FIRST PERSON/OPINION:
By Suzie Mears
We are racers, on Hondas and Yamahas, astride Inline Fours and V-Twins, from farms and cities and everything in between. We are fans, cheering and crying, loving and buying into the American dream. We are athletes, training and sweating, learning and pushing, and occasionally accepting a ride from the crash truck.
We are racing.
On two wheels or four, the competition, camaraderie, and cacophony at the racetrack is our salvation. We are passionate, committed, fearless, and downright ingenious with a roll of duct tape. We swap parts, share triumphs, and mourn losses through a common bond of race fuel and rubber.
In no other sport can you so readily compete side by side with your heroes: Not on the diamond, the gridiron, or the green. Only in racing can you punch the time clock on Friday and then grid up on Saturday morning alongside a World Champion, a Daytona winner, or your best friend and compete in a world-class sport.
Racing, for me, is family. My husband races, I race, and our children know their way around the paddock better than an Xbox. Racing is our family glue. Racing teaches trust, sportsmanship, and teamwork. The racetrack is where we re-calibrate from the rat race.
Racing is in danger.
This year we’ll lose an historic racetrack when Texas World Speedway closes after 47 years of Indy car, stock car, motorcycle, truck, and sports car racing. It’s being replaced by a housing development. Not because racers didn’t love riding there, but because the land could make more money for the community if it was repurposed.
Right now, another great racetrack, Heartland Park Topeka (HPT), is facing a similar challenge from those who don’t understand how important it is to the city and to racing. That’s not OK.
For details on the situation, please go here:
http://www.topeka.org/HPT/faq.shtml
HPT is a great facility with plenty of opportunity for more activities, community involvement and ways to generate revenue. It languished under the wrong management for far too long. The right management, however, is waiting for approval, but they need the support of the racing community to cross the checkers.
Racers from Topeka and nearby Kansas City have attended city council meetings and community forums, raising our collective voices so that our passion is not squelched in the name of ignorance. We can’t do this alone.
The City Council votes next Tuesday, May 5th. Let them know how you feel. Send an email ([email protected] ) or personal letter (City of Topeka, 215 SE 7th Street, Topeka, KS 66603). Make a phone call to the city council. They need to hear from the people who use the facility, and those who would love to use it if more racing and activities were scheduled.
The vote is Tuesday, May 5th. You can make a difference. The racetrack where you ride, your home track, could be the next one on the redevelopment target list. Don’t let that precedent be set. Be heard and help save racing!