Investigating the Absurd Lawsuit Against Laguna Seca
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We take a dive into the lawsuit against Laguna Seca Raceway.
Huge shoutout to @lightspeed369 for helping us make this episode possible. Also thanks to spacemonkeyfilms.us/ who shot some great drone footage for us. And thanks to all the track heads and neighbors we talked to along the way.
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Laguna Seca has been around since the late 1950s, making it over 50 years old which is the minimum for a site to be considered historic. These houses are FAR newer. IMO the track should be deemed a historic site and the idiots who bought houses next to a RACE TRACK and have a problem with the noise told to pound sand or buy earplugs.
People just always love to try to ruin anything and everything.
@@SFbayArea94121 Truth. This whole thing smells like a massive landgrab for developers of fancy gated housing communities.
I should add, @S1apShoes made a similar video covering local race tracks that close up due to noise complaints by newer developments that choose to build houses close to race tracks then complain about the noise. Hell a similar thing happened with Cleetus' Freedom Factory. We're seeing an assault on our sport, and for some, our livelihoods by rich NIMBYs.
@Asytra It is a land grab. All done by developers with foreign money. Yeah. Believe it or not. Much of US privately owned land is owned by foreign companies. I won't name where. All because this comment would be censored. And deemed as "hate speech". When it is the truth.
Pound sand is the best part.
If you don't want to hear racecars, don't buy a house next to a racetrack. People are dumb as hell.
right lol. and i feel like it’s not actually that loud- i used to live by dixie speedway and i couldn’t hear the races from a mile away even before they put up sound barriers
i currently live next to one of the busiest interstates in the state and i don’t complain about the noise because i willingly moved to a house close to a busy interstate. my friend used to live by hartsfield-jackson and he never complained about the sound of the planes going over his apartment because he willingly lived in an apartment a mile from the airport.
Didn’t watch the video before you posted did you? They couldn’t find a resident that cared about the sound. I get it though, you gotta get those sweet sweet 👍
Watch the video. It's one guy.
@@misseselise3864 i also live next to a busy local airport here in the uk, have done for nearly 40 years. not only do i not complain but it got me into planes. Moving next to one of THE most famous racetracks in the world and then complainiing it is loud, when it was there first, is just sanctimonious, arrogant, selfish and spoiled behaviour. if you are that rich, you can move somewhere else and let someone who will enjoy living there do so.
Man, here in Chile, we had the Codegua International Speedway built not too long ago, it was in the middle of nowhere and since it was kind of a hassle to get there from the capital where most people live, a small town was settle close to the track, who complained about noise and had it closed, it's a story that will repeat as long as there's people who don't think ahead. (Thankfully it was reopened some time later)
what was the reason it opened up again?
@@fetBthey wanted to race
Seremos o no seremos.
This is so different from Interlagos. It's literally in the middle of a lower middle class neighborhood, very close of some favelas, and people like the circuit, the track. The pubs around always full of people after the races.
They shouldn't build residences around race tracks only commercial and industrial properties. Businesses won't complain about race car noise.
Watching you guys make this video has brought me so much joy. As a former employee at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, I have tears in my eyes because this track makes dreams come true.
I lived 2 blocks from the IMS for 2/3 of my life. These people can cry me a river, build a bridge, and get over it.
面白いvideo😆
His name is Mike weaver and he needs to be harassed
Then that settles it. Lawsuit is over.
That’s what I was thinking. Live in Indianapolis and was just thinking there’s no Fkin way it’s loud at all from a mile away
Speedway Indiana my home away from home
That one lady said it perfectly, imagine moving somewhere near a racetrack - knowing it's a racetrack - and then complaining about about it and trying to get it shut down. Real smooth brain stuff.
Realtors rarely ever disclose that as they’re afraid it’ll hurt the sale
@@carabooseOG realtors are scum
People have done that when they bought their home next to Luke Air Force base near Phoenix. They do a lot of training there. Pilots from many our allied countries go there to train.
@@nuckels188 realtors are literal parasites that contribute 5-10% to overall home prices, which scales with inflation because they're percentage based. They're garbage human beings.
@@carabooseOGeven if they don't, and let's assume you buy a property sight unseen, I think a simple google of the overhead area is the bare minimum one should do to at least see what the area looks like. This is on the buyer, full stop.
