1/4 track in dickinson?
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Dickinson to get race track
By Dustin Monke
The Dickinson Press - 12/28/2007DICKINSON, N.D. – The Dakota Drag Racing Association is near to closing a land deal that would make them the owner of the state’s only quarter-mile drag strip.
After the association’s relationship with Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport ended two weeks ago, leaders of the DDRA stepped up efforts to finalize the long-awaited plans for a drag racing facility outside of Dickinson.
Thanks to rural Richardton farmer Craig Fisher, the DDRA may get their wish.
Attorney’s for both sides are in the process of drawing up papers so Fisher – a long-time drag racing fan – can sell a little more than 100 acres of his farmland to the DDRA, which plans to build a drag racing complex on the property.
“It’s not near as fast as you’d like it to be, but you can only work as fast as the attorneys work,” DDRA President Dennis Streitz said.
The proposed site is five miles east of Richardton along U.S. Highway 10 and two miles from Fisher’s farmstead.
“I’m cautiously excited. It’s a big undertaking,” Fisher said. “They’re going to need help from the business community. They’re going to need a lot of support to make this thing fly.”
Streitz said no timetable for the site has been set yet. In a perfect world, Streitz said the site would be ready for use by 2009. However, he’s leaning more toward 2012.
“I honestly tend to lean more toward five years from this point on,” Streitz said. “But I hope for good things to happen and go from there.”
According to Streitz, the plan is to build North Dakota’s first legitimate quarter-mile drag strip.
The nearest quarter-mile drag strips are the Interstate Dragways, which is about six miles east of Fargo in Sabin, Minn., and the Yellowstone Drag Strip, which is 15 miles north of Billings, Mont. Other facilities are located in Grand Forks, Harvey, Jamestown and Minot, but none are quarter-mile drag strips.
“It makes for a long trip either way,” Streitz said. “That’s been the driving force for this track for a long time. Many people in this area would just like to see something closer they could utilize.”
While no absolute plans are in place for the site, Streitz and DDRA public relations representative Tonya Kottre said the facility will be built to NHRA and IHRA specifications with hopes that it can one day gain sanctioning.
“We’re actually building it with that intention in mind. (However) I don’t know if we’ll be able to do that off the bat,” Kottre said.
Streitz said the first concern is raising enough money. He hopes that the business community will help the DDRA’s cause.
“We’ve got to look into investors and loans to get it going,” Streitz said. “The price of concrete and the price of asphalt goes up and down.”
The DDRA has raced on selected runways at Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport since summer 1999. The event often coincided with Dickinson’s Roughrider Days festivities.
However, the Dickinson Airport Authority board voted during its regular meeting on Dec. 12 to terminate its relationship with the association.
“We’re just moving on,” said Streitz, a farmer who lives outside South Heart. “We wish it would have been handled a little better and knew about the meeting maybe, but that’s the way it goes.”
The Dickinson (N.D.) Press and The Forum are both owned by Forum Communications Co.
-thoughts from everybody? personally i think its in a part of the state that is isolated from the majority of the population. it would make more sense to put it close to the more populous part of the state, somewhere in the middle of minot/grand forks/bismarck/fargo. but im not the one planning to build a drag track so what do i know
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you would be suprised how many of the people out there go to billing for drag racing. Which is just nuts. We really do not "need" another 1/4 strip around here. There was even talks of shutting down IDR in the past. I think putting another track within 2-3 hours of here would hurt IDR's "business". Not only would it get more people from west ND, but also MT and SD
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That is most definately a good idea. The point of putting it in dickinson is to utilize all the rural population from that area to the montana border, and northern SD. Why the hell would you think they should put it in grand forks/minot/fargo?? so the new one AND IDR go bankrupt?? we have just enough in this area to sustain IDR, i cant say its growing, but it is sustained anyhow. Another track within 2 hours of here would be a disaster. Brainerd is the next closest and I go there 2-3 times a year the way it is, and its 2-2.5 hours away. I cant see myself going to dickinson, but in wont be in the area by the time its built anyway, and i know there are ALOT of people in rural ND that would utilize this facility. Im sure Zac will be happy about this!
Gary
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