
DATE: Thursday, July 17, 1997               TAG: 9707170490

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LEWIS KRAUSKOPF, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   79 lines

FOR SOME, PROPOSED TRACK'S NOISE CHECK IS TOO QUIET

Ignitions fired, engines roared, and a few children placed their hands on their ears.

But the six NASCAR vehicles had come to the site of a proposed race track Wednesday night to rev - not race - in a sound check to determine if nearby residents could cope with the noise such a track would generate.

The vehicles rattled and rumbled on and off for about half an hour at the site, near the Hampton Roads Airport in the northwest corner of the city.

A handful of nearby residents who were at home said that they couldn't hear the cars during the test, which began at about 6:45.

But most residents on hand were unimpressed.

``My feeling is this was sort of a sham,'' said Steve Wright, vice president of the David's Mill Civic League. ``We were told there were going to be 20 cars out here. . . . This test was not what was promised.''

About 20 race cars had been scheduled for the test, but storms prevented a stronger turnout, said promoter Joe Baldacci, who is leading the track effort, originally slated for Suffolk.

A hodgepodge of about 30 NASCAR officials, civic-league representatives and concerned residents gathered as dark clouds threatened and lightning flashed overhead.

Except for an orange-red race car - which zoomed back and forth on the airport's service road at 50 mph with driver Dale Lemonds crouched inside - the NASCAR vehicles stayed put.

Baldacci and John C. Holland, whose family owns the property on which the track would be built, were pleased with the test, conducted off Route 58.

``If (the city) wants their tax dollars, here's their chance,'' said Holland, who has agreed in principle with Baldacci on a long-term lease. The Holland family's Ye Old Mill Farm, roughly 166 acres, adjoins the Hampton Roads Airport and Route 58.

Baldacci said that the sound test was the last step before plans will be submitted to the city Planning Department.

The project would probably need approval from the Planning Commission and the City Council for a conditional use permit, said Brent R. Nielson, the city's planning director. Public hearings on the race track likely would be held, Nielson said.

Baldacci said the proposed $4 million, four-tenths-of-a-mile track would have 8,000 seats and 16 VIP boxes.

The NASCAR track's level of competition would be below the Busch and Winston Cup Series, said Baldacci, president of International Sports Inc., which has operated races at Southside Speedway in Richmond and Langley Speedway in Hampton.

Holland said his family is considering plans for a Sheraton hotel, an office complex, restaurants and recreation fields that could go along with the 50-acre track.

Members of neighboring civic leagues say their concerns run deeper than just noise.

``Noise pollution, gas, traffic created, as well as what it would do to the price of our homes,'' said Ron Lewis, president of the Joliff Woods civic league. ``All (the sound check) would do would be to remove one of the objections. It would still not be good enough to say let's have it there.''

Baldacci had wanted the speedway to be in Suffolk, but that plan died earlier this year after a nearly three-year battle.

Baldacci said Suffolk did not come through with promised infrastructure improvements for the city-approved site; Suffolk officials said the plan was doomed after the track's conditional use permit expired in late March. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

GARY C. KNAPP

Dale Lemonds' race car makes too much for Brooke Johnston, 2.

Graphic

SOUND PROOF?

The test:

Six vehicles, instead of the planned 20, revved their engines for

an hour and a half.

What's next:

The project needs approval from the Chesapeake City Council and

public hearings will likely be held.

Map