Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

A new, three-mile road course is being constructed in a motorsports recreation area 30 miles East of Reno, Nevada and may be operational in time for the 2003 racing season. That’s the word from Richard Cable, owner of what he calls Reno-Fernley Raceway.

The road course, designed by Cable, National Auto Sports Association (NASA) Executive Director Jerry Kunzman and NASA driving school chief instructor Donny Edwards, is part of a 3000-acre “master plan project” described in promotional materials as being “Racing’s Field of Dreams.”

According to Cable and Kunzman, the road course has been cut into the earth, all necessary permits are in place and work is underway to acquire financing needed to begin paving before winter. Once the track is paved, Cable expects to host sports cars, motorcycles and go-karts 40 weeks out of the year.

“I think it’s the most progressive track design out there today,” said an enthusiastic Kunzman from NASA’s Richmond, California headquarters August 21. “There has been a tremendous amount of detail and thought put in to it, and Rich (Cable) has been very receptive to our ideas.” Kunzman said that he requested that Cable make the track wide, and as a result, the track will have a minimum width of 40 feet and a maximum width of close to 100 feet on the pit straight.

Kunzman said the course can be divided into multiple configurations, some tighter and more technical than others, but most racing will probably take place on a 2.1-mile “horsepower” circuit with a front straight “longer than Thunderhill’s” and several elevation and camber changes. There are no plans for any negative camber corners, however, “because most racers don’t like them,” said Kunzman.

No one from the motorcycle industry was involved in the design phase of the track, but Kunzman says there shouldn’t be too much concern. “There’s nothing out there, nothing to hit unless we put something out there,” said Kunzman when asked about run-off areas. “This one embankment may come into play, but there’s only the one spot.”

The Reno-Fernley Raceway project started in 1998 when Cable transformed natural terrain into a 3/8-mile clay/dirt car racing oval. Now, the oval hosts close to 100 racecars each weekend and is said to be the fastest clay oval on the West Coast. But RFR is more than just the clay oval and the upcoming road course.

Cable currently operates a paint ball park, an off-road course for ATVs and a pistol and rifle firing range on his expansive property. A skate park and a “rock crawl” course for off-road vehicles will open next month, after which construction will begin on a BMX track and an RV park. An outdoor amphitheater is also currently under construction and expected to be finished next spring. A planned half-mile paved oval is “about two years away” and a planned hotel and casino is “about three years away,” said Cable. Originally, the site plan included a motocross track and will again in the future; Cable said he hopes to attract the X Games, Gravity Games or other action sports competitions in the future.

Cable also owns Tiger Field, a private air strip adjacent to the Reno-Fernley Raceway site, and a residential development area north of the motorsports complex and airport. Cable said he plans to extend the airport’s main runaway from 4000 feet to 5500 feet in 2003 and add a commercial airpark with hanger facilities and industrial land plots with taxiway access. Cable’s master planned residential community calls for half-acre single-family, one-acre equestrian and five-acre mini-ranch homesites, some with taxiway access, some built on an 18-hole golf course.

Model homes, commercial buildings and corporate hangers have already been built.

For more information about Reno-Fernley Raceway, call (775) 575-7217, FAX (775) 575-7214, e-mail [email protected], www.reno-fernleyraceway.com.

For more information about Tiger Field, call (775) 575-7050 or go to www.fernleyhills.com.