This Racetrack Lawsuit is Insane
Vložit
- čas přidán 14. 05. 2024
- Looking to support your friends vs. big corporations when building your car? Then head over to MartiniWorks :) - martiniworks.com/
I found the person suing Laguna Seca and the history of this person is ABSOLUTELY wild. Race tracks around the world seem to be losing the fight to people who didn't know they lived next to a race track but this one, this one truly takes the cake. What're your thoughts on it all and don't forget to subscribe
I could seriously go for some subs & follow right about meow, so see the links below:
AlexMartini Official site - bit.ly/3vZQFyC
Subscribe - bit.ly/3kXgWr0
Discord - / discord
Instagram - bit.ly/3KXRGeH
TikTok ► bit.ly/3P6Uv0d
Facebook ► bit.ly/3M26Ssq
Official Marketing Agency ► www.metamartini.net/
I will be posting on Monday & Thursday's at 12PM CST. The streaming channel will be going live on WEDNESDAY's at 5PM CST!
Timestamps
0:00 Laguna Seca Was Sued
1:20 Race Tracks Are Losing
2:20 How is Cleetus Mcfarland different than Laguna Seca?
3:05 Why Do Racetracks Lose to Developments
3:45 My Initial Conspiracy Theory
5:10 Who's Suing Laguna Seca?
6:40 My Disclaimer On This Information
7:10 Why This Makes No Sense
The titles that lost
Laguna Seca VS. 1 Angry Neighbor -
A Racetrack Vs. 1 Angry Neighbor -
I found who's suing Laguna Seca -
All music licensed through Epidemic Sound.
All video owned or licensed by Alex Martinez - Zábava
Is it just me or are the people who complain about noise that live near race tracks about as bearable as telemarketers? I would give ANYTHING to interview these people to just understand why...Anyone wanna hold the camera?
Subscribe if you haven't ✅ - bit.ly/3kXgWr0
Looking for car parts? 🙆Mod your car at MartiniWorks here - bit.ly/3mJVoCD
An interview with someone like Mike Weaver would be very interesting! I wonder if those who share in his ideology fully understand the implications to shutting down race tracks like Laguna Seca. You can count me in as the cameraman lol
Honestly, just go ask them
I can tell you this, confronting deceitful people with facts regarding a situation they know nothing about AS WELL as tell them hard truths about their own wretched character often leaves them trembling.
They're all running scared. This is them barking. 2nd cameraman here.
In our area there a quite a few people with a LOT of money and nothing but time, and somehow these people are just absolutely miserable. I've lived here since 91, and these people have been fighting our track, attempts at building local skateparks, music venues, anything that attracts younger people, because obviously younger people = noise and crime. That's what it boils down to here, a lot of very rich, very old people still stuck in their biases from the 1940s.
@@kencoutain8715 Hey I wanna help, let me write some questions down.
Start making anybody who buys a house near a track sign a contract saying they can’t complain and also stop allowing new neighborhoods to be built near tracks , it’s absolutely insane how the tracks are blamed
And if they complain we warm up their pillows before they go to bed every night..
100% Do-able. the HOAs for all these developments could put that into the rules of the neighborhood. These neighborhoods should be catering to the auto enthusiasts
it should be noted, though Alex mentions as much that these housing developments are far younger than the track itself, which used to be surrounded by just empty land and the few far off farms for decades before any homes were built. They are nice homes but not as expensive as living in Monterey proper, largely due to being next to a RACETRACK. People buy here because they want the proximity to Monterey but don't want to or cannot pay to live in the real heart of the region. And you make up for that price difference by understanding that some racecars will be your neighbors. And those cars were there first. And they've been polite by putting noise restrictions in place already. It's ridiculous. Imagine buying a home by an airport and being upset that planes fly overhead....
I would buy a home near a race track just to be close enough for the events. As a car enthusiast I would be fine with the noise especially as there are ways to dampen and sound proof homes from outside noise.
i 100% agree with this. Or having some law pass were relators need to disclose youre living next to a track, and signing some documentation during escrow!
The banning of racetracks is a big reason street racing is a bad as it is now
And will get worse than it gets better... And someone will leave this earth for that and will still push said take it to the track when there will be none and it's now like a 360 deal and it will get worse for musicians and car enthusiasts too.
Also the "country-clubification" of race tracks contributes as well. They keep making the tracks cater to the ultra rich where even a basic track day is like $400 before any consumables, etc. The membership-based tracks are like $5000 just to sign up and still monthly dues of a few hundred.
We need more tracks like the Nurburgring: show up, pay $20 for a 10-ish minute lap, run a couple of laps and go home. No obnoxious over-the-top safety equipment requirements, no waiting 6 months for one day that might get rained out (track driving in the rain sucks and I will not budge an inch on that statement, I didn't pay a fortune to go drive slow in the rain), no being locked in to like $1000 in fees and consumables for one day where you may get tired before the day is even over, etc.
A Nurburgring-style pay-per-lap track with lots of safety overrun like COTA would let everyone get their need for speed out without being prohibitively expensive or exceedingly dangerous.
Or just go karting instead.
And street racing isn't even bad now - back in the early 2000s was when it was at it's peak and we had more tracks.
@@corail53 Nah, it's definitely worse now, street takeovers are worse than anything done in the 00's. Flooring a 16 second Honda never hurt anyone.
@@nunyabusiness896 Takovers are not street racing and no racer legal or outlaw wants associated with that crowd. Do not confuse the two.
People complain about guys who touge at midnight and tell them to take it to the track, only for the same kind of people to tell them they're being too obnoxious there too...as a California Bay Area native, the amount of entitlement in our local culture drives me insane, I hate how people are around here. This issue has been around for a while now and everytime I get reminded of this issue, my pot starts boiling immediately. I agree that the people moving into the houses around there should be expected to have a mandatory contract which first demonstrates the sound nature of the area being near the track and expected to agree to the contract terms, effectively opting them out of the ability to file a complaint.