There was a dirt circle track in my hometown that had been there for many decades, not sure how long, but I was going there as a kid in the 90s. It was built in a very rural part of California, near Santa Maria. Very little homes, mostly ranchers and farmers. Around 2012, a developer built a couple dozen homes DIRECTLY next to the track. Eventually, the HOA and others sued this local track for noise complaints. In 2021, the track shut down indefinitely due to the ongoing legal issues. I'm sure they just ran out of money fighting it. Wasn't a fancy track, just your usual stock cars running around, snacks for a dollar, tickets for like $5, kids enter free, that kind of place.
This is probably one of the most important and sobering vids yall have done. Despite many others covering this, what you add to the end about protecting tracks, and adding your own story to the legacy, this is what car culture is about. Perfect
The track was there before the houses!
And it gives their houses value
yeah they say that like 90 seconds in that video
@@catz3144hell yeah!
@@misseselise3864I know that now lol I jumped the gun, but man people knew what they were buying into.
Indy car use that track and herbie use in 1977
In most cases when you buy a house next to a race track, military base, rock quarry, whatever…you have to sign a noise waiver. So why the complaints now?
In most cases, people sign the waiver without reading it, and then complain...
that is true@@Bob-fq9nw
When F-35s got stationed in Vermont to replace the outgoing F-16s the locals in Burlington threw a tantrum over the noise. If you live near an airport with a fighter wing attached it's going to be loud no matter what. No complaints when F-16s took off with full afterburner (read: loud as shit) for transatlantic flight but an F-35 taking off for routine operations was now too loud. In reality it was an anti-war/anti-nuke stance couched in a noise concern. What this group wanted was to change the Air Force's mission there to logistics because reasons. The Air Force told them to sit down, shut up, and color. This looks like a bunch of rich CA types trying to abuse CEQA and other laws like it to screw over a historic racetrack because reasons. Anything from keeping out the riffraff racing fans to a landgrab. NIMBYs gonna NIMBY.
Simple answer: rich people want to be more rich so they are gonna complain to tear down track and more house and more and more increase in their property value
There's an air force base that donated land to the town and a few years later the town is suing the AF base over noise. America's gotten weird
I live near Laguna Seca and my family and I have loved going there for indycar recently. Biggest annoyance is the added traffic, but it's already bad in Monterey during school season, beach season, then car week season. Just the reality of living in a beautiful coastal area with prominent car culture. Noise is only an issue if you live in the surrounding neighborhoods but dissipates quickly as you go farther. I don't think this lawsuit is supported by many monterey bay residents.
Same thing happened to brands hatch in the uk, council gave permission to build a housing estate next to a race track, then started enforcing noise limits and curfews on them!
China's Zhuhai Circuit also has this problem, but the court and the government rejected the complaint. The reason is that the circuit was built earlier. The developers knew that this was a disadvantage, but still chose to develop residential areas. Those residents need to bear the consequences themselves.
when the somber music comes in and Jer hits us with "when i was a kid, my favorite track when playing Gran Turismo, was Leguna Seca." MAN that hit home. 100% didnt expect tears this vid
The corkscrew is amazing.
His eyes were looking watery and I don't blame him a bit
my favorite was ss2 (wet) and ss11 and ss11 (2) loved those tracks
That’s twice in months now he’s managed it. Donut really knocking it out of the park recently with a cast of people that really make you care about the subject
Reminds me of where I came from 🥲
The problem with racetracks closing is that it promotes street racing, which, in my opinion, is more annoying and dangerous...
It doesn't affect that though. most street racing is people that cant afford track fees. i have 3 big tracks near me and still tons of street racing because its cheaper to just race on the roads nearby. so unless track cost decrease then people will continue to street race and the people that can afford it wont mind just driving to the next one
@ethanacton408 you're not entirely wrong ofc but it does cause more street racing because if you're closing the places to race people are just gonna go to the street it's like underground fighting yes you can do it legally but you're gonna have people that can't afford that life do it underground and if you shut down all the combat sports it would go harder in the street same concept
@@ethanacton408you think street racers can’t afford track fees…. Your joking right? You think the guys who race gtrs, zl1s, vettes, lambos, hellcats, stangs, etc. all 70k+ vehicles with heavy modifications can’t afford track fees? I’ve seen poor drifters in Miata’s go to the track, that’s not why they race in the road, if there were more open test days at a local drag strip, there would be less drag racing, lot of the times the fee is only $50 for a pass
@@ethanacton408the problem is only how many drag strips there are locally, in Dallas, the closest 1/4 mile strip is a he Texas Motorplex, and thats a good 40~hour long drive from the middle of Dallas.
