Scribner Shutting Down!!!

[thepowertowin]

Most of you probably knew this, but it still sucks. Especially since I moved really close.


Owner doesn’t plan to re-open Motorplex

By Don Bowen/Tribune Staff

Greg Sanford wanted more investment from Dodge County for the Nebraska Motorplex, and members of the Fremont and Dodge County Convention and Visitors Bureau Advisory Board wanted more of a commitment from Sanford.

In the end, the days of the Motorplex seem to have ended.

“I’m no longer going to be running it for as long as I own the property,” Sanford, who owns the raceway between Hooper and Scribner with his wife Melissa, said in a telephone interview Wednesday afternoon.

However, Sanford said he isn’t sure what he’ll do with the property, and said he is “not exactly for sure” if he’ll put the track and surrounding property up for sale.

“I doubt it’ll ever be open as a drag strip again, but who knows,” he said.

Word that Sanford is closing the raceway was announced during Wednesday morning’s meeting of the Fremont and Dodge County Convention and Visitors Bureau Advisory Board.



Sanford blamed the raceway’s demise on the county board.

“The supervisors on the county board seem to think that I should be paying money for a road. I don’t agree with that. If they can’t see that the track brings in tourism dollars, then I guess nothing will be done with it. It’s too bad. I feel really bad for the businesses, the racers and the spectators who support the facility.”

With that, Sanford said the improvements that were being mandated by the National Hot Rod Association will not be made. The NHRA had required Sanford to make about $500,000 in improvements, including concrete guard rails and enhanced sound and lighting systems.

“The only way that we were going to make improvements is if that road got paved,” he said. “With the road not being paved, we’re not going to make any improvements.”

Previously, Sanford and Dodge County supervisors had agreed to split the cost of paving a road that goes into the Motorplex from U.S. Highway 275, but after the mandates from the NHRA came down, he asked for additional help from a new 2 percent lodging tax to pay his share of the road, about $150,000.

The tourism board had agreed to give him $75,000 over five years ($15,000 each year), but Sanford wanted more.

“I can’t (make the improvements) and pay for the road, too,” Sanford said during a county board meeting in early November.

Other national organizations have expressed interest in the race track as a venue for drag racing, car shows, swap meets and flea markets, he told county supervisors, adding he’d even like to draw a concert or two.

But many of the other potential events can only happen if the gravel county road that leads to the drag strip from U.S. 275 is paved.

Supervisors and members of the advisory board wanted a stronger commitment from Sanford before they agreed to any more money.

Sanford said in county board meeting that he has the money to do the improvements, but he was waiting on an agreement to get the road paved before he starts on the improvements.

“If you’re saying that this doesn’t happen if you don’t get it all, I can’t go down that road,” supervisor Paul Marsh said in the meeting. “I think Dodge County has worked diligently to help you get this done.

“I’m coming away from here thinking that this can still work,” Marsh added. “I really believe the decision is in your hands to move ahead with this.”

“If this (road) doesn’t get hard surfaced, you’re the one who turned it down,” said Dodge County Board of Supervisors Chairman Dean Lux. “As far as we’re concerned, we’re still willing to do this.”

Recently, Sanford had asked the advisory board to reconsider their offer, but at Wednesday’s advisory board meeting, Bruce Eveland, chairman of a special committee to make a recommendation on Sanford’s request, said the committee voted to keep what the advisory board originally offered.

Eveland said that Sanford asked for $120,000 ($15,000 over eight years), but Eveland said the committee members weren’t satisfied with Sanford’s level of commitment.

Advisory board members were disappointed when Fremont and Dodge County Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Jim Lacy told them during the meeting that he got word that Sanford is closing the track for good.

“I don’t know what else we could have done for the guy,” said advisory board member Ron Powers. “We went overboard for him.”

“We really wanted to see it work,” said Leo Thietje, Dodge County board’s representative to the advisory board. “No one said this is a terrible idea. We wanted to see it work.”

[Satellite]

It sucks...but I can see both sides as to how it went wrong.

[Neversatisfied]

From what I hear there has supposedly been someone that bought some land between Omaha and Lincoln that has already had plans drawn up about building a track. I know there has been rumors about this forever so I am not holding my breathe here, but that would be nice. I guess we will just have to make due with what we have now. And that being a 1/8 mile track that is managed like poo, a 1/4 mile drag strip in Kearney I have never been to so I can't comment, and a 1/4 mile drag strip in KC which is 2.5 hours trip each way.

[thepowertowin]

I've been to Kearney. Not bad, but too long of a drive to really be worthwhile.

[Neversatisfied]

Kearney or KCIR is pretty much all we have for the time being.

[BryansSRT-4]

Kearney's track was resurfaced 2 years ago and is much better than it used to be. There are normally some large crowds and a lot of racers that show up. Cruise Night weekend is normally the biggest event in mid July.