Some people don't want us to have our type of fun anywhere. This guy in particular probably doesn't care about the noise and traffic at all. He has money and could move away easily. He just has a personal vendetta against the track and race tracks in general.
At least you have a car scene or car meet
@@H1GHD3FF You mean all the cars and coffees that are no longer around because of exactly this kind of nimby attitude? (eg: Black Hawk Cars and Coffee)
as a bay area native car guy i see all these rich folks with their porsches going to the malls and not the tracks, it kills me. They're the same folks who say take it to the track but when they visit monterrey they say it ruins the scenery
@@erikcohen9279 The irony of this issue happening in Monterey is that, Monterey actually has and is known to have a rather significant car culture there, esp. across exotics, rares and classics. Personally I have met more than a few said people in places like Carmel or Cannery Row who are genuinely great car people, but for every car person, it feels like there are many times more "non-car people"
Air Force bases are the same. They built them in the middle of nowhere 60 years ago , and within the last 15, houses started popping up around them full of people whining about the noise...huh?
like some one pointed out. The land is cheap, because it's next to an AFB. So the houses that are built on them are cheaper than in nearby areas. People buy the houses, because they are cheaper, then complain about the thing that was there long before the house, that made the land and house cheaper.
Imagine having to drive multiple hours to reach the military base, which is in the middle of nowhere out in a desert, only to find out one day that some idiots are building there houses right next to there, despite the fact that there's empty space everywhere around there.
@@JeffDeLamatercause they wanna get the value of the houses up
They wonder why the price is so good.
El Toro....... RE Agents used to show houses on the weekends, then people would move in and experience a weekday... Oh, there is a military air base there, duh.... Fast forward 50 years and now they have built parks and houses on the former base.
The fact that Laguna Seca has already had to limit times and days the track can be used is already ridiculous. I feel sorry for cleetus dealing with this too
Also noise levels, isn't it one of those tracks where people have to run silencers during certain events or something like that?
It’s like all the people from CA whom moved to CO right near Red Rocks amphitheater and Bandimere drag strip and then complained about the sound. You shouldn’t be allowed to complain about the “bad” choices you make. Move elsewhere!
It's funny how if I moved next to a racetrack, the racetrack owner is an asshole. But if I moved next to the airport, I'm a dumbass. Also, if you want a racetrack build it out in the boonies...but be prepared to move again if I want to live there eventually. I hate people.
It’s funny you mention that, at my local municipal airport it’s going through the same thing. They build houses near the runway and get mad when they hear planes… people man..
Have many many miles of land that isn't used, but owned by the racetrack in every direction. Make it a wildlife reserve or something, and then no one car complain.
@@jwalster9412make it a wildlife reserve and you got yourself a Nurburgring, the noise limit there is there because of the wildlife and the homes near it.
A similar thing happened near me, with a rail yard. A 100 plus year old rail yard started receiving noise complaints from a 2-3 year old neighborhood...🙄
@@samuelrodriguez6684 why don't the people building these homes put up sound deadening.
I live near an airforce base. We had to sign paperwork when we bought our house that states we agree to the noise. If the federal government can do it, why cant local government?
Because the local government is made up of the people who want to shut things down. Everyone else is too busy living their lives to get involved and then its too late.
Money,
They typically do, but any lawyer will tell you nothing is binding.
Look up Arizona Motorsports Park
@@swizlstik yeah and it’s hilarious because I’ve run track days there before while aircraft flew overhead and made my ears ring despite having a helmet on. So stupid.
In Eastern MA there's a similar thing that went on. Wealthy douche from out of state bought a plot of land next to a farm. Build a mansion. Then he sued the farm because he didn't like the smell.
Court sided with the farm, told the home owner stfu.
This is how all court cases should end. You get there AFTER the established thing, well guess what?
He should also have to reimburse the farm for legal costs.
City makes neighborhood near race track
Neighborhood complains about noise
City closes track
Street racing and crashes increases ten-fold
The city and those neighbors: surprised pikachu face
race tracks being closed permanently is one of the reasons why street racing is increasing.
Car enthusiast has nowhere to go and just use whatever spaces they have left
+ $250M yearly revenue disappears overnight - even more surprised pikachu face
+ as a result local businesses begin to suffer - bike/stick meme - focken racers went away now we have nothing to eat.
@@dimitarvenedikov The 250m revenue is replaced with twice that in TAX revenue to the government. That's why they close the track. It's all about money and greed. The government always wants more tax money. The developers want the cheap property next to the track. The land the track in on is worth more than the money it makes. Golf courses have the same problem. You don't see race tracks buying up all the land around them. Race tracks don't preemptively reduce noise by requiring mufflers. I used to live near 3 dirt tracks. The closest one was maybe 5 miles as the crow flies. The furthest was maybe 10 miles as the crow flies. Friday nights you could hear nothing but the roar of race cars no matter where you were. Only one track is left. One of them is now a large very busy mall. The reason the track sold was the money.
@@frotobaggins7169 Yep revenue from the amount of apartments and townhouses they stuff into those places than the track and the track looses. Then like original poster said, let the real cars against humanity begin when their teenagers start street racing.
The county owns the track, and has already said the group will pound sand, they just repaved it and remodeled some major aspects of it. Some players that use said track are also way more powerful than that group, that track isn't some privately owned short track in the south that can be muscled.
Glad to read that. It boggles my mind that someone like this Mike guy can do so much damage.
For instance, the Indycar series and IMSA series use it. Indycar is owned by Roger Penske, *the Penske we all see on the road everywhere, IMSA (million dollar sports prototypes) is owned by NASCAR, worth billions, the Ferrari Challenge races there, billionaires. Not your mom and pop stock cars.
