For those interested in Nascar's history:

This track is about 15 minutes from where I live. Pretty neat place and back story.

http://www.macon.com/2011/07/16/1633114/byron-raceway-roars-back-to-life.html

Wow! Great story. Interesting to see the history of some older tracks. At least it faired better than Riverside.

Oh! Almost forgot, this is also where they filmed the last Dodge Durango commercial. You know the one where they are driving around an old abandoned track. The pics I posted are after they have cleaned it up some for the car show.

There are few things more sad looking than an abandoned race track...its like seeing an old warship left to rot at a dock...something built for a singular purpose never to be used again. Glad to see they use it for at least a car show...keep it alive.

I knew it! Well kinda... I opened the thread and was looking at the pics and the whole time I was thinkin damn that track looks familiar! Where do I know this joint from? AAnd then while pondering I read more posts and Sorta cleared it up with the Durango shoot location. Cool track by far. Its freakin sad that ya'll over on the east coast are so spoiled with tracks that you are able to play musical chairs with em and yet finding a paved oval here in the NW is like tryin to pick winning lottery numbers and only knowing how to count to 7. Theres tons of super rich guys attempting to garner enough support to build and host Nascar races in the NW but there is always a freakin wall like the local community bitching that even though the track location would be 5 miles away from them that the sound would be way to bad causing the vote for permits to go down the crapper as was the case with the Washington peninsula proposal. Or funding as was the case with the eastern Oregon propasal. Sucks but I have hope that it will happen cause both Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne have been involved with buying and building dirt tracks in our area so might see them working on a big track sometime.

Yeah that problem isn't localized to just the NW sadly. The same is true for this track too. They tried to re-open it a few years ago and the subdivisions that had been put in way after the track was built overruled it being re-opened citing noise.

Yep, noise complaints are everywhere too. People moved in around Laguna Seca after the track had been established and started complaining about noise. Laguna Seca only hosts a few events each year where noise abatement rules are off. Every other date, if you track your car and you have a loud exhaust system, you lift off throttle after turn 5 and pick it up again passing under the traffic bridge before turn 6.

Look in games (G.T., Forza, and others) to driver's right between turns 5 and 6. If the developers paid close attention to detail, there should be a "hut" rendered. That's where your car's sound is picked up. If your car is too loud when you pass by you are black flagged and can't reenter the track without first quieting your car. One trick in building a race car for Laguna Seca is to angle your exhaust tip(s) to driver's left.

Yep sound is a bitch for track owners. Our dirt track had to compromise on a end time. We used to run for 30 years to around midnight every sat and now the city ordinance attempted make the cutoff at 9. LOL no effin way and thankfully our track owners pointed out revenue damages that would be projected so now we have to end by 11 and there is a undisclosed fine for every night that we go past that cutoff but we still go to past midnight half the races last year and the first few this year so the fines must not be that bad.

We had a 7/16th mile dirt track turned cement turned dirt again turned asphalt track in Portland that got shut down cause they had trouble getting people to come to races and the poll results said that there werent any night races was the largest reason. Part of the city ordinance agreement was that there would be no races after 6pm.

Woodburn dragstrip is out in a agricultural farm area but since the cars scare some stupid cows there are only a handfull of uncapped(no exhaust) dates each season.

I hear ya. It stinks having to cut out by X-hour though sound carries further at night. I'm not sure about 5 miles away as exemplified a few posts ago, those people are nucking futs! I have an idea and it will all depend on "location, location, location" as to whether or not it operates into the dark. More hours of operation are awesome and can help business though I'll have to find an industrial area, or anywhere not near residential zones.

Wyoming is boring as hell and nobody lives there plus its right on I-80. Plus its a red state politically so you can do redneck car stuff thats loud and not worry about folks meddling in

I flew to Maine in '05 and drove with my brother back here to CA. We first stopped by relatives in York, PA and from there met up with South Bend, IN and I-80 the rest of the way. I mentioned I wanted to build my own copy of the Nürburgring in the middle of Wyoming. "If you build it, they will come." I love the way you think Squid.

Yea and for 6 months I drove with no muffler on my 360 Magnum powered Ram when the flare to the Flowmaster inlet rusted apart and it was LOUD or as I liked to describe it: "Lovely". But out there it wasnt really noticeable because many other cars, trucks and bikes are just as loud so a race track wouldnt really have to worry about noise. Yea a 'MericanbergRing in the midwest is a badass idea! Me and my buddy Joe always said if we hit the mega lotto that we would open the ultimate offroad park with a road course going around part of the park and a full paddock, garage and killer auto parts store and service center all onsite and the best part would be that our goal would only be to break even after all running and operating costs were spent. The startup cost or lack there of is what kills most new tracks. Many are opened with many costly corners cut that make the track a poor experience for the fans that attend plus a lack of amenities that racers want or need in the pits and paddocks. If money is no or not much of an object then you are correct Geoffy, "They WILL come. Over and over and over".... whoa that just started to sound like something said when describing Tux and mines drafting relationship eh?

There are already plans to make a copy of the ring in Vegas...

Vegas always has outlandish plans that seem epic and a no-brainer like a Casino shaped like a replica of the Death Star and one of a to scale replica of the original Starship Enterprise that would be fully and faithfully rendered accurately both inside and out. So I bet geoffy and I will beat them to it! Yea suck it Vegas!