Gets the racers off the road....
I was born and raised in Montreal, Canada and we had an iconic race track maybe an hour from the city called the Autodrome Saint-Eustache. It’s been there since 1965 and was owned and run by the same family until its closure. Was a race track that became popular overtime and started hosting the only Formula Drift events in Canada. Once that was done the residents who lived near the track complained about the noise, traffic, racing, etc. and ended up shutting its doors in 2019 because of these complaints. I often drive by it when I’m in the area and still see the huge track signs leading up to the entrance then see that it’s a land development now. I’m hoping this won’t happen to a track as iconic as Laguna Seca. 🥺
Thank you, Donut Media. I’m happy for you all, and the success of the channel, but this video gives me joy. Thank you for leveraging your reach to highlight such an important issue for us SoCal enthusiasts. First class.
😂 the cars driving by are louder than the race track! 😂
lol
highway 68 gets very congested, yet...lets complain about racecars.
Yup at night when I’m up late I hear guys on freeway or streets driving in their loud cars 😂 I don’t care as much
We got a super cool new race track near us, And there are 3 people that make up 90% of the noise complaints. Track has incredibly tight sound restrictions, and you can't hear the track sitting in your car in the pits. The track is right beside a highway, and the track gets noise complaints when there's no one is even on the track. Group of Harleys drives by? Racetrack noise. Loud sportsbikes? Racetrack noise. The track installed an insane state-of-the-art sound measuring system and can provide data for any moment in time for the entire season of operation, and recently sued the county over the noise issue and won. There are some wins for the motorsports crowd!
@@kevinmcnutt3415 i live 2 miles away from Interlagos, F1 cars are loud as fuck everytime they corner in the corner near my house i can hear at 2 miles, but i close the window and the sound is gone, closer is worst but again we just close the windows if we want to. Race track is only annoying because of the traffic in big events, but everywhere that get 20k+ people is annoying, Taylor Swift makes the same amount of traffic compared to F1 😅
They did this exact thing to Bandimere Speedway in Colorado. No one had issues with the speed way that had been there for DECADES until people started building houses on the other side of the mountain and complaining about noise, knowing it's been there well before they moved in. Now the Speedway is shut down, and being demolished and forced to move out East by the Airport.
Wow, such loser behavior from those people 🤦♂️.
Fellow Colorado native here. it’s a damn shame what these people complain about. Instead of complaining about noise from a race track they moved next to,how about the put more effort into cleaning up downtown Denver with the homeless and all the immigrants. In the last 5 years it’s turned into a shithole
Getting rid of the tracks will just make people drive much more dangerously on the road. Then they'll complain for a "place" where people can drive fast.
It is disgusting, last I heard they are putting an amazon warehouse where it is, which is going to mean all those whiners are now going to be dealing with ugly buildings and 18 wheelers on the highway, thanks you bunch of bitches
@noahs2135 yup I was born and raised in CO. Spent 26 years there, in the last..8-10 it's gone down hill fast. So I moved to MT to get out of that cesspool. I used to live in Morrison too, we'd always climb the backside of the mountain when I was a kid and get some good views while the funny cars sped down the track. It was a blast. It was also a hotspot for Morrison and the businesses there cause of the Red Rocks entrance and the speedway generated a ton of revenue for that beautiful little town.
Great video, in 1985 I won the 125 pro class at the CMC motocross race at Laguna Seca. A few years ago I took my daughter to a mountain bike race there and after a good google search, I was able to find the remnants of the old moto track. The start pad was still there and you could see the outline, berms and jumps under the brush and grass. So that was cool for me. I even found the old Cycle News article. If my memory serves me correct, Factory Honda’s Johnny O’Mara won the 250 pro class that day. Ironically I won the 125 class with 4-3 moto scores, not ideal but it was my first professional motocross win. This video makes me now want to go back and do a track day so I can experience the legendary auto racing circuit. Thanks for doing this video guys.