Now it still pisses me off that stuff happens so easily to the mom and pop tracks. But unfortunately, they don't have the high-powered customers to help defend them, with huge revenues.
@@charliepalmer3244also, Laguna Seca itself is quite iconic track, if this Mike guy somehow manage to to something I bet the backlash he would receive from around the world would be huge
You’re right. The county makes a huge chunk of it’s budget with the track events at Laguna, not to mention the giant sum of money local business get during race weekends - especially all the action during August speed week and Porsche Rennsport Reunion, and the Indycar and IMSA weekends. There are the historic races, but also all the money from car auctions, concourse events, car shows like Works Reunion, Legends of the Autobahn, Concourse Italiano, etc. The county also just did some major infrastructure building on the track at a significant cost, so shutting it down is unlikely. Whoever this Mike guy is, he must be one giant a-hole.
This started happening at COTA just a couple years after it opened. They built neighborhoods near the track, people moved in, then started complaining about the noise.
An amphitheater down the road in San Antonio ended up shut down for the same reason. A neighborhood was built literally next door to it, and the people who moved in complained.
It’s ridiculous.
That is because real estate in the US is a cosa nostra, and they do that for nerfarious reasons instead of expanding outside
I think this is more of a problem of land developers building homes to sell, downplaying the noise situation, then people being stuck with expensive homes and they can't do anything but complain about the noise because no one will buy now that the noise is known and they are upside down if they tried to sell.
@@nunyabusiness896Don't people research where they are buying , before moving ?
@@robertmorris6529 Sound travels further than the eye can see. You think you're fine until straight piped V8s roll up.
@nunyabusiness896 that is likely the reason airports , Military Bases , Racing Circuits are located where they are . No Lawsuit or challenge to operation dates , times should be entertained .
What people should do is just file lawsuits against Mike for anything and everything just to drive him into bankruptcy or they leave the racetrack alone
UNO REVERSE, Gotha, B*!([! LoL great plan.
racecars being loud? why did you build your house next to the bloody racetrack?
Same logic for homeowners complaining on trains but they live next to the train tracks.
Next up, the sun is hot; recent citizens say after moving 50 minutes away from the equator.
@@AlexMartini.🤣😂
All they need to do is turn on the tv or something and get some white noise going on ffs its soooo easy
@RickyGMedia and complain about planes and live near an airport.
He's not going to like what will happen next once the track officially closes. I'm imagining cars driving by his place and revving the hell out of there car on purpose.
This crossed my mind as well. I think there's a good possibility that this guy is going to be trolled in the worse way. Hopefully many rotary powered vehicles lead the way
@@dubiousf00dcasually let the voodoos and predators roar in front of his driveway, he'll get the worse trolling of his life
If he does shut it down I feel like I would genuinely be afraid for my life if I was him.
burnouts on his lawn
if laguna seca does get shut down it would probably tank property values especially if it is left to rot because his group highway 88 hates redevelopment in his area i would love to see the look on his face when his house value tanks by at least 50% because of his willingness to shutdown the track
I grew up next to Laguna. First race I ever watched live was the 1999 American Le Mans series when it came through the peninsula.
For context, this area (Carmel Valley) is VERY rich, like even by California standards. With that you're of course gonna have a bunch of stuck up old dudes who will be upset their pristine piece of central coast real-estate is suffering from noise pollution.
Conversely, the car culture in this area is unique, with a lot of folks owning very expensive, classic vehicles, and then *racing* them, while also enjoying people's *other* equally old, rare, and or very fast cars. I hope they come together to try and stop this nonsense.
Except their homes were built well after the track and they would have know the track is there upon purchasing it and having lived there for a number of years. So the question then becomes Why now?
@@corail53just because they can
The main problem everywhere is that NIMBYs and non car people outnumber car people by a huge amount, it's them who spoil it for people who like motorsports, unfortunately counties etc go with whoever has the most votes.
I grew up 1/2 mile from the track in the ‘60s and ‘70s. The noise and traffic now are considerably less than then. Alternate entrances to the track and restriction of race days have had a great affect on those concerns. The Highway 68 Coalition has been a pain in the ass for decades, fronted by the Weavers. Laguna Seca is a wonderful track and recreational resource for the area. I hope the Coalition failure rate continues!
But they’ll be the same people complaining when street racing and takeovers increase. How about don’t build a house next to a racetrack. It’s like living next to an airport complaining about planes
All the assholes in Newport Beach pulled this stunt. Ever fly out of John Wayne? They have some ridiculous takeoff procedures and curfews so the people who built their homes next to an airport (which was already close to an old airforce base!) don't have to hear noise. It's great when your incoming flight is delayed and they re-route you to LAX and then put you on a bus to Orange County - all so a bunch of pricks don't have to hear a plane.
Yup they have no problem getting land and or a built house on property cheaper because of a track, airport or whatever. Then turn around and want it closed, if that ever happens they should then have to retroactively pay for the increased property value. Ok you bought a 500k house for 120k because of Laguna. Now Laguna is closing and it'll be worth 500, so we'll just go ahead and add 380k to your mortgage upon closure of the track.
@@cardinaloflannagancr8929 YES that's the way to do things, then those people will never complain about the noise, win win.
I remember reading about an article where a guy managed to get the local board to mandate a noise reduction to Laguna Seca, and that is where those ridiculous pipes came from. Only for like 4 years later he and his pals tuned some Miatas and took to the track, only for all of them to be pulled out because of the noise their cars made.
Karma is unbearable
I went to Florida a few weeks ago and attended Cleetus cars and coffee. Those homes are dangerously close, the camera doesn't do a justice. You can see the homes then 30-45 seconds later there is the shop, the drag strip then the freedom factory right after it. Florida I can see something possibly being done to limit the calls of noise but in Cali, the only solution they see is to tear down one off the most Iconic tracks in the world.
