass up.
I worked with Brad back at Year One, he's a pretty resourceful guy. But building a new strip will be a hard business case to sell. Atlanta Motor Speedway has already stepped up to fill the hole with a 1/8 mile track on the infield.
The fact that Atlanta Dragway is shutting down proves it simply may not be a viable business anymore. Meanwhile they keep complaining about "street racing" and takeover meets in Atlanta...
I feel like there is a solution to both problems, which would take the right type of management and creative programming to merge those worlds for the benefit of all car enthusiasts. Imagine test-and-tune Fridays, which is $25 bucks for 4 runs like normal, but also there's a burnout pit in the parking lot and anyone can enter for $50 for 2 minutes so the flexin' types can get their sweet drift vids. And also a car meet at the same time, $10 a head. Idk, just spitballing here.
In reply to APEowner :
I don't disagree with you, and I don't blame you. But I also see his side of the coin, too. I haven't donated, and seeing as how I currently live 10 hours away from this area I'm not inclined to. But if this were local to me I'd definitely be interested. They ain't making any more land, as my grandfather used to say, and they sure ain't building many new racetracks these days. And I don't think it's because of a lack of demand. The buy-in's too high, the threat of NIMBY is ever-present, and the number of people willing to take on the risk, and who have the capital to make it happen, is too low.
Gresham is only 20 mi from Lamar & Road Atlanta, and farther outside Atlanta. It's going to be hard to make it profitable.
nderwater said:Gresham is only 20 mi from Lamar & Road Atlanta, and farther outside Atlanta. It's going to be hard to make it profitable.
Especially if, as I have just learned, Road Atlanta is putting in its own 1/8 mile drags.
In reply to maschinenbau :
As someone who lives 100 yards from one of the street racer areas I can tell you that it isn't the distance to a track that is the issue. Most of them have Clayton and Henry county tags and consciously come here to race instead of the longer, straighter, less trafficked roads near home. They come here to show off their nonconformist attitude as much as their car and that attitude will not fly at a legitimately run racetrack.
Why would anyone want to drag race for 1/8 of a mile? Seems like a bit of a tease, given the resources at work. Maybe begin with a Le Mans start from the other end of the track. At least do an autocross . . .
In reply to itsarebuild :
It's not about attitude, it's about the ability to gamble. Having something on the line is what brings people to certain locations to race.
In reply to captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :
Not sure I agree. Anyone can gamble at a real track. When I was in Gainesville my roommate used to bring his GTA to open track nights and fish all night long. Made rent quite often.
what I see out my window is racing on a 35 mph street with full lanes of traffic and "blocker cars" essentially hijaking a street with pedestrians, houses, schools, restaurants within the crash zones. Often races end with donuts in the middle of the street and dumps of exhaust cut outs.
im sticking with my "attitude" assessment. Pure a55-battery.
You'll need to log in to post.
