Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Asheville Citizen-Times sportswriter Keith Jarrett’s three-day series on the history of motor sports in Asheville continues today. It’s another great read. Here’s a tidbit that is worth remembering:
(RiverLink) raised $1.1 million from several donors — including $250,000 from the Biltmore Co., which was in the process of building a $31 million hotel on the grounds of Biltmore Estate that would be close enough to AMS to hear the noise of racing.
Because RiverLink was a nonprofit, a plan was created to give the AMS property to the City of Asheville in return for the city’s promise to build a greenway on the site.
After having discussions about the sale and transfer of AMS in closed sessions outside the scope of the media and public input, City Council accepted the track from RiverLink. There was no public discussion or debate prior to the announcement on Oct. 13, 1998, and thousands who loved racing felt blindsided by the secretive decision to close the track.
“It’s like I lost a family member,” said Darrell Payne of Asheville, a former AMS flagman who has produced a photo book of AMS that will be for sale at the monument unveiling on Thursday.
“I started working there when I was 13 years old, and when I was 16 or 17 I started working on the flagstand. That’s a family down there on the river, always has been. The city made a big mistake and got thousands of people mad.”
After a public uproar that included a petition signed by more than 20,000 people asking for one more year of racing, City Council allowed AMS to operate for the ’99 season.
The last checkered flag dropped in September of that year.
“It was a dirty deal, and everybody knows it was dirty, the way it was handled,” said (driver Jack ) Ingram. “Asheville Speedway created a huge racing industry in WNC, and it fell by the wayside because of this.”
A study of the ’99 racing season at AMS revealed an economic impact of more than $2.2 million for a six-month season. The city closed down the county’s largest, most successful and longest-running sports entertainment venue in the area.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the Mayor and the rest of the ones running our county and city, were actually from here???? Why do we elect a bunch of transplants and carpetbaggers anyway?
Yeah! No more New Yorkers, or Floridians, or Virginians! No Irish, Scots, Germans, French, English, or Dutch. Get those Mexicans out of here, and have them take the slave descendants with them.
That’s better. Now, if we can only get rid of those damn Cherokee – they’re not actually “from” here either. They come up over the Bering Strait last time it was froze over. DNA tests show they are descended from Mongolians.
Thank goodness. Only ‘native’ Buncombes left… Wow, it’s quiet.
Quit being a dick, Barry. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it one thousand times: “If large numbers of conservative and wealthy Southern Baptists started moving here in droves, and then started filling elected offices, etc., the ‘Progressives’ would have a shit fit.”
This is no different. Can you deny that the major push to close the speedway by our “diverse” community was not led by transplanted folks?
As a recovering Southern Baptist, I can tell you you that I prefer Asheville under “progressive” rule than that of an invasive bunch of Bible-thumping bores. The rest of NC belongs to them, and I am OK with that, but let the commie-libs have a little corner of their own, eh? It takes all kinds to make a world.
And I prefer a nice park over a loud, polluted race truck watching gasoline, oil and rubber being wasted to determine who has the bigger dip-stick.
Yeah, who wouldn’t prefer a “nice park” that costs the city and it’s residents thousands of dollars over a profitable entity that cost the city and it’s residents absolutely nothing and instead pumped millions IN to the economy. It’s not like this area doesn’t have enough freaking parks and green ways. Maybe you should go back to being a Southern Baptist, because as if now you seem to be an idiot.
This is a country, state, county and city made up of nothing but immigrants, Sean. People move from one place to another. Population grows. You can’t stop that. You can’t bar the gates (either literally or electorally) and refuse a new resident the same rights that your forebears enjoyed when they moved here. Why do you hate America?
Get over yourself. Did you read the article? The “push” to close the speedway was made by the Biltmore Co. Good, old fashioned, local money wanted the speedway gone so they could make some more good, old fashioned, local money. That’s the way it’s always been. Picking on new residents is just easier and less risky than threatening to burn down the Biltmore, right?