Not only iconic, but actually brings in tons of money. During operation. California is the center of constantly shooting themselves in the foot to spite their face.
@@wruenvadam and then those people leave and do the same stupid shit somewhere new. It's infuriating. I thought I escaped California 20 years ago, but the insanity of that state seems to be following me wherever I go.
And then they get mad when there's an increase in street racing in that area.
@@jwalster9412 Also mad that the city lost jobs and there are no tourist dollars flowing into local business. Would be like if people bitched about Daytona lol. That entire town is based around being one of the major homes for Motorsports in the US.
@@cmdrdredd imagine of this happened to the Nurburgring.
And they wonder why street racing is getting worse. I don't condone it, but I can't say I don't understand them
He was confused and traumatized by an event as a child. He equated race track goers with street racers because one had a loud engine that scared his dog and killed her, in his fable child mind. That's the only reality he can see. He hates us all, and he's a sad, sad man. Despite all of his life's success, he can't get over this event and uses his effort to take it out on the racetrack these many years later... it sucks.. car enthusiasts will take it to the streets without tracks, unfortunately, and he doesn't care because that means more people in courtrooms and jails and money for him and his friends.
@@TreaxvourShould have taught his dog not to run away bruh. As a dog owner I understand it must've been painful, but my dog doesn't run away because of a loud noise. Now yes, it's easy for me to say considering I have a pretty brave Doberman, but still, if your dog runs away it's your fault twice: once for not training your dog properly and twice for not making sure your dog can't escape
Such bullcrap I've been on laguna Seca and they have a dB limit for those people who decided to build their house next to a damn racetrack.
They shouldn't allow housed being built next to racetracks
they should allow homes to be built next to race tracks... but the constitution shouldn't allow zoning or "noise" complaints to begin with. property rights, include land use rights, if i want to build a damn track, NO ONE should be able to tell me i can't.
This is where branded titles/deeds of homes should include "THIS HOME IS BEING BUILT NEXT TO A RACETRACK. BY OWNING THIS HOME, YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THE TRACK PREDATES THE CONSTRUCTION OF THIS HOUSE AND ACCEPT THE POTENTIAL FOR NOISE POLLUTION". That way, after the initial purchaser of the house sells it, the realtor/agent can't ignore and not tell the next owners. It's right on the damn deed!
I'm all for letting people buy houses there provided they sign waivers to the noise; and sign affidavits that they are knowingly moving into an area with higher than normal noise limits from said racetrack, airport, etc. This would at least give the racetrack, airport, amphitheater, etc., a legal means of challenging this lawsuits.
Sadly this is not just a race tracks... Here in Finland, one of the large regional airports is attacked same way. Airfield has been there for decades, someone buys a house or builds new one next to flight path. Starts complaining and requesting limits when those can be used (mostly requesting flying over HIS/HERS house to be limited to 9am to 3pm, and absolutely no any small aircrafts). That airfield is also used by military (Finnish Airforce) and it hosts often other NATO member states planes and sometimes USA cargo planes... Luckily it has been so far blocked, so airfield can continue serving, I guess going agains partly military airfield is never a success...
Also local carting track has totally unrealistic limis how much track can be used and when, and half of the weekends (from short Finnish summer) are blocked to be "silent". And reason, someone living next to major east-west traintracks about 1km away from track has complained until those restrictions have been placed...
It is just because we are living in "me, me, me, only me!" world nowadays. If thing (racing, airplanes, carting) isn't your stuff, you try to tackle it down...
As someone in Futurama said it; "I don't want to live on this planet anymore..."
Luckily Portland Intl Raceway is actually a city park and it is the only park in Oregon that doesn’t use tax money. It pays for itself. And it’s right next to the airport. People have tried to get it closed but it doesn’t go far in court. The state of liability insurance is a different story which may be the end of autosports.
I used to run wknd Open Drag nites there for years, and they were very noise conscious. My car was close to the limit and was tested many times. They're pretty responsible. I've heard about the repeated efforts against the track, and so glad it's survived, since I plan to get my kids out there this year. Considering what the ppl in Portland are like I'm truly surprised it's still open..
I lost my local track to the 2nd and 3rd problem Tracks face. 2nd being lawsuits from inside made the track impossible to run, and the final death nail to a racetrack and what makes us all sad being bought to be turned into a residential or industrial complex. We lost Moroso to be a Amazon Warehouse center. Its location was not a issue of being near houses because next door was Pratt Whitney where they test jet engines for the military and nasa. So if you complain about the noise take it up with the big Gov. But the track was surrounded by a state park and could never expand. Surrounded by swampland nobody was building houses around but still had to close. Now there is nothing on the south east of Florida for 1/4 mile drag racing. (not counting the brief stretch of land that is Immokalee)
Yep I'm in Miami and the only thing we have is homestead which is barely doing track days. I just do loops of Miami highways now to get my rocks off lol
The only one left near me is built on a shuttered airport. Here’s to hoping they stay in business.
Even in Florida it's becoming more and more of an issue, Cleetus and Freedom Factory USA speedway in Lakeland (near Tampa/Orlando) closed a few years ago because of neighbors. I think Countyline Dragway had the same fate.
The track is there, it's just abandoned and the owners won't sell it to anyone willing to use it for a racetrack. They just see dollar signs from warehouses.
RIP Palm Beach Speedway
and riverside. And every other track shut down because of noise issues.
Wasn't shut down for noise. Just greedy owners who want $200mil for the warehouses
if they don't want their house right next to a racetrack i'll take it 😂😂😂
Racetracks, landfills, airports, cemeteries, etc are always built well away from neighborhoods. Then here they come and out go the facilities. Developers are concerned about making the upfront profits, then leaving the rest of us to sort it all out. Sad.
