Speedway prospects grim in West Fargo

WEST FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Maybe the track in West Fargo is much bigger than just a half mile of dirt.

The impact of a raceless Red River Valley Speedway stretches farther than the fairgrounds.

From Red River Valley Fair board members to drivers to sponsors to managers at other tracks, nobody knows what to expect from the first summer in 42 years in which there won't be races at the West Fargo track.

"Everyone is asking me how I think this will play out, but I just don't know," said Kevin Nathe, owner of the Buffalo River Race Park in Glyndon, Minn. "I honestly have no idea, but any time you lose a facility like that, it's not good for the racing community. Did you ever think there would be this much racing drama in the winter?"

The drama started on Friday when Fargo businessman Danny Schatz, father of World of Outlaws Sprint car champion Donny Schatz, notified the Fair board that he was ceasing negotiations on a lease agreement for the track.

Despite the fact that it was Schatz who ended the talks, the biggest backlash has been at the fair board, to the point where a Facebook page was created appealing to people to boycott the Red River Valley Fair in response to having no races this summer.

Justified or not, the fair has taken a glut of calls since the news broke.

"I really haven't slept the last couple of nights because I guess I take a lot of this stuff personally," fair manager Bryan Schulz said. "We've turned everything around out here. Fair attendance is booming, things like Big Iron are booming, and we're getting new sponsors for events.

"Then you get people that call and e-mail you that you're stupid and should be fired and that your epitaph should say you're the one that ruined racing in Fargo after 42 years."

While both sides say it was a number of little things that prevented a deal, the biggest hang-up apparently came down to race dates.

Schulz said the original contract was for Schatz to pay $20,000 rent for 20 nights of racing in a year. Schatz wanted more flexibility, and didn't want to be cornered into just racing one night per week.

"If you paid to rent the Fargodome for a year, and then you got to use it only 20 days? That wouldn't be good," Schatz said. "We tried to make as many things work as possible, and we tried to do it in a positive way. It didn't work out. I don't have any hard feelings."

Another issue came up with Big Iron, the fair's agricultural exhibition, as Schatz wanted to run a race that weekend.

"Big Iron was a part of it, but I think we got over that," Schulz said. "He would have liked to have had an event during Big Iron, but with millions of dollars of equipment out there, the security that would have had to be hired would have been immense."

Schulz said the talks were painstaking because of the detail involved in renting such a facility.

"It's not just him giving us $20,000, and us giving him the track and signing a contract on the back of a napkin," Schulz said. "There are legalities and insurance issues and who is going to pay for what, when, and you have to make sure all your T's are crossed and your I's are dotted. I think he got frustrated and decided it wasn't in his best interest."

Schatz said he had invested more than $40,000 in engineering costs, light redesign costs and other expenses, but added that he wasn't upset about it because he knew a contract wasn't in place.

Some drivers also might be affected by no racing at the West Fargo track.

"It's not just 'On no, now we're not going to race in Fargo,'" said Fergus Falls, Minn., driver Brock Gronwold. "There are sponsors that won't sponsor drivers that aren't running in Fargo. There are drivers that ran predominantly in Fargo, and now you hear that they might be quitting altogether. Will we lose racers? Time will tell. But I guarantee this isn't helping to gain any."

Some drivers have purchased motors and cars — Gronwold just purchased a Late Model — that they intended to run in West Fargo. Late Models cost about $30,000.

"Now if you're in Fargo, you can't race a Late Model within close to 100 miles," Gronwold said. "Those are long trips, and it gets expensive. Drivers will feel it."

Schulz said the fair board would continue negotiations with Schatz if Schatz wanted to resume the talks, but Schatz didn't sound like he would be returning to the table any time soon.

"I'll never say that I'm done with something, but it wasn't something I was comfortable dealing with anymore," he said. "I have no regrets. I made my best pitch and best attempt, and it didn't work out."

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