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Racetrack ownership building excitement
Published September 20, 2002
OYSTER CREEK — It’s off to the races for a group that hopes to bring a major speedway to the county.
Official with Star State Investments, a Texas-based consortium, which has already purchased 2,700 acres of farmland near Rosharon, said construction of the speedway could begin as early as March and races could begin as early as the fall of 2005.
“There is a lot of excitement in racing,” said Steve Martin, Star State’s senior vice president. “We hope to bring that here.”
Star State Chairman Tom Floyd said the entire complex will be named Brazoria Meadows and the race track, unless a company buys naming rights, will be called Houston Super Speedway.
“I wanted to acknowledge where the project was in Brazoria County where they have been so helpful,” Floyd said.
Martin and Floyd talked to city officials from across the county about the group’s plans for the speedway during the Brazoria County Cities Association meeting Wednesday in Oyster Creek.
Floyd said the speedway, which will be built primarily for stock car and open wheel car races and have a 75,000-seat grandstand, will cost between $85 million and $90 million. The group has retained the MP Group of Birmingham, Ala., to assist in design and construction.
Floyd said he hopes to have four or five major racing events at the speedway a year, and employ as many as 2,000 people on race days.
Martin said the group is looking to sign three major racing bodies for events at the speedway, such as NASCAR and the Indy Racing League.
“You petition your track to include their race,” Martin said. “In racing, it is all about proving you have a good track.”
The group is in the process of a drainage and traffic analysis. Floyd said several retention ponds will have to be built on the property for drainage purposes, but at this point he did not know how many.
“We have a big watershed in there,” Floyd said.
Floyd said a traffic study has been ordered and the group has a meeting with state transportation officials.
The proposed speedway site is on land that fronts the east side of Highway 288, FM 1462 on the north and extends a mile south of CR 51.
Floyd said there are preliminary plans to build an entertainment complex of some sort and there have been discussions of developing other parts of the property for businesses and a residential golf course community, but no concrete plans have been made.
Floyd said the race track would have a great economic impact to the county because other businesses could be created to handle additional people coming to the county for a race.
“We are talking about a lot of tourism, a lot of hotels,” Floyd said.
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