The exact same thing is happening in Portugal with the Estoril Circuit, the most historic track in the country. It was build in 1972, back then there were very few houses arround it. Over the years it hosted a number of international events, incluiding F1 and MotoGP, so people started developing the area arount it because it was "fancy" and "chic". Now a group of "residents" represented by a "non profit" are sueing the circuit because it's "too noisy", but clearly they didn't have a problem when they moved in...
Curiously nobody seems to hbe sueing the airfield and the low flying aircraft just a couple of miles away and right in the middle of town that gets traffic every single day...
Yeah but then Portimao was built in southern Portugal to be Estoril but better, which it is
I’m old enough to remember when Riverside raceway was open. Beautiful track! The track was closed and became an abandoned shopping mall last I knew long time ago. Bridgehampton in NY was another beautiful road course that was soon closed when the neighborhoods were being built around track property. Hear it’s another golf course now.
In the UK, we had the silliest one. My local is Croft Circuit. A few years ago the track’s owner got divorced and part of the divorce meant giving his ex-wife their farm house which was near the circuit.
Despite operating the circuit as a married couple in the past, after the divorce she put noise complaints about the track that she helped develop in the 90s to get it up to racing standard for national races! It was purely done out of pettiness.
I'm a local, and my intuition says Laguna Seca will be fine. Monterey has a lot of money at stake in car events yearly, and collectively they bring in a lot of tourist traffic (no pun intended), which the city has a large vested interest in protecting. I feel like it'd be a huge revenue loss for the city/county if the local car culture here was nuked.
Years ago, I used to frequent a club in our downtown. A developer bought a bunch of the surrounding properties, built high-rise apartments or "mixed use" buildings, and then all the residents started complaining.
They moved into downtown, into a city, into what now used to be the club district, and complained about the noise.
All the clubs are shutting down or closing early. All the bars and restaurants that have outdoor patios either have to close the patios or close down entirely after a certain time.
People also move into houses close to airports and end up also complaining about the noise. The difference is they are usually told to pound sand and end up being powerless to do anything about it. We need protection like this for racetracks when idiots move in too close.
Yo @alexmartini. This is my local track, lived here for 30 years. I even used to work at Laguna Seca as a flagger. This issue has been going on for DECADES, when one group stops their push, another group comes in. In the same vein, there is a large population that fights against everything not catering to retirees, including lawsuits against the local high schools for having lights on their football fields for night games. It's really quite pathetic
We lost our local track too but because of a kinda different issue. Track 1st build by government and was made to be our city track. However some time later a lot of people startes to move there and they selled the ownership to a former local racer. At first it was all going fine. But later things gone wrong. Remember the new residents, most of them sued the track and track had to shutdown. Then it was bought by a industrial company and is now making villas there. It turned out they made a deal with the city mayor. I hope no other tracks have to be gone this way😢
when people shut down race tracks and then complain about street racing
There should be a way to write the judge and let them know how stupid we think the people complaining are
It's called an amicus brief, a group like indy car or imsa could file one, but it would probably be bad pr. If you had a fan watching party group that was incorporated you could your lawyer to file one.
This is as underhanded as here in MO. You cannot sell alcohol within 100 feet of a religious or school building. churches have been known to pop up within 100 feet of a bar or restaurant. The bar or restaurant is grandfathered in, but when they want to sell it, the new owners can't get a liquor license.
Common sense says: when you choose to build a structure that is near an already established noisy business, just suck it up. It wasn't like it popped up AFTER you built your house.
Id love to see a local ordinance that says "if you move in next to the race track you can't complain about the race track"
Let's do something and save this laguna racetrack. If we lose this, then immediately, all tracks will be in danger.
Breaking News: residence that set up right next to the gates of hell are complaining about demon infestations in their homes.
In east texas, IN THE WOODS, (as we say about being a long way from almost everything) a man with more money than good sense bought land and built a drag strip.
He was about 10 miles from Alto, and about 10 miles from Rusk. It was amazing how much hell the business had to deal with.
For example, the track needed rescue personnel and equipment. Nearest town only had a volunteer fire department. So money was needed to buy this gear and training (i know because my wife wrote the grant request for state and/or federal grant money). I don't know all the facts but it was additional costs among many others.
But the "funny" thing about the raceway was it mostly openned on weekends. You would think that would help with complaints but... a church about 3 miles from said track found that their volume knobs did not go to eleven and made a fuss. Now understand, 1/4 mile dragsters are incredible LOUD. I would hear them at my home about 7 miles away and it was still LOUD! Finals for the really loud ones were Sunday beginning at 10:00 am. So the owners agreed to not race during service times and the church, which was an old wood building that needed some baptist deacon TLC, is Now bricked and remodeled and i think a new parking lot. The track went under. But from my own experience, it was not because of complaints, but because the owner/operator was not very friendly.
The church is still there but the track was closed and the roadway was bulldozered up i guess to keep the locals from racing.
I used to live near a Drag strip outside of Detroit. And the weekends All you heard where car’s racing through the night. Friday til like 2 in the morning. But it was awesome… you knew you where home when you heard the cars. That’s what made the summer… I miss those days
Its CRAZY people are building next to a freaking Race Track and complaining about the noise... Whaaaaaaaaa?!
I live next to a race track for 4-5 years as a kid. I lived hearing the cars and enjoyed the sound. People who go out of their way to shut down the safest spot for people to race their cars will be the first to complain. About street racing...
I see this happening a lot here lately. I want to say I just watched one yesterday where the residents moved right next to a racetrack and then complained about the noice and traffic the track caused. They actually won their case and got the track closed. I think it was somewhere in CA also.
