Found this:
Proposed facility would be ‘Racers Paradise’
By LARRY HILLIARD Ledger Staff Writer
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Matt Mullins and Bill Conger unveiled bold plans Thursday to put Cherokee County on the national racing map.
For Mullins and Conger, the name of their venture, Racers Paradise, says it all.
“It will be the dream place to go if you’re into motorsports,” Mullins said.
Racers Paradise will be built on a 1,700-acre site near Hwy. 105 and Lowry Road. It will feature two world-class road courses each more than 2.5 miles long, a skid pad and training area, motocross and ATV trails, cart trails, a drag strip and a nature park. Down the road, so to speak, the duo hopes the venture will be profitable enough to support trackside condos and a commercial business park, as well as a gas station and convenience store. There’s also room for a 1.5-mile test oval for NASCAR races.
Three national events are in the works, including an AMA motorcycle race, a Daytona prototype race and an off-road motorcycle race. Each event would draw between 20,000 and 40,000 fans.
They estimate it will cost $25 million to complete phase I of the project, which includes construction of the two tracks, training pad and parking lot.
The project would create 50 to 60 jobs and generate as much as $150 million for the local economy and as many as 200 jobs over the life of the project.
Conger said noise is the top concern about the project. But Conger said designers have “gone to great lengths to keep natural buffers to minimize the noise.” He also downplayed possible traffic congestion in the area.
Mullins, Conger and their investors would recoup their investment by selling memberships to the drivers club. A club membership could cost up to $4,500 a year but would grant members virtually unlimited access to Racers Paradise.
County residents also would be granted free access to some areas of the property.
Mullins and Conger held the last of their informational public meetings this past Thursday at Broad River Electric. The meeting was attended by about 30 people, including several Cherokee County Council members and Development Board Director Jim Cook.
Both Mullins and Conger have extensive racing backgrounds. Mullins drove on the NASCAR truck and ARCA series. Conger’s racing passion is motocross.
Mullins and Conger met with council in a closed-door session a few weeks ago. Council asked the pair to hold a meeting to gauge the public sentiment for the project.
At Thursday’s meeting, only one person expressed concern about the traffic.