Editorial: Are Private Drag Strips a Future to Consider?
In a time when it seems all we hear about is venues closing, more and more private racing circuits are springing up across America. Think M1 Concourse in Pontiac, MI, the Motor Enclave in Tampa, FL or the planned (stunningly beautiful) Flatrock Motorclub in Tennessee.
The tracks are funded by the sale and continued fees of private garages that surround the circuit. Owners often turn these into the ultimate ‘man caves’ with condo-like facilities and stunning fitouts. The venues also feature event centers, retail facilities and even swimming pools. The model seems to be financially sound, given the number of new venues planned around the country.
M1 Concourse in Pontiac, Michigan
The greatest car magazines belong in print.
Subscribe to Sick The Magazine.
My question is, why haven’t we seen a drag racing-minded developer trying the same thing? Imagine a quarter-mile of track followed by a half-mile braking area, with both sides lined by garages that come with balconies that look out on to the track. Let’s say that each garage is 25 feet wide, that would mean there is space for 150 units on each side.
Inside those garages, people could store their drag racing vehicles, work on them, and easily have a place to test and race them. It’s crazy that most HOAs in new developments outright ban working on cars in driveways or having unregistered cars on a property — some even have decibel limits! The private drag strip would have no such barriers to doing what we enjoy.
The Motor Enclave in Tampa, FL
The Motor Enclave originally sold units from as low as $180,000 in 2021 (though the real estate market has significantly heated up since). So for our hypothetical drag strip (which we will build in Florida for comparison’s sake), let’s call it $250,000 a unit. That’s a total of $37.5 million to work with to build the place.
The Motor Enclave was built with a budget of anywhere between $100 million and $150 million according to reports. That includes a 1.75 mile circuit, an offroad track and an enormous event center. Could land be found and a drag strip be built (with the corresponding garage units) in the $25-30 million range to allow for enough margin for the developers (heck, I don’t even know what property developers consider a healthy margin).
In this dream drag strip I would also perhaps shuffle some units into different area of the pits to allow for enough space to include 5000-spectator bleachers or terraces that wrap around the start line like Route 66 Raceway in Chicago, Sydney Dragway in Australia or Tierp Arena in Sweden. The tower and an events center (including a restaurant and bar) would sit atop these areas to provide a birds-eye view over the action below. A private bar/garage owners’ retreat could be set up right at the finish line. After all the goal is really for the garage owners and their ‘club fees’ to be funding the venue. They would naturally get free entry to any events.
Would a drag strip surrounded by private garages maybe look something like Sick World?
The big question is, how open would such a venue be to all racers? Most of these private race tracks either hold very few public days or none at all — so they are of limited benefit to the wider motorsports community. Should the hypothetical private drag strip be running weekend bracket races and the occasional heads-up promotion to add to its finances and keep fees lower for garage owners — or should fees be raised on garage owners to give them maximum benefit and track time?
I shook out my pockets but I couldn’t quite rattle together the capital to get this off the ground. Anyone else want to take a shot?
Written by Luke Nieuwhof.