This is an issue in Portland with PIR. Fortunately for us we have developed a non profit; Friends of Portland International Raceway (FOPIR), that fights for the track at the county and city levels. There are still noise complaints from the neighborhoods. FOPIR uses its membership to strengthen its voice when dealing with such issues. The fight is real to protect our racetracks. In government the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and the neighborhoods have organized against the tracks. People who use and enjoy the track need to have the same voice. FOPIR does that for PIR. Hopefully it is not too late for Laguna Seca. Support your Local track and the business that surround it, make it clear to the business why you are there. Having the business community on the side of the track is also a huge asset. Side note: The houses that are sold in these areas are cheaper because of the sound issues in the neighborhood. The owners would stand to profit highly if the sound should suddenly disappear.
This makes my blood boil, the more tracks they shut down, the more street racing there will be, and with that, more deaths
That aston martin valkyrie amr pro sound 🔥🔥
This also happens with shooting ranges and aero clubs. Wealthy urban types build in the countryside and then campaign to shut down activities that have been in the area for generations just because it’s a bit noisy or offends their sensibilities.
7:31 Bro the Hamilton to Ferrari announcement came out today did you just finish editing this a few minutes ago? Great video btw!
Its always wild to me that people complain about sound, you knowingly moved near the track. laguna seca is probably older than the residential areas nearby. Its wild.
It's older than the person who's suing them..
This is my home track, and let me tell you this won't happen. The race events that are held here help several cities around the track. It's a destination. This won't happen.
I used to live in a little village in England that had a lovely church. The bells rung out each hour (during the day) and once a week there was bell practice. Somebody new moved into the village right by the church and then started making noise complaints. Extraordinarily they won and the bells got muffled and practice etc was limited.
Rockingham Motor Speedway, which is located in the UK, suffered a similar fate. It was built on a brownfield site on the outskirts of Corby, a midsized former steel town located in north Northamptonshire. The circuit opened on January 15th 2001 and is renowned for hosting two CHAMP Car races on its 1.5 mile banked oval. As I live just a stones throw from the track, I would often attend minor series race weekends due to the tickets costing a very reasonable £15 per day. I am privileged to have watched Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton race at Rockingham early in their careers.
RMS hosted its final race on 24th November 2018 after a plethora of noise complaints from residents of a large housing development which slowly enveloped the facility over the years. It now operates as a vehicle and logistics storage hub and the track is occasionally employed as a filming location for car shows.
So if people move out by an airport can they sue the airport for noise and increased traffic? This seems stupid to me, idk.
Laguna is my home track.. been doing track days for years my last track day was 90db haha
These people do the same thing with general aviation airports. The airport or sometimes an airpark community starts getting non-aviation out of town interlopers who end up making the same noise/environmental issues in the lawsuit and then have the legacy airport shutdown.
When I first raced at Laguna Seca in the early 70s ( the old track configuration) you got to the track through the main gate at Fort Ord which was off of Hwy 1 a little bit north of Monterey and drove through the base to get to the track. There was no entrance on Hwy 68 and for sure there were no houses close to the track. The houses there were built after 1957. I doubt that the houses across Hwy 68 experience very loud noise. When we race there now we have to have mufflers and have to meet a sound check or not race there. The noise level was effected by the weather so it was very hard to meet. Racing with mufflers is ridiculous. Those houses were all built after 1957 and they knew there was a race track close by. I guess we will all have to race electric cars soon.
What i'm hearing is: turn streets into racetracks.
going from 1 racetrack to 100
Imagine pitching a tent in a lions den to then have the lion be sued by Karen and Karl for nibbling on their legs.
There's a big problem with this in Australia, all the small local tracks get shut down by councils, backed by real estates who want to sell property to yuppies and don't tell them the track is there, they even get events stopped at the track when they're having open homes, how that's allowed I don't know, because as far as I'm concerned that's creating the problem.
We recently lost a Speedway and drift track that was about 15 minutes from the city center, it'd all been there for a lot of years, and the only houses were that far away I don't know how they noise complained it, never mind that it was built at the end of a busy airport runway, and had a decommissioned sewage plant turned swampland surrounding it. (Fun fact, they're turning the sewage swamp into a recreation park and despite the river system that feeds the swamp being heritage land for wildlife, widening it to make more riverfront homes) It held on until the owners, now rather old, wanted to sell, but I guess they couldn't bare to sell it cheap enough that anyone who would want to keep it all running would buy it, so it got sold to developers, and it's now being turned into another industrial estate. When this track was under threat, a council member openly said he that all "reckless driving" should be illegal whether on private land or not and that "if people want to drift you can do it in your lounge room on the xbox". Imagine being that boring and out of touch of a person.
Lakeside raceway, which has existed for MANY years is constantly under threat of closure, though there's a bit more nuance to that, since the track shut down for a while and people were told it would never reopen, but it did.
Probably the worst of this is the Kart track on the Gold Coast that got shut down by council because one man was on the board and happened to live near it. Appeals to Gold coast council fell on deaf ears, a couple months later they started talking about the Gold Coast 500. A big budget Race that happens once a year through the city streets. The Gold coast council supports racing as long as the organisers are filling the council members pockets with large sums of money and it only happens once a year.
And we wonder why all our talent leaves.
We lived about 7 miles from the track so my school bus went by there daily in the late 70's. Its crazy that people into cars haven't gobbled up the properties around the track. Instead they've driven up the costs buying in other areas.
This is what happened to Red Rocks in CO. Bands can't perform late anymore because of all the neighborhoods that sprang up in the area.
Laguna Seca racetrack took mesures 70+ years ago to developed nestled in state lands that were safe from development. The orginal plan was not to be in the problem of some of the suburban tracks of the 1950s, closed due to urban sprawl. The area development, the golf course communities, only came because the racetrack had the utilities installed at great cost in the late 60s and early 70s. The highway is only more than 2 lanes because of the raceway...otherwise the road looks like highway 9 south of san jose, no development, and only wide because of civil defense and Calfire needs.