Not that it matters, but the current mayor attended Asheville High School, and the last mayor was a native of Asheville. Not local enough for you?
prob is he biltmore company runs asheville! it was all deceiving to all the race fans. prob is most people who complained were out of town tree huggers who moved in here to start with! riverlink is a joke to, who wants to put a bunch of businesses in flood plains? the diverse, artsy crowd because the rent is so cheap! lol. what asheville has become is a joke, from the mayor to the city manager on down! question, whats the percent of people in buncombe county that like hockey? got a nice hockey ring at carrier park though! etc, etc. the biltmore estate and the city of asheville are to blame so i hope they both get what they deserve one day!
Losing AMS was really terrible for the local racers. I grew up on that track I cannot remember a Friday night as a kid that we weren't there. My dad helped build many fantastic racecars for several championship drivers. I have only been to the Newport track a few times but the feel is not the same. I know it was a neighbor hood disturbance but it wasn't everyday.I think the park is wonderful but I will always remember warm summers nights with bad concession food , children running around with their favorite drivers tshirts and adults getting lost in the nostalgia of what short track racing was always ment to be.
Thank you Council for making our city better by having an incredible park … I can't wait until the Greenway is connected all the way to Black Mtn. Now, that will be a nice run along the river. Thanks again.
Shut up, jackass.
I wonder how much it will cost to maintain all the way to Black Mountain… Maybe you should volunteer to mow it and pick up the trash.
For those of us who lived in west Asheville, the racetrack's closure was sweet relief. This was a beneficial aspect of the closing that the Citizen-Times, in its desire to raise populist fever, never reported on. We were the silent (literally) majority in support of this decision. The idea of a racetrack so close to a revitalizing residential neighborhood in the middle of a city was absurd, IMHO.
There were really two issues, and I think people mix the two without thinking about it. First, the racetrack was going to be sold. That was a private property decision, and while race fans are entitled to be upset about it, it was inherently a commercial transaction between private entities that could not be stopped. (You can't force someone to operate a racetrack.)
The second was the decision by the city to take the property as a park. Should that have been subject to more scrutiny? Sure. But it wouldn't have stopped the sale of the track in the first place.
Yeah, it was Soooo beneficial…since the engines have been quieted at AMS it’s much easier to hear the gun fire and police sirens in PVA.
More often than not racetracks are built away from communities. Cities grow and neighborhoods move closer to the once distant tracks. Decades later people like you are wondering why a track was built in the middle of a city, really a city built around a race track.
Most tracks make noise once a week, during the hours most are awake anyhow.
I'd support a new track in the area.
Anony and Rick, you both make good points. My biggest issue was/is with the way the decision was made: totally a back room deal, done in secret, probably illegally (in terms of state open meetings law) and with zero public input. that's not right.
The owner of the racetrack at the time decided to sell the property. Anyone could have bought it at the time, including any race fan who wanted to continue holding the races there. But it was purchased by a group that had other visions for the property. The Biltmore Company was a silent partner in that group at the time, and it's obvious why they wished to put an end to the noise pollution the track caused on Friday nights.
The City Council took a lot of flack at the time for some kind of secret deal, but basically they were offered the racetrack property for a dollar to turn it into a park. That's pretty much a no-brainer and there wasn't anything suspicious or untoward about their accepting that offer.
As far as the loss of revenue goes, the city lost the tax revenue from the track, but I'll bet property values on the entire hillside above the racetrack went up as a result. I was at a barbeque in that West Asheville neighborhood one Friday night, and we had to move inside to hear ourselves talk once the race started. It's much more peaceful there now.
The problem race fans have now is that nobody else wants to have a neighbor like a racetrack. There have been efforts to get a new track built, but NIMBY is a powerful force everywhere.
Nobody wants to have government housing projects as neighbors either, but I don’t see Biltmore and Asheville city council getting rid of those and building more green wastes there.
Damn right no one wants government housing projects.
But they are every where.
Why not just build another race track somewhere else,not so close to the river – maybe an old commercial/industrial site that isn't being used anymore? The system of riverfront parks is a whole lot more family-friendly and healthy than a race track.