Darn shame Some years back our local track closed due to a couple things. It was 75-80 Dragway. They were going to put houses on the land but the neighbors raised such a stink it got voted down. Now it sits there, empty and in disrepair. At one time it was voted 1 of the 10 best because you could get so close to the action and have grills and the like. I went up and took some pics after it closed. Wish it would reopen but I doubt it
One by one we will have no place to go but they can put golf courses there in place with big fancy homes too.. more tax revenue! Oh and some section 8 for all the new folks coming in .
I'd bet it reopens. They pawned it and lost it to the receiver for lack of payment. Next court case is this Friday. There are prospective buyers ready to purchase. To me that is a rural area. 7 miles to the closest town (Milan). Useless to farm. No fancy homes in that area. It has new pavement, recent concrete rails and a revised timing system. It does need some upgrades for bathrooms , concessions, etc. Car counts are usually good. What it really needs is a top notch management team. We'll see, but I bet it'll be back open sooner than you think. Doug Here's the scoop It has folded. Judge placed it in receivership. Pawn shop and IHRA both claimed they had buyers in the wing. Kapolka tried to claim the property outside the gate shouldn't be included in the sale. The judge ruled against that as well. Kapolka tried to name his own realtor as the receiver, Judge spiked that. Everything is on the auction block. The hearing on the 9th is just to give all parties a chance to oppose the receiver. Kapolkas attorney first claimed they couldn't afford to open next month without a cash infusion of "hundreds of thousands of dollars" but a few minutes later, claimed " they needed to be allowed to open this year, to raise the funds to fix up the property to a point it could be sold" The judge was not amused. Both IHRA and Pawn Shop claimed they have cash buyers that will buy the property as is. Hopefully it stays a track.....They had been removing stuff from the track all week, so this isn't a big surprise.
I hope your right honestly that someone will do something with instead of dozing it over . I’d rather be told I’m wrong then see it go . History can not be undone or cancelled if it happened your too late to undo it! You’ll look like a fool trying to hide it IMO.
Who the hell would pawn a race track and actually think it would end well? Hell, he might as well have taking a loan out with Sam Giancana All joking aside, I really hope it remains a track.... You know, Bill Bader said in that interview I posted a few weeks ago, that every time we lose a track, we lose racers.
I loved going there. Beautiful. The track was cool, but very run down. I also remember the dip in the right lane. The track is still being used by Motor Week. Watch it on Motor Trend.
On another note, new owners are spending $$$ improving drag strip at Sparta, near St. Thomas, Ontario. Same people own the track at Grand Bend, Ontario. Sparta is home track for our Mopar club, Western Ontario Mopar Owners (WOMO). I remember that Doug Wright and some other nostalgia super stock guys from U.S.A. came up and raced one year at our annual club meet. The knob that managed the track at the time treated these guys poorly, and thoroughly embarrassed our club. That jerk is no longer in the picture, and our group would be honoured if some of these racers could return some time.
That is good to hear, Doug. I think that was the year we had Arlen Vanke there as well. Also had big car show/cruise night in St. Thomas.
Well I was saddened to read that Milan was closing or is closed I hope for your guys' sake it is sold & allowed to reopen would be a damn shame to lose it I know all too well how it is to lose local (in-state) racetracks we use to have like 26-28 here, just in my lifetime, there were probably more we have still Redding (? I think), Sacramento (for how much longer ? for sale, urban sprawl encroaching), Sears Point/Infinion (getting encroached on too), maybe Romona Bakersfield/Famoso, Pomona, Irwindale (newish), Fontana (newish) all closed (or were) due to China Wuhan Flu crap I hope they can weather the storm too when they are allowed to be open, freaken' asshole govn.
Yes, pretty bummed. My home track. Even though they treated everyone like shit, racers or not. Their amount of down times were incredible even with no wrecks. I still went and just avoided their politics.
Court day #2 was Friday. 7 lawyers there representing various factions. It came out that Milan has aprox $2,450,000 of secured debt to 3 creditors. Also additional unspecified unsecured debt. Along with the $350,000 pawn. The judge appointed a lawyer as the receiver. That's all I could find so far. Doug
Sad to hear, this began decades ago with subdivision sprawl - hell even a few golf courses have been razed for homes, and a 36 hole course not far from me is being taken out for...yep, more homes. Some years ago, a circle track was taken out cuz the area residents who built their homes around it didn't want the noise. A farmer friend who's land surrounding his was sold off for...yep subdivisions...get's all sorts of complaints about the smell. Hmm...well some folks wanted move out to the country? The outdoor movie theaters in my area were torn down some years ago...aha...more homes and a huge shopping center. That's...progress.
Thanks for the update Doug. I wonder how this is going to work? I mean if they have 3 1/2 mil secured loan out on the place that means the bank would have the UCC filing on the place, (they get first dibs). So how can Gold get take control for a 350k pawn loan? I wonder if that's why he went to a pawn broker in the first place? If the original Bank has the UCC's on the property then another bank is not going to loan money against something they are second in line to get if the debtor defaults. I'm not a smart man....but this sounds like a real mess. Guess we'll wait and see. And hope for the best!
My son dug into Milan more this morning (on a real computer lol) 9/2 is the next court date and it is a Pre-trial conference, that sounds like they could not come to an arraignment and it will continue through the conservator process likely resulting in a sale. There are 24 parties in the case! Doug
