Seeking no closure....

Well as season starts go, this should be the start of great new season. The tractors are celebrating their Diamond jubilee, other tracks have milestones, and Scotland could be having it's last season prior to independence!

However, the long term future of the sport needs to be addressed as over the past couple of weeks, 4 hammer blows have hit the sport hard, with regard to stadia. Coventry and Wimbledon are unlikely to be playing any part of the 75th anniversary celebrations of stock car racing! The ambitious project to return Bradford to the fold looks dead also, and Mildenhall's fight against two nimbyist neighbours could potentially bankrupt them.

So let's take each track case by case.

Coventry

The Brandon drive thru Macdonalds proved extremely popular

As mentioned on the blog here, I have been to Coventry. I found the track to be dated and in serious need of refurbishment. It is a mecca to Formula 1 fans, who sadly, whilst looking at the old girl in rose tinged spectacles of days when Messrs Falding and Lund traded blows every first Saturday. No sports stadium is ever safe from redevelopment, and from history, we have found that if the sport is not pulling enough people in, or it is not paying its way, then often the owners can pull the rug from underneath them. To the untrained eye, Coventry looked prime real estate. Surrounded by housing developments, it has gone the way of every ageing sports ground in the country.

So to me, it came as not as a surprise when the Sandhu group announced that the track had been sold, and that stock car and speedway had 3 seasons left, with the promise of a new track. Whether this comes to fruition is another thing, as most tracks have always been promised as a result of these have not! Although there is a rather large stadium in Coventry which is currently empty. Ricoh Raceway anyone??

Wimbledon

Uncle Bulgaria leads, from Tobermory and Madame Charlet

The capital's only remaining racetrack for both stock car and dogs, is under the threat of bulldozer. Not this time from Tesco, but from another sporting redevelopment.
Again, prime real estate in an affulent area of our capital. Plough Lane was of course, spiritual home of Vinny Jones and John Fashnu's Crazy Gang, when Wimbledon were home at Plough Lane. Of course the football club moved to The Valley and Selhurst Park, and their Plough Lane stadium was surplus to requirements and that incarnation of Wimbledon ended up in Milton Keynes. The creation of AFC Wimbledon and their meteoric rise up the leagues has also meant their current ground at Kingstonian, which is rented from the non-league side, is no longer fit for purpose. So with the wish to return to the Borough of Merton, they saw their former neighbours as a potential area to redvelop. But this is not the only show in town. With the once great sport of greyhound racing, and the HQ and premier venue  (as host of the Greyhound Grand National) of their sport, they want to make it a proper racing venue. With Boris's Low Emission rules killing transporters and stuff stone dead. However all could not be lost. If the developers choose the greyhound route, a promised return for speedway could be happening, however, limited pit space will be as a result of it, as some of the
complex has been earmarked for housing.

Bradford

Perhaps Bradford's development team could borrow Nail 'em's Nail gun....

When I heard about Steve Rees' plans to return to Odsal Stadium, I did think it was cloud cuckoo land. But with the constant threats to the Bradford Bulls rugby league team, which has been in administration twice in 18 months, Odsal, one of the historic venues, dubbed the "Wembley of the North" held the highest attendance ever. The Rugby Football League bought the ground for this very reason, the history and heritage of their sport is linked with this. However with just rugby, the site is insuffiencent. When the stock cars and speedway moved out at the end of 1996, the landlord set about chasing the "Superdome" project, which was planned as one of the potential replacements for Wembley, touted at the time. It failed and left Odsal a ghost of its former self, being solely reliant on Ray French's mug of cocoa drinking up n under merchants!

Since then, the clamour, especially from the speedway folks has been for a return, which has fallen on deaf eards. Now when the Odsal coffers are bare comebacks became an idea. However, with the Sky money which the Super League have gotten for the past 20 years, Odsal has seen development which has made the track hard to imagine. Startrax have quoted a figure of 400k to reinstate the track for former glories. However, recent pictures of the track showed that one of the corners has been built on
Now again to the F1 fan images of the infamous "beams" - the railway sleepers which used to protect the Bradford Northern turf, the Bulls are subject to yet another takeover (administrator one B. Guilfoyle who's track record isn't that great, ask any Argyle fan). A worse case scenario might happen is that Odsal may be sold for redevelopment and the rugby side goes and plays at Valley Parade, as they did during 1997 -2001. Stock spent improvements and left homeless once again. If it can be achieved then good luck to them, but I cannot see this as a long term solution.

Mildenhall

The ongoing saga of Shields/Lawrence vs Mildenhall Stadium has taken another ridiculous legal twist. For those not in the know. Mr Lawrence and Ms Shields bought a property in Mildenhall in 2006. In a move which many seem to do, a noise abatement complaint was lodged with council with regard to the speedway and stock car racing that took place at the track. Bear in mind, that the US Air Base, complete with refueling B52's are a usual soundtrack to a days work, so claims of a peaceful idyll. In a game of supreme legal tennis, the Supreme Court has overturned the decision of the High Court which in turn overturned the Court of Appeal which overturned the County Court decision, leaving the victor the spoils and the loser, in this case the Mildenhall Speedway and RDC Promotions an extremely large legal bill, for a house which has been uninhabited since 2010, when a fire was started in suspicious circumstances. They had claimed intimidation. To the lay person, it stinks of classic nimbyism and the beef should not be with the stadium. It should be with the estate agent, who during the bout of verbal cyrptospirodium induced diarrhea, failed to mention that there is a nearby stockcar stadium might make a bit of noise once a month. There is a similar situation brewing at St Day, noise abatement notices have been served, meaning that restrictions on engine noise can take place only after 11:25am. Other tracks have closing curfews. Compromises have to be made to sort out these nimbyist attiudes - and they cannot and will not back down. All in all a £2 million pound legal bill is on the cards, which, even if the World Semis sell out and has 100,000 people there, still wouldn't dent it. And the lovely nimbys wouldn't be happy then! So getting rowdy with them simply won't work. Intimidation has bred determination with them and well, it seems some more legal wranglings may well continue. European Court of Human Rights anyone??

Others

Others constantly under the threat of an invasion of Miley Cyrus and her wrecking ball, is the council owned Birmingham Wheels, under threat from major brownfield expansion, Cowdenbeath and the football club and their developers option to turn it in, albeit that the recession and property crash prevented any redevelopment. We have recently seen St Columb go in the past five years, and former stadiums like Swindon's Abbey Stadium are also under threat. One wonders how the 2nd incarnation of Belle Vue, when a 3rd speedway incarnation is due on the cards.....

So a solution? Look from lessons that football has learnt. New stadia tend to be built out of town, with plenty of other things added. Pride Park in Derby was one of the first of the new build stadiums. Alongside the football ground, there are plenty of retail developments - the way to keep the public on your side. More people will create about the closure of a Nandos.....

Also, if good money is thrown after bad, why not for long term security invest in owning a track lock stock and barrel, or building one from scratch. Doesn't have to be to massive or an enurmodome with laser shows and big screens, but Lochgelly is proof that it can be done....

Secure your tracks as best you can. There are few promoters who own a track outright, the land often owned by the more senior sports that are played their, or by external landlords who can pull the plug at any time.

Cooperate with existing promtions not in the fold and move the sport forward for the greater good.

Tidy venues up, instigate long term ideas for securing our sport for long to come.

An understanding and greater cooperation between promotions, both in and out of Brisca and a battleplan going forward.

The future could be bright, just that we all need to address this before it is too late for our sport.

Come on, lets go racing, before someone stops us!