Greg Amy
12-05-2005, 12:10 PM
http://tinyurl.com/8kmbo
Nothing mind-shattering, but interesting nonetheless...
Never on a Sunday? Race Track Revisits Injunction
12-01-2005 -- By TERRY D. COWGILL
LIME ROCK — For 46 years the normally noisy race track at Lime Rock Park has fallen silent on Sundays, the result of a court injunction restricting the hours the park can hold races and practices. That could change on as many as two Sundays per season if the park gets its way.
The park is proposing to alter four of the terms of the injunction and have Sunday racing during the July 4 weekend and as a possible rain-date for the one stock car race the park holds each season.
"We have tried to be mindful of the community," said Steve Potter, Lime Rock Park’s general manager, in an interview with The Lakeville Journal.
The Proposal
In a Nov. 28 letter to nearby residents of the park, Potter and Lime Rock Park owner Skip Barber enumerated the four changes they would like to make to the racing and practice schedule:
• Move the weekly unmuffled practices from Tuesday afternoons to Thursday afternoons. Unmuffled cars are louder because their exhaust systems do not abate the sound of the engines, which typically allows for enhanced performance.
When the practices are on Tuesdays, racers come to the park and return to their home bases Tuesday evenings. Then they return Thursday evenings for the Friday races that begin the weekends. Thursday practice dates would allow the racers to stay after practice and begin racing the next day.
"The result is a significant decrease in tractor-trailer traffic in the community during race weeks," the letter stated.
• On the July 4 weekend, the park wants to substitute one Sunday afternoon unmuffled race for one full day of holiday racing, which typically occurs on a Monday or Friday of that weekend. The injunction permits the park to hold 10 unmuffled races per year, so this request would not change that number.
• The park holds one stock car race per season, always on a Saturday. But stock cars are the only race cars at Lime Rock that cannot compete in rain. So Lime Rock proposes to use Sunday as a rain-date, rather than rescheduling the race and having racers and fans return on a subsequent weekend.
• Lime Rock proposes to substitute a motorcycle race for one unmuffled auto race per year. The injunction currently permits all motorcycle activities except races. Potter said residents should not fear that motorcycle gangs and the like would be drawn to the event.
"We believe that today’s motorcycle-racing fans are like the fans of our other events — upscale, law-abiding and respectful," Potter wrote in the letter to Lime Rock residents.
Potter said Tuesday the motorcycle race would have no impact on the surrounding community.
"Each of the other three [proposals] has some incrementally positive effect," he said. "We don’t expect everyone is going to support everything we ask for."
Potter said he does not know precisely when the park will approach Litchfield Superior Court with the request to alter the terms of the injunction, which has been changed three times since it was instituted in 1959 (two years after founder Jim Vaill opened the park on his family’s former gravel pit and held his first race there).
"But we’re going to do this expeditiously," Potter added.
Local Reaction
Reaction among residents who live in the neighborhood was mixed. Jim Burns, a nearby business owner and resident, said he has no problem with any of the provisions, with the possible exception of the motorcycle race.
"It might attract different elements," Burns said. "I’m not sure I want to see the ‘Easy Rider’ culture."
Beth Long, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, which sits directly across Route 112 from the track, said her vestry was amenable to most of the proposed changes. When contacted Tuesday, Long had already spoken with Potter about the proposal.
"Moving the practices from Tuesdays to Thursdays makes a lot of sense to me," Long said. "A lot of people will be using a lot less gas."
As for half a Sunday of racing over the July 4 weekend, Long said it was a tradeoff of one Sunday afternoon for an entire Monday.
"I don’t see it as a big deal, seeing as it’s one Sunday," she added. Her sentiments were similar regarding the proposals for stock car and motorcycle races.
The church’s Sunday services are at 8 and 10:30 a.m., so races that begin at 1 p.m. would not impinge on the worship.
"But to have races on Sundays on a regular basis would not be a nice thing," Long said.
Rocky Relationship Improved
The church and Lime Rock Park have at times had a rocky relationship, especially in the early days of the park when the church supported the Lime Rock Protective Association in its pursuit of the injunction against the track. Relations have improved considerably over the years.
