Local tracks are in danger of shutting down; SEMA is working to help them.

SEMA

Across the country, local racetracks—many of which have been community staples for generations—are increasingly under threat. Motorsports is thriving, so it’s not from lack of interest. Unfortunately, legal pressure in the form of “nuisance” lawsuits is mounting as development grows around the tracks. The situation is raising a broader question about what happens when a long-standing American pastime like grassroots auto racing faces external challenges.

At its core, the most important element of local auto racing is the people behind it, like track owners, families, and local communities. Together with the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) organization, they’re working to preserve something that’s been part of our country’s culture for decades.

SEMA is leading a “Right to Race” initiative aimed at protecting both the tracks and the people and is actively participating in the conversations that have led to new laws in North Carolina, Iowa, and Kansas to help, and the organization is working on repeating the process in several other states.

"If the motorsports community is the soul of American car culture, our racetracks are the backbone,” says SEMA Senior Vice President of Public and Government Affairs Karen Bailey-Chapman. “The industry that has grown up around motorsports has a $69 billion annual economic impact, but you can’t put a price tag on the immense role that racing has in fostering the next generation of automotive enthusiasts. America’s racetracks are where we learn to compete, where innovation is a necessity, and where a STEM education is put into practice, on the fly."

Most of the 1,500-plus racetracks in America are family-owned, small business enterprises. They operate long hours with limited resources solely because they love motorsports and the people who are drawn to racing, Bailey-Chapman says. These local tracks don’t have the means to withstand a barrage of lawsuits from community members and opportunistic lawyers. Nuisance lawsuits can cripple a racetrack, and just one complaint can put them at risk of shutting down.

Bailey-Chapman says the right-to-race legislative initiative is designed to take that pressure point away. It’s common-sense, really: if a legally operating racetrack was there first, a new neighbor cannot seek to have it shut down for noise or crowds that comes from racing events. If one moves next to an existing airport, does one have the right to complain about the sound of aircraft? The law tends to side with the airport on that.

Just this year, SEMA has secured protections in Kansas, which builds on last year’s successful efforts in North Carolina and Iowa.

“Wisconsin’s legislature passed right-to-race legislation with strong bipartisan support, only for the governor to side with his lawyer buddies and veto the bill,” Bailey-Chapman says. "Our right-to-race bills are still active in South Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, and Minnesota. The feedback from the grassroots racing community has been nothing short of astounding: track owners, enthusiasts, drivers, pit crews – they’ve all urged SEMA to continue the fight, to bring these protections to their states.

And that’s what we’re going to do: keep chipping away so that tracks in every state can continue to serve as community anchors and the next generation can learn why motorsports is so ingrained in our national heritage."

After all, the greatest NASCAR and F1 drivers don’t spring from childhood as champion racers. They start somewhere: local tracks.

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