I really dont know why some ppl think LI is great (Islip: insurance, live)

[fopt65]

Originally Posted by LIMA

Actually have you ever really looked around as you drive thru long island from NC to SC, have you ever took notice of just how many businesses cater only to performance here, motorsports is big still to this day on long island, just see how many different car shows are everyday of the week in so many different areas...

They are there do to poor planning, poor planning in our govt allowing things to be built right on top of the facilities and crafty sneaky realestate agents not telling the buyer, oh by the way roosevelt raceway is 100' away, islip, national, freeport, cedarhurst, commack, deer park, harned, northport, speonk just to name a few pushed out do to govt planners that should have been doing anything else other then planning..

Have you ever looked to see what state has the most insured cars for motorsports...Long Island takes that award also...Long island is part on NY state and has the most cars insured for this purpose

It's funny though you have no idea how many people are being denied and you said See that!! and you then you said

Really, do you have any idea how many states across this country are building and grabbing that cash cow... NJ will be finishing up on yet another blunder we haven't capatilized on, and those same nimby's deny us what we had here 1st, and ruin any chance of combatting the taxes here...That same nimby attitude you just put thru with your agreement on we do not need a track here...

But you also don't find it funny how a historic landmark can be erased, a true real historic landmark with actual reason for being and making it historical, not some dopey house that was built in the year whatever and that is it's claim to fame and we drop the money to restore it and it'll bring nothing back...
Lmao and then listen to some insanely stupid legislator saying we need to preserve these houses for an example of how they were built...yeah why, no one is following that example , why do we need to preserve an example we aren't going to follow..wth kinda sense is that...more of our money wasted on some house

This is what long island is about now, bigotry, can you see it yet or do i need to go on...let me go on...

So when areas come about and are perfect for the use of preserving the history here, and a use for all the local racers here, and a perfect outlet to get kids off the street and do this in a safe area...
When that is ignored and thousands and thousands of people came out to tell the govt, we have a builder in place, we have the money, this is what we want to use that land for and those people are ignored, those thousands of people are ignored..what do you call that..

When the land was given to riverhead and in it clearly written in that a good use would be for motorsports to continue long islands history and THOUSANDS of people call and write in to riverhead town looking to make a destination point and need a perfect part of that to work for them, and as it was written in the contract was to be used to benefit all of suffolk county...why again were THOUSANDS ignored and instead they chose a company with terrorist ties and no money to buy the land or the have the money to start the project....

It was a prejudice, bigoted vote against motorsports...

Earlier cardinale tried as best he could to keep the motorsports community quiet as did levy with lies and after cardinale got his way , he then came out and sternly said..."they'll be no motorsports in riverhead town"... the same sentiment the bigots of calverton civic carried around...Drug dealing bigots the cal 5... good lord this is what people allow themselves to be following a convicted known drug dealer..awesome job, this is the problem with long island
So when i say that long island is breeding bigots, i have seen it from one end to another...do a search you'll find a site with tons of truth and fact of what goes on on this island, long island is nothing like it was, and unfortunately i have to wait another probably 10 years to get the hell off it.

Yes i do fight the corrupt powers that be, do a search on the yaphank issue, take a deeper look into what and how many people came out and wanted motorsports..at 3 legal town meetings (anything but legal)...

Take a ride to captree on a nice sunday morning....see the following, the demand that is still here, go thru the phone book and some other listings look up all the motorsports businesses....no demand....motorsports on long island is the new hip thing to be racist against with no repercussions, it is what put long island on the map, what drew everyone here to see, and now it gets a cold shoulder...until some govt, or some reach out help org that needs donations or fire department needs money, then they throw car shows....and count on the motorsports community to help them along, not golfers, not the enviros, not anyone else....

Prejudice and bigotry, that's what i see, oh and apathy also, lots of that too

Riverhead Raceway will be the next to go. The problem is although many on this forum bemoan how undesirable LI is, the fact is that the great demand to live on LI has caused land prices to rise exponentially over the years. So now if you are an owner of a race track that due to weather in the northern half of the US allowing at most 6 months of racing ( and that's probably pushing it) trying to pay your 12 months of bills, it is easier to just sell off your property, become a instant millionaire, and retire rich.

This is basically economics, and it is happening everywhere land has become more valuable than the profit that can be generated by the sport.

My advice is if you love motor sports so much, head south. Hopefully NC won't be completely paved over within the next 5 years and you'll have some smaller tracks left, but with how fast they are growing, I wouldn't be so sure.

[ClarkStreetKid]

One thing the South has that LI doesn't, land.