"With the arrival of Steve Potter [in 1994], our relationship has improved even more," Long explained. "He is very community-minded."
Others contacted by The Lakeville Journal were not as open to any changes in the injunction. Mary Laidman has lived near the track for 33 of her 81 years. She was unaware of the proposed changes, but when told of them, she said it was "refreshing to have no noise on Sundays" and was wary of any alterations to the racing ban on the Sabbath.
"I guess my fear is you give ’em an inch and they’ll take a mile," Laidman said. "I would rather see no changes because you never know what tomorrow will bring."
Lime Rock Road resident Charlie Harson stands four-square against all the proposed changes except for the motorcycle race. Moving unmuffled practices from Tuesdays to Thursdays, followed by racing on Fridays and Saturdays, would result in "more days in a row of noise." As for a move to Sunday racing for the July 4 weekend or as a rain date for the NASCAR event, Harson was opposed.
"Never on a Sunday is a huge factor for anyone who lives here," said Harson, himself a former racing team pit crew member for seven years. "On any given weekend if I have guests on a Sunday, I know they’re not racing. I would never agree to that."
Impact on Real Estate
It is not clear what effect even limited Sunday racing would have on real estate prices in Lime Rock.
"Any Sunday racing beyond the one weekend would have an additional detrimental element on pricing in Lime Rock," said Lakeville real estate broker Robinson Leech. "That quiet Sunday is a big positive for people who live in Lime Rock or are thinking of buying there."
Broker John Harney Jr. of Elyse Harney Real Estate agreed.
"Everyone who has bought there has done so under the current restrictions. Any changes to alter that after the fact would catch a lot of people by surprise would be bound to have an effect on the market."
Both Harney and Leech wondered aloud what would stop the park from applying to alter the terms of the injunction again to allow for additional Sunday racing. But Potter wrote in his letter that those fears are unfounded:
"We assure you that is not the case, and that the revised injunction would prevent us from increasing our Sunday on-track activities beyond those limits. There is no precedent issue here; the injunction is the law."
Nothing mind-shattering, but interesting nonetheless...
Never on a Sunday? Race Track Revisits Injunction
12-01-2005 -- By TERRY D. COWGILL
LIME ROCK — For 46 years the normally noisy race track at Lime Rock Park has fallen silent on Sundays, the result of a court injunction restricting the hours the park can hold races and practices. That could change on as many as two Sundays per season if the park gets its way.
The park is proposing to alter four of the terms of the injunction and have Sunday racing during the July 4 weekend and as a possible rain-date for the one stock car race the park holds each season.
"We have tried to be mindful of the community," said Steve Potter, Lime Rock Park’s general manager, in an interview with The Lakeville Journal.
The Proposal
In a Nov. 28 letter to nearby residents of the park, Potter and Lime Rock Park owner Skip Barber enumerated the four changes they would like to make to the racing and practice schedule:
• Move the weekly unmuffled practices from Tuesday afternoons to Thursday afternoons. Unmuffled cars are louder because their exhaust systems do not abate the sound of the engines, which typically allows for enhanced performance.
When the practices are on Tuesdays, racers come to the park and return to their home bases Tuesday evenings. Then they return Thursday evenings for the Friday races that begin the weekends. Thursday practice dates would allow the racers to stay after practice and begin racing the next day.
"The result is a significant decrease in tractor-trailer traffic in the community during race weeks," the letter stated.
• On the July 4 weekend, the park wants to substitute one Sunday afternoon unmuffled race for one full day of holiday racing, which typically occurs on a Monday or Friday of that weekend. The injunction permits the park to hold 10 unmuffled races per year, so this request would not change that number.
• The park holds one stock car race per season, always on a Saturday. But stock cars are the only race cars at Lime Rock that cannot compete in rain. So Lime Rock proposes to use Sunday as a rain-date, rather than rescheduling the race and having racers and fans return on a subsequent weekend.
