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Editor's
note: Irwindale Speedway made an announcement regarding their
2012 plans on Monday February 13. We will continue to
update our story as news comes in.
Irwindale Speedway, LLC filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on
Monday, the same day track management announced that the 2012
racing season at the speedway had been cancelled. New
details are emerging about the Chapter 7 bankruptcy
proceedings
in a detailed article by Tim Haddock on
ESPN L.A.
Irwindale Speedway, LLC owes creditors
nearly $350,000 including the company that owns the land, Nu-Wave
Industries, being owed $55,000 in unpaid rent. According
to the bankruptcy filings, Nu-Wave, not Jim Williams, also
owns the race track itself at a value of $31 million.
Other significant
claims include a $150,000 personal injury claim and unpaid
water and police bills. The list of creditors for the
Irwindale Speedway bankruptcy includes companies owned by
track owner Jim Williams which raises questions about the
accounting at the state-of-the-art half-mile speedway.
L.A. Racing is not
listed as a creditor. The racing school that has already
announced they will continue to operate despite the woes of
track management with bankruptcy and landlord problems.
L.A. Racing has likely made a separate arrangement with Nu-Wave
for use of the facility.
A bankruptcy
proceeding puts everything out in the open, including track
manager Bob Defazio's annual salary of $129,250 and annual
track revenue was still above $4 million in 2011 but down
nearly $600,000 from 2010.
Nu-Wave's
ownership of not just the property but the race track itself
means that racing is almost guaranteed to continue unless Nu-Wave
was able to find a potential buyer willing to pay the cost of
the expensive race track assets. This debunks any theory
that Irwindale will be shuttered for good as it is in the best
interests of Nu-Wave Industries to find someone to pay rent on
the $31 million facility.
Keith Lair of the L.A. Daily News has reported that the pit grandstands are being
deconstructed and that storage buildings are being emptied
out. A moving truck was also reportedly backed up against the
track office. The speedway website and Facebook pages have
been disabled, and the track highway sign has been turned off.
A grandstand company is listed as one of the creditors so it
is likely that the pit stands were simply being leased by
speedway management and not part of the assets that Nu-Wave
owns. The pit stands seem like a minor detail when you
realize the track is worth $31 million.
The multi-use facility opened up in 1999 with 6,500 permanent
seats, fully paved pits, and a one-eighth mile drag strip
behind the backstretch. It seems highly unlikely that
Irwindale Speedway, LLC's canceling of the 2012 oval track
racing season will lead to Irwindale staying dormant in 2012
between the L.A. Racing school, drifting events, and
commercial shoots.
If Stockton 99 Speedway could reopen, you have to think that
Irwindale Speedway, in the middle of the car crazy
Southern
California culture, would find a way to persevere. For
the health of short track racing, we can only hope that
someone will rescue this ill-fated facility to continue racing
there for years to come.
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