Here's a local track that races anything from stockers to go-karts. It's only .333 of a mile long.
http://www.vanet.com/sss092107/index.html

But of course we also have our NASCAR short track.
Home - Richmond International Raceway

If you like racing, head South.

[LIMA]

simple economics...

I love these answers... move south...

You have no idea what you are talking about as for simple economics of a race facility...

Do a little research, find the long island motorsports association, go to the there site see under facts of motorsports...and look at the economic impacts...and imagine how it can directly effect your taxes..
I love all the people out here, just move, wth kinda answer is that, how about you educate yourself to the area you moved to and embrace all of it's history and preserve all of it;s history and not just the parts you like, there is plenty of land out here , there is to many prejudice people..

[GCGuy]

Originally Posted by LIMA

simple economics...

I love these answers... move south...

You have no idea what you are talking about as for simple economics of a race facility...

Do a little research, find the long island motorsports association, go to the there site see under facts of motorsports...and look at the economic impacts...and imagine how it can directly effect your taxes..
I love all the people out here, just move, wth kinda answer is that, how about you educate yourself to the area you moved to and embrace all of it's history and preserve all of it;s history and not just the parts you like, there is plenty of land out here , there is to many prejudice people..

Ok, how much taxes would a racetrack pay?

[GCGuy]

Originally Posted by Dedalus

It echoed, a bit more civilly, lots of things I've ranted about. NIMBY's...perhaps they should pay a NIMBY tax?

Their "community protests" represent an exertion of power over property that they do not own, support, or pay for, and if they want their way, they should have to pony up some $$$.

That would be great.

My favorite has to be the Mall at Oyster Bay. What is it, 12 years that Taubman owned the land and people are still trying to tell the property owner what to build there. It's insane. Next up, the further dumbing down of the otherwise excellent Hub/Lighthouse proposal. People make me laugh...lower my taxes, don't build anything, cry, whine, cry.

BTW, hope the BX is working out for you...

[ClarkStreetKid]

Originally Posted by LIMA

I love all the people out here, just move, wth kinda answer is that, how about you educate yourself to the area you moved to and embrace all of it's history and preserve all of it;s history and not just the parts you like, there is plenty of land out here , there is to many prejudice people..

If we were preserving history those race tracks would never have been built and LI would still be farms and fishing villages. You want to preserve something that's important to you, but others may not care and have better use for the land. It was another money pit in part because of it's location.

Historical Note

Public roads in the Bridgehampton area were used for races in the periods 1915-1921 and 1949-1953. After the tragic accident at Watkins Glen in 1952 Watkins Glen Grand Prix, racing on state maintained roadways in New York came to an end. The Town of Bridgehampton began searching for a new site, and located a parcel near Sag Harbor.

The first race on Bridgehampton Race Circuit occured on September 28th, 1957, the same year as the first race at Lime Rock and one year after the third Watkins Glen circuit came into use. The facility has always been somewhat primitive, and development has been limited by the hostility of locals who bought nearby housing on the assurance that the race track "would be going out of business soon anyway".

In 1981, the track was near bankruptcy. A group named the "Friends of Bridgehampton" was formed. The track did not operate from 1984 to 1986, reopening after a new owner took over in 1987. The owner opted to not spend on development as much as was hoped, in part due to continuing hostility from the surrounding community. Operating hours and permitted sound levels were severely limited, which combined with the distance to the circuit for most racers, caused continuing low turnouts. The last race at Bridgehampton was 1997, although there was sporadic use for driving schools for a short time thereafter. The facility is now mostly golf courses, although some of the original pavement still appears in aerial photography (the latter half of the main straight and the first several corners, at least.)

[GCGuy]

Originally Posted by ClarkStreetKid

If we were preserving history those race tracks would never have been built and LI would still be farms and fishing villages. You want to preserve something that's important to you, but others may not care and have better use for the land. It was another money pit in part because of it's location.

Precisely. LI didn't start with Levittown...it's was a rich man's playground, it was farms, potato fields, plains, etc. People insert their viewpoints into how they think history should be presented.

Racing, while it may have been big, isn't what put LI on the map. The Vanderbilts on the North Shore, the 1st true suburb, people excaping the crowded NYC, the beaches, defense, etc. This is what put LI on the map. Racing may have been a part of it, but it's certainly not the main event.

