Plenty of questions surround future of historic racetrack

Because of 411 Raceway, Saturday nights in Seymour have been synonymous with short track racing for over 40-years. But for only the second time in the track’s storied history, the bleachers are empty and the pits are silent at the 3/8 of a mile asphalt oval. Rumors of financial trouble at the track began circulating shortly after last year’s racing season began. It all came to fruition when Galaxy Entertainment, the Shelbyville, Tennessee group that held the lease on the racing facility, approached track General Manager Buck Buckholz and informed him that the final two races would have to be canceled because of an expired lease. Galaxy is an organization that owns several racetracks around the country, whose principal owner, J.D. Woodward, from Houston, Texas, was afraid of liability issues after the official lease had run its course, therefore ending last race season prematurely. The questionable status of ownership is what is keeping the cars off the track this season as well. Despite months of negotiation with track owners, an investors group could not come to terms with the embattled Galaxy Entertainment for the sale of the property. After a winter of uncertainty, a drivers meeting was held at the raceway on March 6 with the announcement that the track would soon be sold at auction. The track, which is now in the hands of Furrow Auction Company in Knoxville, was originally planned to be sold last Thursday on the steps of the Sevier County Courthouse but was rescheduled to be auctioned at the track in 45 days. The impact of the locked gates at the track has not been limited to race fans. Several area merchants, who might have taken the economical windfall of Saturday race nights for granted in the past, have begun to feel the pinch. “It makes a big difference,” Don Floyd, owner of Don Floyd’s Market, observed. “People come from all over the state to race, and they usually stop in for gas, cigarettes or Cokes before the race. And a lot of them will stop by again afterwards.” The racing season for the nine divisions that compete at 411 has traditionally run from April through October, but has been put on hold as investors await the auction that will ultimately determine the fate of the racetrack. “It’s been here for so long we really haven’t kept up with exactly how much we lose when they’re not racing, but there is definitely an economical impact,” Floyd added. Buckholz, who no longer has a professional association with the racetrack, said that the real losers in the deal are the thousands of racing enthusiasts who flock to the track every Saturday night, and the community that has taken pride in hosting it. “Seymour and the people here in Seymour, along with all of the racers who put so much into it are who I feel bad for,” Buckholz stated. “ The fans and drivers have other places to go, like Smoky Mountain Raceway or Newport Raceway, but it is sad that the ones that have been so loyal to 411 have to go elsewhere.” Buckholz said that his biggest concern is with the racing future of the track. He said that he has heard talk of investors interested in purchasing the property and converting it into something other than a racing facility, such as a residential complex. Though those suggestions are just talk at this point, more than one local businessman has inquired about making the purchase with designs on making sure that the property remains a racetrack. “I’ve talked to the attorney’s,” said Fred Hardwick, owner of the Dixie Stampede, who has expressed interest in making a purchase to insure the maintaining of a racing facility. “My interest (in buying the facility) is only if it looks like it might go to something besides a racetrack. It’s just a matter of waiting the 45 days until the auction and watching what happens between now and then.” Buchholz said that once the track’s future is decided at the auction, it will still take up to three weeks to get it back into racing condition.