The first few developments sold because they were near Laguna Seca and had something to do 12 weekends a year. Then the area hits a critical mass where there is enough ice sales to have a grocery store bigger than a gas station. Then a few bussiness open to service the race community, they provide a few restraunts to service the after 5 crowd. There are few full time jobs around and more people move in knowning only that there is jobs and the stores are busy sat and suday so the community must be happening. The noise makes it cheap enough for the 55 and up crowd with only one home to move in close to the beach. The generation who moved in first in the new Laguna Seca, sort of accepted Andretti lane instead of ditch view 3 (arroyo vista) was a give away. Have an economic downturn in 2016 and some of the homes go to people who just want to live in quiet hills of CA, near the beach but no way could afford San Jose. They move in, and now with some noise have the gaul to ask "Wait what is Andretti lane about?"
People complain when the move next to open vistas of a navy bombing range, and then the navy gets some new technology to test. People complain that the airport with 8000 foot runways becomes a freight hub. People complain when they move into a community with a cute little red barn across the street with a cow in pasture. Change the weather and the smell suddenly is an issue. People who move to ski towns complain the people who drive up from Denver clog the traffic circles (breakenridge). The problem is not the people, it is the courts not immediatly and irrelcoably putting a stop to the lawsuits when the locals should know better. X industry was here, if you as a real estate shoper spent 30 seconds of due diligence the harm you are expressing was predictable.
Well said my friend, with all due respect, it's more about money in this case, the track is just a nuisance at this point that happens to have been there when they moved in.
Same here in my city. We have a very small local airport that has been there since 1967. In recent years housing have been creeping closer and closer to the airport. And then the residents make noise complaints. What on earth do you expect when you move in next to an airport.🙄
Years ago, there was a super sonic flyby from a Draken jet as they were being retired. Imagine all the complaints today when all their windows would be shattered. 😂
It's the same with Airfields. About 8-10 miles from me is Elvington Airfield and air museum which unfortunately was made famous by Top Gear host Richard Hamond's near fatal jet car crash. The airfield has had tons of complaints. It is used by loads of different groups because it has the second longest privately owned runway in the uk. It was even used by Formula One teams for top speed testing.
Race city in Calgary Alberta Canada is another good example of shutting down a race track for community expansion or complaints of excessive noise. Years later we have complaints of street racing and stunting...Just special ed people and politicians with nothing better to do.
Same thing is happening with a shooting range close to me. The range has been there since at least the 70s, maybe even the 60s. At that time, there were no houses within several miles of the range. No complaints of noise or anything. Fast-forward to about 10-15 years ago and they start getting complaints and being hassled. It seems that land developers had bought up all the land around it to build houses. And these are neighborhoods that have those big houses on postage stamp-sized plots that sell for $300k and up (but are really not worth it). And instead of fighting the legal battles, it's cheaper for the people that own the range to move. But where they're moving is clear across the county (almost into the next county).
I hope they were smart and bought enough land so they could have their range AND have some extra land around it so no one could move in close enough for complaints. But it's just crazy to think that someone can move in AFTER something like a range or race track is there and then complain about the noise. They know the range/track is there. IMO, you should have no cause for complaint if you willingly move into a situation such as that. Also like moving somewhere that's close to an airport, then complaining about all the airplane noise. It's just stupid.
Going to get downvoted for this, but if you move into a new house close to a frat, do you automatically lose the right to complain about the parties? Clearly there is a difference in importance here. Most people agree that airports are important but not frat parties. The fact is that most people also aren’t car enthusiasts. And this is codified into law by the fact that you can eminent domain for airports, freeways, and train tracks but not … race tracks. The race tracks are frat houses. Just because they were there first doesn’t give them any special rights unless society decides they are truly important. … And clearly the decision is being made.
Same thing is happening here in Portugal at the Estoril racetrack, where a small local community, which was developed years after the track's opening, is complaining about the noise. And the worse part is that they are winning, as there's now mandated noise inspection before any events.
Thanks for the video, I'm tired of seeing click bait news articles on Laguna seca "closing down" I live 3 hours away and track from time to time there. Good to know the actual truth without reading BS
Not just racetracks. Just saw a post by a new Torrance CA home owner that was complaining about Torrance airport.
Nice work uncovering this Alex. We need more of this on you tube instead of the normal click bait without substance. Thanks for the info.
Here in Nevada mountain springs raceway is on the outskirts of town, when hearing race cars off in the distance I immediately drive with a beeline to the track with great interest...
This same thing happened to the beach by my house. Rich pricks started building huge houses on the cliffs a mile from the beach…. Which was famous for bon fire pits. They’ve been there since the 50’s. But they sued the state and got the pits removed. And now they’re building more houses in that location.
Thanks for the video. I read the Hagerty piece and was curious about this latest drive to shutdown Laguna Seca.
A similar thing happened near Corona, Ca. For 100 years there were dairy farms out there far away from development due to the "Country Air" smell. Then when the land around the dairy farms essentially became the only land left for development they started building homes out there. Sure enough people who bought homes near the dairy farms started suing.
Similar thing happened to a local to me outdoor music venue called Polaris Ampitheater that was 15 miles outside of Columbus, OH downtown and built in the 90’s. In the 2000’s, housing popped up all around the venue and these new neighbors who moved nearby starting complaining and the amphitheater ultimately shut down in 2007. Ridiculous that people move near these types of places knowing full well that they make noise and then sue to get them shut down because of that noise.