• Lime Rock proposes to substitute a motorcycle race for one unmuffled auto race per year. The injunction currently permits all motorcycle activities except races. Potter said residents should not fear that motorcycle gangs and the like would be drawn to the event.
"We believe that today’s motorcycle-racing fans are like the fans of our other events — upscale, law-abiding and respectful," Potter wrote in the letter to Lime Rock residents.
Potter said Tuesday the motorcycle race would have no impact on the surrounding community.
"Each of the other three [proposals] has some incrementally positive effect," he said. "We don’t expect everyone is going to support everything we ask for."
Potter said he does not know precisely when the park will approach Litchfield Superior Court with the request to alter the terms of the injunction, which has been changed three times since it was instituted in 1959 (two years after founder Jim Vaill opened the park on his family’s former gravel pit and held his first race there).
"But we’re going to do this expeditiously," Potter added.
Local Reaction
Reaction among residents who live in the neighborhood was mixed. Jim Burns, a nearby business owner and resident, said he has no problem with any of the provisions, with the possible exception of the motorcycle race.
"It might attract different elements," Burns said. "I’m not sure I want to see the ‘Easy Rider’ culture."
Beth Long, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, which sits directly across Route 112 from the track, said her vestry was amenable to most of the proposed changes. When contacted Tuesday, Long had already spoken with Potter about the proposal.
"Moving the practices from Tuesdays to Thursdays makes a lot of sense to me," Long said. "A lot of people will be using a lot less gas."
As for half a Sunday of racing over the July 4 weekend, Long said it was a tradeoff of one Sunday afternoon for an entire Monday.
"I don’t see it as a big deal, seeing as it’s one Sunday," she added. Her sentiments were similar regarding the proposals for stock car and motorcycle races.
The church’s Sunday services are at 8 and 10:30 a.m., so races that begin at 1 p.m. would not impinge on the worship.
"But to have races on Sundays on a regular basis would not be a nice thing," Long said.
Rocky Relationship Improved
The church and Lime Rock Park have at times had a rocky relationship, especially in the early days of the park when the church supported the Lime Rock Protective Association in its pursuit of the injunction against the track. Relations have improved considerably over the years.
"With the arrival of Steve Potter [in 1994], our relationship has improved even more," Long explained. "He is very community-minded."
Others contacted by The Lakeville Journal were not as open to any changes in the injunction. Mary Laidman has lived near the track for 33 of her 81 years. She was unaware of the proposed changes, but when told of them, she said it was "refreshing to have no noise on Sundays" and was wary of any alterations to the racing ban on the Sabbath.
"I guess my fear is you give ’em an inch and they’ll take a mile," Laidman said. "I would rather see no changes because you never know what tomorrow will bring."
Lime Rock Road resident Charlie Harson stands four-square against all the proposed changes except for the motorcycle race. Moving unmuffled practices from Tuesdays to Thursdays, followed by racing on Fridays and Saturdays, would result in "more days in a row of noise." As for a move to Sunday racing for the July 4 weekend or as a rain date for the NASCAR event, Harson was opposed.
"Never on a Sunday is a huge factor for anyone who lives here," said Harson, himself a former racing team pit crew member for seven years. "On any given weekend if I have guests on a Sunday, I know they’re not racing. I would never agree to that."
Impact on Real Estate
It is not clear what effect even limited Sunday racing would have on real estate prices in Lime Rock.
"Any Sunday racing beyond the one weekend would have an additional detrimental element on pricing in Lime Rock," said Lakeville real estate broker Robinson Leech. "That quiet Sunday is a big positive for people who live in Lime Rock or are thinking of buying there."
Broker John Harney Jr. of Elyse Harney Real Estate agreed.
"Everyone who has bought there has done so under the current restrictions. Any changes to alter that after the fact would catch a lot of people by surprise would be bound to have an effect on the market."
Both Harney and Leech wondered aloud what would stop the park from applying to alter the terms of the injunction again to allow for additional Sunday racing. But Potter wrote in his letter that those fears are unfounded:
"We assure you that is not the case, and that the revised injunction would prevent us from increasing our Sunday on-track activities beyond those limits. There is no precedent issue here; the injunction is the law."