[LIMA]

Actually if you go and look you'll see it was the Vanderbilts in 1900 that had racing here, long before any houses and levitown, it was the then race tracks that now make travel for the island what it is, most of the northern state was a race track and donated over to the island after roosevelt raceway constructed, along with motor parkway and 25a which was the different directions of that particualr course, thank the vanderbilts for wanting race on paved roads and then donating them.
The Vanderbuilts and racing is what brought everything else and got it all moving along, that was Mr. Vanderbilts passion...auto racing, it is where the Vanderbilt cup came from. His passion from 1900 till they moved everything off the roads originally built for racing into purpose built facilities in the 20's out here that they donated to then developing towns infurstructure...Defense and everything else didn't come till much later... It was the racing inspired tech for speed that attracted everything else and made the birth of other big corp stuff, Mr Lewis Cheverolet got into auto making from a race he ran at the worlds very 1st stock car race right here on long island, along with many others 1st's it was all here.


Most 1 venue race facilities can produce 100 to 300 million in a 3 day weekend.

The better the facility, the more venue, the more money they can produce, and with what riverhead town just blew for all of us as per revenue it was a huge mistake...

Here lets look at upstates track and what there 3 day event does... This was from 1998's event, but Watkins Glen had a total economic impact of more than $176 million in three surrounding counties, this was from an independent study.
This is located in Watkins Glen, N.Y., it also generates more than 2,000 jobs and $11 million annually in state and local taxes, according to the independent study.

Funny coincidence how since we lost all our history taxes went from what some of us paid in those same areas from a measely 1200 to 2000 to 110% increase of that in 20 years of that now without the racing history we had, no very big significant jumps from the loss of defense companies...but every good facility we lost had impact...

[fopt65]

Originally Posted by LIMA

Actually if you go and look you'll see it was the Vanderbilts in 1900 that had racing here, long before any houses and levitown, it was the then race tracks that now make travel for the island what it is, most of the northern state was a race track and donated over to the island after roosevelt raceway constructed, along with motor parkway and 25a which was the different directions of that particualr course, thank the vanderbilts for wanting race on paved roads and then donating them.
The Vanderbuilts and racing is what brought everything else and got it all moving along, that was Mr. Vanderbilts passion...auto racing, it is where the Vanderbilt cup came from. His passion from 1900 till they moved everything off the roads originally built for racing into purpose built facilities in the 20's out here that they donated to then developing towns infurstructure...Defense and everything else didn't come till much later... It was the racing inspired tech for speed that attracted everything else and made the birth of other big corp stuff, Mr Lewis Cheverolet got into auto making from a race he ran at the worlds very 1st stock car race right here on long island, along with many others 1st's it was all here.


Most 1 venue race facilities can produce 100 to 300 million in a 3 day weekend.

The better the facility, the more venue, the more money they can produce, and with what riverhead town just blew for all of us as per revenue it was a huge mistake...

Here lets look at upstates track and what there 3 day event does... This was from 1998's event, but Watkins Glen had a total economic impact of more than $176 million in three surrounding counties, this was from an independent study.
This is located in Watkins Glen, N.Y., it also generates more than 2,000 jobs and $11 million annually in state and local taxes, according to the independent study.

Funny coincidence how since we lost all our history taxes went from what some of us paid in those same areas from a measely 1200 to 2000 to 110% increase of that in 20 years of that now without the racing history we had, no very big significant jumps from the loss of defense companies...but every good facility we lost had impact...

But, where do we have the space to put a Talladega type speedway on LI? At 150K for a 40 X100 plot, what would it cost the owners? The east end is becoming more yuppified. They aren't interested in Nascar or drag racing. They go to the vineyards or polo matches. Changing socioeconmic standards influence areas.

You talk about prejudice, what about the prejudice of the professional race car owners who would always be happy to drag race at Englishtown NJ, but wouldn't go to the old drag strip in the Hamptons back in the 70's? LI couldn't get the big names to come out there. NJ couldn't keep the Indy car racing at the Meadowlands parking lot either. Nascar just gave up on building a track in Staten Island. Their TV ratings are down over the past 2 years, and they are seeing a contraction in revenue.

I remember going to Freeport, Islip and the drags out east as a kid and enjoying them. Unfortunately the owners sold out for their pile of cash.

[ClarkStreetKid]

I remember going to the Bridge sometime in the 60's (I think) to see my friend's dad race his Bug Eyed Sprite. We even built the Bridge for our HO scale slot cars.


Whatever Long Island you're trying to keep is long gone, the same as my Island is gone and the same as the current Island will be gone before you know it. One thing about the Island is that it has never stayed still, though I think the changes may be coming faster the last couple of decades.

Enjoy the memories because the good old days aren't coming back.