| Charlotte County Speedway: A Call To Action | By Jack Smith
We just concluded our Independence Day celebrations with fireworks, picnics, family get-togethers and some pretty good racing. All of this in the name of patriotism, love of country and hopefully to celebrate the freedoms that our Founding Fathers brought to this land called America.
We all said the Pledge of Allegiance, listened to several renditions of patriotic songs and now it's time to go back to work, at least for the majority of Americans.
Many of us will drive our flag adorned cars and trucks to our jobs without much thought about the significance of the holiday past except to perhaps tell embellished stories of the great weekend parties, and perhaps argue over yellow flag finishes at Daytona.
The July meeting of the Charlotte County Airport Authority is Thursday, July 11.
At the June CCAA meeting no race fans were in attendance, hopefully this Thursday will be different.
What on earth you ask, does this dreary sounding meeting in Punta Gorda have to do with Independence Day and Fourth of July celebrations?
Patriotism to me has always been best expressed not in waving a flag but in using the liberty, freedoms and rights we are so lucky to enjoy in this Country. One of those basic rights is participation in the day-to-day workings of our government, especially when it affects us, our families and our interests.
It is our government and we have the ability and the right to make it work for us. It doesn't belong to George Bush or the Republicans or the Democrats, it belongs to each of us. And we share the responsibility to make it work for us.
The Charlotte County Airport Authority is a government body of elected officials who work for the people. Not for Leroy Davidson, not for Glen Vanhorn, not for Chris Felden, but for you and you and me.
The board members who sit in the cushy chairs on Thursday have the ability to decide the fate of Charlotte County Speedway. They can, and eventually will decide that fate based on citizen input, no matter how much they want the courts to do their job for them.
In other words, if there are no race fans there to express their point of view, to show the board the racing community is a force, and to challenge their actions or inactions, then the attorneys for the combatants in this seven-year power struggle will continue to drag on the battle.
Do the race fans win by sitting back and not having a voice?
Do the racers win by sitting back and letting things "just play themselves out"?
They haven't won to this point have they?
We have two years of points fund money going into a black hole (or perhaps a black wallet) somewhere.
We have seen one of best-located racetracks in Florida drift into a state of disrepair, and more importantly public disrepute.
We have seen a racing community drift into a state of near civil war over control of a 1/3 mile piece of asphalt and yet the racing community has sat back and let the government body called the Charlotte County Airport Authority be subject to the whims of lawyers and their own inaction and ineptitude.
It's understood that many people are unsure what difference one individual can make. It's also understood that many people are intimidated by a government proceeding.
I'll let you in on a little secret they don't want you to know: a typical government board meeting such as the one in Punta Gorda on this coming Thursday is no more organized or intimidating than a Saturday night driver's meeting.
If 50 or 100 race fans will get the initiative to attend the meeting and if even a half-dozen use the two minutes allotted to them to speak, the Charlotte County Airport Authority members will be the ones intimidated.
They need to be reminded about the economic impact Charlotte County Speedway has on the local community. They need to be reminded of the thousands of dollars brought into the local community each week, the statewide exposure the traveling series brings to the area 40 weeks or more a year.
And they need to be reminded that this is about thousands of race fans, not just two or three 'businessmen'.
When Dale Earnhardt lost his life at Daytona several media publications tried to exploit the situation by getting the autopsy photos. Many race fans worried that these would be published in newspapers, magazines and be shown on crass television shows.
Teresa Earnhardt led a national campaign, joined by tens of thousands of race fans, and got a law passed protecting the right to privacy and stopped the efforts of the media to show the photos.
A group of motorcyclists, used their organization of members called ABATE to overturn a law requiring helmets while riding. Having worked closely with ABATE on some first amendment issues in the early nineties, I can tell you without qualification the racing community in Florida has as much political clout potentially as ABATE. You have this clout primarily because of the numbers of fans and the economic impact the racing community has with it's 25 racetracks in this state.
The question is, are race fans willing to sit back and do nothing and possibly lose a speedway by their own inaction, or is the racing community surrounding the Charlotte County Speedway going to stand up and protect their irreplaceable treasure?
We spoke with the Airport Director today and he told us the board will be getting an update on the status of the speedway at the meeting. This means the board will listen to what the lawyers of the three sides (Glen Vanhorn, Leroy Davidson and Chris Felden) have to say, as well as anything anyone else has to say.
The Airport Authority is in a wait and see mode, afraid of getting pulled into a lawsuit themselves.
It's time they hear from you, the race fan.
The meeting is at 9AM on Thursday, the place is the Charlotte County Airport which is a half-mile north of the speedway entrance. The phone number to the CCAA is 941-639-1101.
It does not matter which side of whatever fence you may be on in this matter. It matters immensely that the CCAA hears from you.
Maybe, just maybe if the race fans get it together, do whatever it takes to attend the meeting on Thursday and show the CCAA they care about their speedway, next Fourth of July will have a whole new meaning to word Independence Day.
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