I learned a lot about this area when my kid was going to school there. CSUMB. First of all, this used to be the US Army's Fort Ord. It closed in 1994 and the federal government deeded a portion of the land over to Monterey County and 14,000+ acres were designated a National Monument. And yes, the racetrack has been there since 1957. The land north west of the racetrack will remain permanently closed because it used to be a gunnery range. Can you say unexploded bombs? So building on this tract of land is out of the question. As far as the noise goes, the race track is right under the final approach for the Monterey airport. There will always be noise there. And the traffic congestion is what the biggest issue probably is, IMO. Highway 68, which is a California State highway, is only 1 lane either direction right where the entrance to the track is. But the state needs to fix that. The county can ask, but ultimately it's up to CalTrans.
We rented a condo not far from Sebring race track. When out on the deck I’d hear some cars going around the track and what did I do? Didn’t complain one bit. Matter of fact we went to the track to watch teams practice. It was great, and we could almost pick any spot we wanted to watch .
Thanks for bringing this info to light!
Appreciate that man, thank you!!!
I'm not too good with legal stuff but i wish there was some way to make race tracks have protection from zoning problems or people saying there to noisey. I know cars can get collectors plates which exempts them from emissions and inspection depending on the state. Something like that or similar to historical markers or state or national parks but for race tracks that could give them kinds of legal exemptions and protections.
I should mention, there's a difference between the EPA & California stuff going on recently vs. California's "environmental impact" laws - Laguna Seca's lawsuit is totally different from not being able to buy certain air intakes.
As far as I'm aware, the "environmental impact" laws date back to around when Reagan was governor, and usually do the opposite of protect the environment. The "environment" they protect is just rich people who don't want to see the poors. The laws let NIMBYs block public transit infrastructure and denser housing, but don't get in the way of sprawling residential developments that eat up farmland and bump into race tracks. It basically ends up being anti-environmental.
We don't have a lot of race tracks here in Norway, but we have a lot of shooting ranges. Same thing happens to them. People move into old houses near the range (new houses aren't allowed to be built because of the noise from the range) , then complain to the gun club owning it or to the local council about it being too noisy.
Reminds me of a case not so long ago hear in the UK where this guy made a noise complaint about trains going past at night and how dare they disturb his sleep... Thing is, the railway had existed there for about 135 years at this point and predated the house and yet he sued to get the railway shut down and turned into a cycle path
The best thing the freedom factory has on their side is that they are in Florida. A conservative run state in a conservative area. I truly hope that they are able to keep making as much noise as they want whenever they want at those great tracks.
As far as lagoona goes, they are likely going to have even more restrictions put on them that will end up killing it eventually. Anyone who buys or builds a house near a race track should have expected the noise and shouldn't be allowed to sue over it.
If they shut down tracks it won’t stop the noise or racing it’ll just move it to the streets. How tf u gunna move next to a track and complain about noise. They can’t shut down Laguna Seca it’s legendary
Person gets themselves killed by doing something dumb, then someone else decided that means a race track needs to shut down.
Great logic there.
It's crazy how good Alex is and the algorithm pushes his videos away I really like his content
In the uk the cars and bikes have noise limts . But some tracks are next to airports and the planes come in low and loud 24-7 . But they say nothing
Fun fact: race cars are loud. So are motorcycles, ATVs, airplanes, gun ranges and military training grounds/ installations.
Don't build or buy homes within 50 miles of a race track, airport, gun range or military training ground if you want peace and quiet, especially on Friday through Sunday.
Route 66 drag race track in Joliet, Illinois is about 15 miles away from my mom's house and we can hear the cars when there's a major event at the track.
This is happening all too often. In N.J. we lost Englishtown Raceway Park, and ATCO drag strips, due to noise complaints, hosing developments, and insurance rates. Street racing will be the result
This also happens to skeet and trap clubs. The clubs were established decades before well away from any houses because they recognized the noise. As the years go by houses are built closer and closer to these clubs and then the lawsuits start.
My local motocross track just got shut down a few weeks ago and within a few days of it happening all parties that got it shut down apologised saying they didn't want it to close and are now working to reopen the track. Yet at the same time they gave the court a 44 page book of reasons for why to close a local rallycross track too. It's honestly ridiculous and I highly doubt the motocross track will ever reopen despite both the mayor and big politicians wanting it to reopen
Since I work in the motorsports industry I couldn't agree more with the premise that if you arrive after a circuit is built you are SOL to complain--same for airports, miliary bases, steel plants etc. That said, there is an argument to be made for the volume and periodicty of noise. Airports have long had limits on time of day and direction of approach with of course caveats for emergincies and unusual cases. Race circuits, especially ones like Laguna Seca (Sebring in Florida is another example) used to only be used a handful of times per year. This wasn't a legal limitation, it's just that the market wasn't there. That has changed dramatically. The number of big spectator events has not changed much. Most circuits host 3 -4 such races meetings. But what has changed are the number of track bookings. It's hard to find a free weekend not taken up by regional racing club meetings or track days by local car clubs. Manufacturers and major teams often rent a track for several days of testing. These are often midweek sessions since it's purely an inside matter. Some of these non-spectator races and tests are not all that noisy or disruptive but there are cumulative effects and contnual annoyances. It's a bit like that L-shaped mall down the corner being redeveloped into a regional center. There is room fo compromise.
We should start bumping into Mike regularly anytime hes out somewhere alone or with a friend or family, doesnt matter, and let him know how we genuinely feel in the most polite way possible of course (: we just wana talk Mike
It happened to Race Way Park in English town NJ
This is nuts. I'm not a car racing fan, and even I've heard of Laguna Seca. The place is legendary.
My friend growing up lived in a house about three miles away from Bradenton motorsports park & Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays you could totally hear the racecars. If they’re shutting all these race tracks down, then why is it ok that my neighbor is allowed to have four street cars with straight piped exhaust. No crap, none of his cars have mufflers on them. I’m two houses away from him but the house right next to him lives an elderly couple and he makes their lives miserable.