Race fans turn out in support of track

A group of nearly 70 racers and fans and only a handful of opponents showed up at the McCook City Auditorium to voice their concerns about the McCook Speedway.

During the regular meeting of the McCook City Council Monday evening, the lone opposing voice to the racetrack came from George Tiller, a neighbor of the fairgrounds.

"If you abuse your neighbors like you're doing with the neighbors to the fairground, you're not being very good neighbors," Tiller said.

"And as far as this being a boost to the economy, you won't save your economy by walking on your neighbor. My farm brought more to this city's economy in the last 40 years than these races ever will."

Tiller, who presented a petition signed by 38 residents, was joined by only a few residents who agreed with his stand.

Councilman Dick Trail asked Tiller who was involved in circulating the petition.

Tiller told him those people didn't wish to be identified.

"We have a lot of people here who take this to heart and are willing to put their name to their cause. It seems odd to me that those opposing it won't put their name to it," Trail told Tiller.

The first to speak in favor of the track was Tammy Hilker, who spends her Friday nights working in the pits for her son.

Hilker told the council the fairgrounds should not be considered Medium Density Residential, but rather agricultural.

"The fairgrounds were there first. It was the city's decision to move the city north toward the fairgrounds," she said.

Hilker also argued that should the noise level be taken into consideration, the city would also have to address issues of barking dogs, noise from other activities at the fairground, outdoor concerts, loud stereos and any number of other obnoxious noises.

She told the council it would become necessary to add more police officers to enforce any noise ordinance.

"If there were no races on Friday night, would you be sitting out in your yard enjoying the 100-degree temperatures? Would you have the windows open enjoying these nice hot evenings?" Hilker asked City Council members.

"I agree the racetrack noise may be annoying to some people," Hilker told the group, but everyone finds different noises annoying, she said.

"I think it's ridiculous that we're going to let a handful of people ruin this for hundreds of fans," said Red Willow County Commissioner Earl McNutt.

"It would be nice if it was all outside the city limits. It would be great if someone donated us the land and the money to build a new track. But I don't think that's going to happen. I'm not willing to spend the tremendous amount of money it would take to do that," McNutt said.

Dave Burton, a member of the Red Willow County Fair Board, told council members the people who owned property around the fairgrounds knew the race track was in the neighborhood when they bought their homes.

"That track is like a dormant volcano," he said. "When people built those houses the track was already there."

"As a board, every time we receive a complaint, we discuss it and try to come up with some kind of resolution, but we have to rule with the majority, our hands are tied," Burton said.

Track promoter Donny Sailors told the council he does everything in his power to see to it the races are completed at a reasonable time.

"We finish up six classes faster than must tracks finish four," he said.

"I push my track guys to keep the races moving," he said. "We try very hard every night to get the races moving and get them done."

In response to a question from councilman Phil Lyons, Sailors said that on most nights an 11 p.m. curfew would be reasonable for the race track. But, he said, there will be exceptions."It would be tough to guarantee you we would be done by 11 p.m. every night," he said.

"When the racing goes on till 11 o'clock, I can understand that," Lyons told Sailors. "But if it goes past 11:30, or 12 or even 1 a.m., I understand why people have a problem with that. I think 11 o'clock would be reasonable."After further discussion, Sailors told the council he thought 11:30 p.m. would be a reasonable time.

"Anything less than that would cut us short and short changes the entertainment," Sailors said.

"I can guarantee you if the city were to set an 11:30 curfew, we'd be done by 11:30."

"This issue has been going on for so long. I put in hours every week trying to put out all the little fires that continue to flare up over this issue," Sailors told the Council. "I would like to have the matter resolved tonight and we'll try our best to follow those rules."

No action was taken by the council.