A year ago we were asked to serve on Spokane County’s Technical Advisory Committee on Spokane Raceway Park (SRP), a part of the county commissioners’ due diligence in evaluating the risk and benefit to the county of acquiring the property. After reviewing the operations of other publicly owned motorsports facilities, we believe that the purchase of the SRP facility by Spokane County is the best possible outcome for the community.

This facility generates tourism income for this region, provides a safe place for young people to drag race and keeps our streets safe as a result. Local law enforcement agencies benefit from the use of the facility for training purposes, and part of the property can be developed into a much needed regional sports park for the West Plains area.

Spokane Raceway Park is a multipurpose motorsports facility which has been in operation since 1974 and includes a 2.6-mile asphalt paved road race course, a one-quarter mile drag strip and a one-half mile paved oval racetrack. The only comparable facilities in the Pacific Northwest are more than 300 miles away at Pacific Raceways in Kent, Wash., and at Portland International Raceway in Portland. During the summer, participants in amateur sports car racing and their families, friends and support crews travel hundreds of miles to participate in motor racing events at these facilities and make substantial contributions to the economies of the communities where these facilities are located. In addition, major spectator events held at these facilities provide an economic boost to these communities, not unlike events held in the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena or Spokane Convention Center.

Spokane County employed a professional motorsports consultant, Baskerville Motorsports Design, to analyze the potential of SRP for development as a major spectator facility. The consultants concluded that the SRP facility can be operated on a profitable basis with racetrack revenues covering annual maintenance and operation expenses. More importantly, the report indicates that SRP has the potential to be a magnet for participants and spectators from all over the Pacific Northwest and thereby serve as an economic engine for Spokane County. This tourism will generate income for local businesses and tax revenues for local governments, and it will encourage private development in the area adjacent to the raceway park, thereby increasing the property tax base for Spokane County.

Public ownership of the SRP facility provides the best opportunity to realize the benefits that this facility has to offer. It can be compared to a county-owned golf course, where income from the facility is reinvested in the facility, maintaining and improving it. Private ownership faces the burden of providing a financial return to the owners and investors that results in profits from operations being returned to the owner/investors rather than reinvested in the facility, and eventually, when property values rise, the facility is lost to redevelopment. You don’t need to look any further than the operations of SRP over the past 30 years for an example of the effects of private ownership of a motorsports facility.

Spokane County, in partnership with other public and private groups, plans to develop a regional sports and recreation complex on the approximately 100 acres of the northwest quadrant of the SRP property. Primary activities on the athletic fields would include soccer, football, baseball, rugby, ultimate Frisbee and lacrosse. Design elements of the sports complex should include field lighting, restrooms, concession buildings, maintenance and storage buildings, adequate parking to host large events, as well as green space for outdoor recreational activities.

In acquiring Spokane Raceway Park at the auction the Spokane County bid was for $12,500 per acre for the 313 acres, a bid price significantly below what had been anticipated. Spokane County’s professional motorsports consultant has estimated that the existing racetrack fixtures could not be replaced today for less than $50 million. In our opinion, Spokane County got a bargain on SRP, and the acquisition of this property as a public park and recreation area is an outstanding example of political courage and vision. When the county takes possession of Spokane Raceway Park as a public park and recreation area, it will belong to all of the citizens of Spokane County to use and enjoy and will serve as an economic engine for Spokane County for years to come.