California just got a new racetrack!!!!!

[Plavan]

After a 3-4 year process, Riverside Motorsports Park (Atwater, Ca (Merced) ) was approved at 2:30AM last night!!!!!!!!

This track will be awesome! We have a new home track. It's about an hour north of Fresno. Should be done in about two years.
SWEET!

http://www.rmpracing.com/

http://www.mercedsunstar.com/

RMP gets a green light


By Corinne Reilly and Leslie Albrecht


Last Updated: December 13, 2006, 05:10:01 AM PST


Riverside Motorsports Park moved from plan to reality early Wednesday morning when the Merced County Board of Supervisors approved the raceway complex in a series of votes that spanned eight and half hours.
With Supervisors Deidre Kelsey and John Pedrozo dissenting on two key votes, plans for the 1,200-acre racing venue earned just enough support to move forward.

The board's 2:30 a.m. decision followed hours of emotional public testimony from raceway supporters and opponents, and nearly four years of countywide debate over a project that many say will set the course for the county's development for decades to come.

More than 300 people filled the board chambers and nearby overflow rooms at the meeting's 6 p.m. start. When the final vote was cast just before 2:30 a.m. the crowd had thinned to a weary three dozen.

While racetrack supporters hailed the decision as an economic boon for the county, opponents called the project's approval an assault on both the environment and local agriculture.

"By approving this project ... you are pushing development to my doorway," said Karen Crane, whose family runs a farm near the raceway's proposed site. "Our land will never be the same, and that rests in your hands."

Propopents pointed to the raceway's economic benefits, which are projected to include hundreds of jobs and $180 million in annual business.

"The bottom line in Meced County is we need jobs," said Carl Pollard, a Merced City Councilman who spoke in support of the raceway. "We have too many people on welfare...We have to diversify our economy. We have to change with the times."

After the final approval, raceway CEO John Condren tallied the many benefits he says his racing venue will bring to the county.

"I'm very pleased with the way things went," said Condren. "It means a diversified job base, it means increased tourism and revenue, it means entertainment and recreation." Of the supervisors, Kelsey voiced the strongest opposition to the raceway -- at one point reading a 35-minute statement condemning the project as a disaster for taxpayers and an attack on farmers and ranchers near the raceway's future northern Merced County site.

Kelsey slammed environmental reviews of the project as inadequate and rushed, urging the board to delay its vote until more studies on the project's impacts could be completed.

She said approving of the project would damage the public trust and disgrace the supervisors.

"As this project sits in front of me today, it's terrible," said Kelsey. "...The credibility of our board is on the line with this." Pedrozo cast the only other votes against the project.

"I know what it is to be a farmer and I know what it is to have cars coming down your country roads," said Pedrozo. "I can't support the (environmental impact report), not until I am totally confident that all the people that live out there are taken care of."

The board voted on six motions that collectively allowed the project to move forward. By the end of the meeting, the board had voted to approve the project's environmental reviews, to allow traffic and noise from the raceway to exceed current county standards, and to overrule a finding by the Airport Land Use Commission that the racetrack's site is too close to Castle Airport's runway.

Condren first proposed the project in 2003. Since then, the raceway's location has been the subject of much of the debate.

Condren and raceway backers say the project's future site makes perfect sense -- a stone's throw away from an airport and within 100 miles of 10 million potential race fans.

Those opposed to the raceway say its valley location means the air pollution it generates will remain trapped in the area. They say a more remote location would make noise and traffic from the raceway less burdensome.

Environmental reviews have confirmed the raceway will contribute considerably to air quality problems the county already faces.

More recently, the controversy has centered around a plan to manage traffic to the site which proposes to route the majority of out-of-town traffic from Highway 99 through a rural neighborhood just west of the track.

The $250 million raceway complex is planned to contain eight different racing venues, a shopping mall, restaurants, an arcade and a lake. In addition to professional racing events, the park will host amateur racing, drag racing, motocross and go-kart racing, concerts, car shows and festivals. It is not planned to host NASCAR events.

While typical Saturdays and Sundays are estimated to bring 5,000 to 15,000 visitors to the raceway, big-name events held one weekend a month could draw daily crowds between 20,000 and 50,000. The Merced County Planning Commission voted in favor of the project's approval in October

[jkarolyi]

Good for you! When I read "Riverside Motorsport Park", I was hoping that Riverside, CA would get another racetrack to replace the one we lost to mall developers in 1989. Should've known better. Oh well...Fontana is not that far.

[Plavan]

The road race track layout is IDENTICAL to the old Riverside track..... Should be fun.

[Don Plumley]

Only 4 hours from NorCal, much closer that Willow Springs!

[TRE Cup]

Fantastic!! this is great news. John and his team worked sooo hard to get to this point. Having this track benefits all of us. When the site was first chosen, it was done specifically with the land that was unsuitable for any agriculture- the investment in amendments and water for farming there were waaay over the top. And yes there is an airport next door to it- very cool

[juanbenae]

NICE! i used to race go-karts out there, its climaye is much akin to thunder hill.

still nice

[Cory M]

Great news, but I'll believe it when I drive on it. It would be nice to have a track closer than 3.5 hours away from me (not counting Fontana, which is expensive and has very few events).

With a road course identical to the old Riverside course it should be interesing to see the speeds modern street cars will be hitting there.

[Chuck Moreland]

I'm in

[Emission]

Originally posted by jkarolyi
Good for you! When I read "Riverside Motorsport Park", I was hoping that Riverside, CA would get another racetrack to replace the one we lost to mall developers in 1989. Should've known better. Oh well...Fontana is not that far.

+1

Glad to hear of a new track in any case!

[First911]

Wow, talk about a racer's themepark! Ambitious project, it will take some serious coin to build that as shown on RMP's plans.

Has anybody heard of the proposed Country Club Road Course in Newbury Springs (near Barstow)? http://www.countryclubroadcourse.com/

If anybody remembers Mrs. Orcutt's driveway where the car magazines used to measure top speed of new models, it's in that neck of the woods.

[Dantilla]

Originally posted by TRE Cup
And yes there is an airport next door to it- very cool

Woo-Hoo! I'll have the car shipped, and I get to do two of my favorite things on the same weekend!

[96740]

I ran into someone at the car wash that had mentioned a new private road course between LA and Vegas. Sounds like a great idea. There are certainly enough people here in Ventura county that can afford the membership. I just checked out the website...Too cool. www.countryclubroadcourse.com

The 30k membership is more my speed, but in the long run, the "founding Member" cost would make more sense. We'll see.

Build it and I will come.

[Jeremy Cottrell]

Yahoo!!!!! Are they even going to have the Turn 1 bump??