Same story in the UK. People buying houses near race tracks are even told "don't worry, it will close soon".
the closest house to Laguna Seca is 612 Belavida Rd. and it is 2378ft away or about half a mile from the track. Assuming 0 wind and 0 obstacles (theres plenty of obstacles, like hills and trees, so on) that 100db at the track would equate to about 40db on their lawn. That's literally the same as a refrigerator running. Inside their house it would be practically impossible to detect. Also the home was literally built in 2002. Meaning nobody inhabited that space until 45 years after people have been racing at that track.
Thanks! Saved me a trip to an attenuation calculator.
The sound of the cars on the track is more than 100dB mate - 115-130dB That is roughly the same as a rock concert I lived over 1 mile away from a stadium that had frequent concerts and I could always hear what songs they were playing Your theory is theory. Reality is different
@@jasonhulford16 except that Laguna seca specifically has a decibel limit unlike your local stadium
@@jasonhulford16 except Laguna Seca like most race tracks has a db limit, and that limit is 95db or 90db depending on day.
Checking pictures on google and the track on Street view there is an entire hillside between the house and the track. You ain't hearing shit from the track there.
In the UK a person bought a house near Mallory Park and then complained about the noise. They had an ulterior motive in that they wanted to buy the land and build on it. Fortunately the track is still going. Believe it or not there have been cases of people moving out of large cities to the country and then complaining about the smells, noise of cows and even church clocks striking the hour.
This is likely to be the same story, they want to buy the land and put up more matchstick mcmansions.
i know of one case where someone built a house in the middle of a farming area, and then immediately proceeded to bitch and moan about all the farming and farm animals, they were rightfully told to fuck off pretty quickly.
People have started to build houses near me, and I know it's only a matter of time before someone starts bitching about my chickens, especially the rooster.
@@Oddman1980bitch about their houses back :)
@@bblasphemous The track was granted to the county by the U.S Army. Any changes to its land use must be negotiated through them first as they placed clauses in place directly because of situations like this. At worst the land can only revert back to just be a public park with rv hookups.
There is a local track by me Kalamazoo speedway that's been around since the early 60's and they had to fight with the same crap with people who moved in to houses that were built way later.
Same thing happend a few years ago after developers built condos in downtown Monterey right next to a favored nightspot where local bands played at for years, and then they sued them over the noise to the point where they no longer had live music. "Saucito Land Company, which owns the adjacent building, sued Bull & Bear on June 1, 2017, arguing the noisy venue was making Saucito’s residential tenants unhappy and depriving the company of rent." I grew up in Monterey in the 60s, wrenched in several auto repair shops in the 70s and used to go to the La Guna Seca races every summer. I moved away in the 80s, returned in the 2010s and one of the first things I did was go to a few La Guna Seca races. In the 70s during the annual La Guna Seca historic car races week, Monterey came alive with the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance going on and the masses of historic cars and car buffs everywhere. Those two events birthed what now has grown to become, in the last 45 years, a massive publicity production featuring thousands of vintage and rare cars, car shows, vintage and expensive car auctions, car related events and night life, including numerous street car shows and street festivals in the neighboring cities of Seaside, Pacific Grove, Sand City, Marina, Carmel, Carmel Valley and Salinas. Thousands and thousands of tourists and car owners come to Monterey for what now takes a month to put together, enjoy and then dismantle. In the 1990s La Guna Seca hosted several summer concerts including Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, G. Love & Special Sauce, Joan Osborne, Leftover Salmon, Ratdog, Wavy Gravy, Wilco, Bob Dylan, George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars, The Black Crowes, Dick Dale, Indigo Girls, Widespread Panic, Gin Blossoms, Phish, The Freddy Jones Band, 4 Non Blondes, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Meat Puppets, The Mother Hips, Blues Traveler, Shawn Colvin, The Allman Brothers Band, The Jeff Healey Band, 10, 000 Maniacs, The Samples and Wailing Souls. Monterey should not bite the hand that feeds them.
