Race City gets reprieve

By John Hopkins

The future of Race City Motorsports Park received a major boost on Monday when the Calgary City Council voted to allow a renewed lease for the motorsports facility.

In an 8-7 vote a motion to extend the track’s lease with the City by another five years was passed in addition to protecting access to the venue when the nearby Shepard Landfill is redesigned.

While the Council vote is a significant victory for the track, Race City still must negotiate a final agreement with the City of Calgary. However, track president Art Mackenzie said he was “cautiously optimistic” following Monday’s vote.

“Council has given direction and the City in theory should act on that,” Mackenzie told Inside Motorcycles. “Generally it’s pretty easy to work out an agreement when you have two groups going in the same direction, but I don’t think these will be the easiest negotiations of my life. The Mayor [Dave Braconnier] has been quite definitive in the past that he doesn't want us around.”

What also has to be decided is whether Council voted to honour the original lease agreement or to draft a new one. The original lease actually gave Mackenzie the option of keeping Race City active until 2025.

Mackenzie said he expects to begin final negotiations sometime after Thanksgiving and have an agreement finalized before November.

It is understood that the Parts Canada Superbike Championship has already requested the weekend of June 25-27 for a round of its series and Mackenzie said the event would run under a similar arrangement as it did in 2009, with an outside group renting the facility and handling all aspects of putting on the event. Last summer longtime CMRA members Tim Johnson and Kel Davidsen ran the national event at Race City.

“Tim had a lot going on but he kept the focus on the sport,” Mackenzie said. “Overall I think it worked out pretty well.”

Calgary Alderman Ric McIver was a leading proponent of keeping the track active and Monday’s vote was his second attempt to extend the lease through a Council motion. A key point in his argument was the potential surge in street racing in Calgary should the track, which includes a popular drag strip, be closed down.

The land on which the race track sits has been leased from the City since 1985 but the City now says it needs the 64 hectares for storm water retention.