Published September 2004

Racetrack would bring site plan, road upgrades

By Gigi Burke
Guest Editorial

This summer, we have found that our community has a vision that includes NASCAR in our future. This is the time to focus our efforts and educate the community on the benefits a speedway facility would bring to the region.

The public (according to a recent survey financed by Fans United for NASCAR) is overwhelmingly aware of the opportunity we have: 7-in-10 think the International Speedway Corp. will pick the north Marysville site; 2-to-1 support going ahead with building the track.

People know, even people who are not NASCAR savvy, that land located inside the rectangular box made up by Interstate 5, Highway 9 and east-west roads makes perfect sense for a speedway track.

Much work remains to make our community vision a reality. We need more lane capacity on Interstate 5 and Highway 9. We need additional freeway access. We need to widen east-west corridors and extend improvements on Smokey Point Boulevard to State Route 530.

These transportation upgrades are already needed. We think we can bring upgrades much sooner with NASCAR than will ever happen without. State investment in infrastructure to bring about the kind of economic development that NASCAR presents makes perfect sense.

Transportation fixes will make it easy to deal with the traffic surges on three race weekends a year. Plus, those same capacity improvements will be available year-round for all of us who commute locally.

The public also prefers seeing this 600 acres developed under a master plan with improved environment features and year-round recreational facilities than any other development option. In addition to a state-of-the-art speedway, our vision is for an RV and camping area, soccer and ball fields — an area that will look mostly green.

We believe this is by far the best alternative for our community. Flat land zoned for commercial and industrial uses is going to be developed very shortly with or without NASCAR. We say better a speedway surrounded by green and used to its full capacity a few weekends a year to any alternatives.

On racing weekends, due to the acoustical engineering of modern speedways, the only off-site noise anyone will have to put up with are those experimental aircraft that are often buzzing by and the 18-wheelers.

More than 50 years have passed since the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing was formed. Today, it runs 90 races in 25 states, but none yet in the Pacific Northwest. We believe that when the day comes, success will be immediate due to the demand for a track in the Northwest and out-of-state visitors.

The most recent economic study forecast $56 million in annual spending for a schedule that includes NASCAR’s premier Nextel series that attracts top drivers. Annual spending like that is why comparisons are made to the economic impacts of a Super Bowl, Final Four NCAA or an All-Star game.

Yes, our community has a vision. It’s a vision that recognizes both the challenges, but also the great opportunities. The work is far from over. In fact, it is only beginning.

Fans United for NASCAR is a volunteer organization with 2,500-plus members and growing rapidly. These are people who clearly understand the vision. We are known as FUN because we are having fun thinking about all the great benefits a NASCAR facility will bring to our community. If anyone is interested in getting involved with FUN, please visit our Web site at www.fansunitedfornascar.com.

Gigi Burke is chairwoman of Fans United for NASCAR.

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