Unlike so many blogs on the net, I rarely use this as a platform for rants. I try to post stories that motorcycle enthusiasts and particularly motorcycle race enthusiasts will enjoy without it just being one long Dennis Miller-ish bitch session. Well, this is one of the few times where I’ve summoned up some self-righteous rage and need to vent.

Maybe the following reference is an 80s thing, like referring to something a totally awesome or exclaiming “Just say no”. If so, I’ll try to explain it below. You see, as a long-haired, tree-hugging, pinko-commie environmentalist type I’ve often heard, and have probably been called, the term NIMBY. This acronym came out of the post-Three Mile Island anti-nuclear reactor protests and was primarily aimed a folks who protested things being built near their home. Since back in those halcyon days, it was usually the liberals who did such protests (this was before the days of do-gooder fundamentalists protesting strip clubs, blue collar unions protesting Walmart and gun-toting conservatives protesting illegal aliens). The general idea was that we damned environmentalists were too weak-minded to understand the bigger issue and instead just wanted to protect our own ass.

My how the times they are a changin’. What does this have to do with motorcycles, my usual topic, you might ask? Well, plenty. It seems that the past decade has brought about a whole new breed of NIMBYs, this time from the very people that probably bitched about us hippies a mere twenty years ago. The new target for this phenomena? Race tracks, or to use the fashionable catch phrase of the day, noise pollution. (Rational people might think you were nuts for moving next door to a race track and then complaining about the noise but only idiots would dare question anyone fighting some type of pollution?)

There are two instances of this that have me the most pissed off. The first is happening in California where Laguna Seca continues to be restricted by local bone heads who moved into the hills outside Monterrey, built their mega-mansion and then - oppps! - discovered there was a race track there. Nevermind that the Laguna Seca motorsports park was built in 1956 and is maintained by a non-profit whose board is composed of local people including county officials. Somehow this apparently top secret facility eluded their detection until after they’d plopped down the nest egg left over from their dot com IPO. Now little Billy can’t take his Saturday afternoon nap because AMA Superbikes are getting in their qualifying session and damnit, something must be done. The end result is that Laguna Seca has a set number of big events (MotoGP, World Superbike, Vintage races, SCCA, etc) that they can run each year. These events must be approved by the board and are subject to complaints from local home owners. There has even been talk of setting a decibel limit which, if it happens, would pretty much crush the chances of having MotoGP there in the future. This July will undoubtedly be the litmus test for this.

The second instance of a race track being hit with sound problems is a much less spectacular venue in a much less affluent neighborhood but has a much more personal impact… The local MRA roadracing organization only has a few tracks on which to race. These same tracks also serve as venues for local track days, so they’re an asset even to non-racers. None of these tracks are world class. Hell, they aren’t really even national caliber. Most are short, bumpy and tight with crappy facilities. Passable classrooms for local racers and riders to hone their craft but tracks not worthy of any recognition outside Colorado. Of these, Second Creek Raceway is the most used as it is the closest to downtown Denver. Its also close to DIA, which would seem to be an ideal place for a race track since surely noise can’t be a problem directly underneath the path of landing aircraft! Well, think again. The grotesque stain of suburbia can encroach anywhere, even on a race track located in the middle of freakin’ nowhere with an airport just a few miles away. A bunch of developers (don’t get this environmentalist started on which layer of hell is reserved for land developers) decided to build a little blob of communities just a half mile from Second Creek. They called this little slice of paradise Fronterra Village and started putting up crappy little boxes made of OSB, dry wall and pastel paint. Like mushrooms after a rainstorm, one minute the area was empty open plains and the next it was covered with identical looking suburban dream homes. Families looking for affordable housing arrived like 49er’s racing for homesteads and then just as promptly started noticing strange noises on Friday nights and weekends. Petitions were signed, local county commissioners were called and soon the track owners started getting notices about breaking noise ordinances. It looks like this will be the last year for Second Creek (and probably their neighbor Rocky Mountain National Speedway) and soon the track will be turned into Second Creek Homes or something.

Meanwhile the environmentalists are complaining about how all these developments keep popping up like mushrooms after a rainstorm. Kentucky blue grass, acres of pavement and dislocation of local wildlife all have us hippies in a rage. Well, I say this obvious landscape pollution shouldn’t be allowed! …or at least not in my racetrack’s backyard.

[image from the Colorado Home Store web site.]