Since the 1950s, when drivers in souped-up cars first roared down a lonely stretch of asphalt now known as Foster Road, drag racing has enjoyed a rich history in Santa Maria.
Now, a coalition of racing enthusiasts—Santa Maria Motorsports Park, Inc.—is banking on keeping the tradition alive with ambitious plans for a massive racing complex to be built within city limits.
Santa Maria Motorsports president Steve Foster said the multi-million-dollar project could bring the local racing community together under one tent and make a “huge impact” on the local economy.
“Right now, they try to use the Fairgrounds for monster trucks, the Elks’ arena for tractor pulls, and that kind of thing,” he said. “If you could put it all in one location, now you can plan for large major events.”
Foster pointed to races such as the March Meets in Bakersfield and events at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, which can bring in up to $15 million for larger races.
“One thing it does bring to the community is a tax dollar,” he said. “If you have a facility that puts on a major event per month, it’s in the millions that it can bring to the community just in tax base, overall dollars to the community, and jobs.”
Foster and his group unveiled plans for the park during a recent auto show held in Old Orcutt. The project includes a full quarter-mile drag strip, a 2 1/2-mile road course, and a three-quarter-mile paved oval track, all incorporated into a single complex spanning hundreds of acres.
The park would be built in several phases, beginning with a go-kart track, which would be the new home for the Santa Maria Karting Association. The racing group is no longer welcome on Santa Maria Public Airport property due to increased Department of Homeland Security regulations.
“They’re letting them stay there while they’re looking for a place, but time is running out for them,” Foster said. “This facility would bring them with us.”
As soon as the go-kart track is up and running, Foster said, the first phase of construction would continue with an eighth-mile dragstrip and a small motocross course. The project’s second phase would include a road course, a circle course, and an arena track—used for sand drags, monster trucks, stadium cross, flat track racing, and even concerts.
“You could have a different type of motor sport going on every week or every month there,” Foster said. “Just by going around and pushing the dirt into a different configuration, you race a different type of vehicle.”
The park would also house a vocational training facility, giving teenagers from all over the Central Coast an opportunity to work on race cars and pursue careers in the auto service industry right out of high school.
“That’s where kids get in the most trouble. They have nothing to do, nowhere to go,” Foster said. “[The training school] just opens the door for the kids because it gives them a much larger window than what they have right now.”
Legendary local professional drag racer Art Foster is a Motorsports board member and currently works with students in Santa Maria High School’s drag racing club, which is open to other local high schools. With the park, the students would have an opportunity to get jobs at the track and to attend the new school after graduation.
“It’s an avenue for our young people,” Foster said. “It can be a test facility and a vocational facility, and we can teach young people how to drive defensively and offensively.”
Foster said the park would also “turn the city around” economically.
“We’d be able to get at least two major events a year,” he said. “You’re talking roughly 6 to 8 million dollars that could come to the community from these events. These cars will come from the East Coast to race a national event on the West Coast. That’s nothing but money.”
For now, the project is still in the idea stage, and plans won’t be drawn up until a site is chosen. The group is looking at four parcels, ranging from 200 to 500 acres, in the area. Some plots are outside the city limits, and could eventually be annexed.
According to Motorsports’ Steve Foster, the full project, including the road courses and all the combined tracks, could take up to five years to build. The first tracks could be done as soon as 18 months from now, he said, depending on how soon agreements with property owners could be hammered out.
“If somebody stepped up tomorrow with a property and things fit together, it could go very quickly,” he said. “If the people with the property don’t want to sell, it could take years of negotiating.”
Community Development Director Larry Appel said the city’s Planning Department had received “preliminary information” on the project in a recent meeting with Foster, but nothing formal has been submitted.
Appel said the city doesn’t have a dragstrip in its zoning ordinance and suggested Foster turn in a pre-application once the property is picked out, so the city can evaluate the project and decide what permits his group would need.
“The entire concept is very interesting,” Appel said. “Whether we can try to make that work here in the city or not is going to be up to the City Council, if they think there’s a benefit.
“We get a lot of this kind of stuff,” he added. “So it’s just trying to help people take their dreams and turn them into reality that usually starts the process.”
Steve Foster said the multi-million-dollar park would be privately funded and is intended to enhance, not compete with, the existing Santa Maria Speedway. His group, which includes driver Stan Johnson and the Central Coast Motorsports Association, will continue to meet with property owners on locations for the park.
“It’s kind of a field of dreams,” Foster said. “You’ve got to build it all to supply the community with what it needs. Just one aspect of it doesn’t help the community a lot, but the overall project helps it a bunch.”
Staff Writer Jeremy Thomas wrote this on Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Send comments to jthomas@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 9-16, 2010.