You should file an amicus brief in support of the defendants (Leguna Seca). Honest,y, the decibel readings is pretty persuasive evidence that the plaintiffs are full of crap.
To be fair, the track day he measured was a sound limited event. Most track days are limited to 100 decibels. Cars louder than that can't run those days. If he wanted to do a real test, he would go out for a big event with no restrictions.
@@ripn929707Given the statistics provided let us say the reading was 120db in theory would equate to about 62-65db in the same neighborhood measured. So the equivalent of an EV passing your house from tire noise. The whole lawsuit is a desperate attempt at a land grab. For reference, the rifle range would be 140db+ and is far far closer to the impacted residents
@@carownervirus4438exactly, I personally think they just want more land for more residential area because greed
@ripn929707 you mean... the big events run in accordance with the land use permit? It's actually exactly the type of event he measured which is the crux of the argument.
@@ripn929707 Like when the banned mazda 787B rotary from racing lamans due to decibels but it was really because they kicked everyone's ass. It was pumping out 130 decibels though. 😅
Very needed video, glad to see Donut calling out frivolous lawsuits. As a general aviation enthusiast, small GA airports are being hurt by the same people.
Agreed! If you cannot cope with the noise then... DON'T buy or build a house next to an airport, racetrack, etc. I am fine with opposing a new thing like that being planned, but the track was built before the houses, so the track should not get sued.
@@WordsRelyReal I want to see these type of people suing military bases for being "too noisy" when the entire idea of these bases is training the soldiers which gonna save their sorry asses one day.
@@WordsRelyRealall of this frivolous garbage should be shut down. stop wasting resources
The difference is. One thing just transports people to places and burns a lot of fuels and isn't needed. The other is an entertainment complex enjoyed by people. If it was up to me, each state would be allotted 1 airport for the entire state. I live in Montana which is huge, but I would rather drive 600-800 miles to get to an airport. I think we could do with about 1/50th of the flights we currently have. If you find that you can't work without constant travel. Relocate, or get a better job. Nobody wants to listen to airports, nobody wants planes flying over their houses, and certainly nobody wants to be anywhere near the airport when they do their mandatory fire response tests and burn about 5,000 gallons of fuel every month sending the giant clouds of thick sticky smoke over homes and schools.
We used to have a drag strip here in Paulding County, but it was bought out by a strip mall developer that was never developed. I wish I could've seen it in action
The Rockford Speedway in Loves Park, IL closed in 2023 & sold off to be redeveloped as a commercial zone. The track was built in 1947 and was/is a 1/4 mile oval track with 22° of banking. The track surface was about as smooth as the surface of the moon, but it was FAST. As of the day I'm typing this out, the reception hall next door & 90% or so of the tracks facilities have all been torn down & destroyed, leaving only the track itself behind for however long it'll be before they get started on breaking down the concrete. It really hurts to see and experience your local raceway being demolished without so much as a sliver of hope that it will be saved. The sale of the land was done soon after the death of the track owner Jody Deery and was subtlety and privately sold to a developer. The sale was only made public once the deal had been finalized, offering zero chance for the racetrack's fate to be changed. Having lived 15 minutes from the track almost my entire life, the sound of late model stock cars racing on Sunday afternoons and practicing on Saturdays will be forever missed. Not to mention the trailer races, figure 8 races, and spectator drags to name a few.
our small local track had these issues this past summer. basically, there was a land dispute between the land the track was on and a neighbor and suddenly it meant that the track was too loud. then the neighbor was caught driving up and down the road on his ATV trying to skew the sound readings, when the track hired a company to come in to take readings at all of the neighbor's homes.
Hopefully he got slapped with the cost of getting those readings.
The governments EPA GANG taking freedoms..... Bidens America!
@@theglitch99 The EPA was founded by a Republican
@RetroGamerr1991 if that's true? Doesn't change the fact that they have been weponized and are/ where givin too much power by the current administration!
HOA gated community...
The corkscrew is literally up there with eau rouge/raidillon, ascari chicane, maggotts/becketts, etc as one of the most iconic series of corners in the world. Hopefully it never dies
its also one of the gnarliest sections on any track in all of motorsports do drive in real life, even in a slow car It puckers your cheeks every single time.
Yeah hopefully Mike Penix Jr goes first
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Pretty smart to buy a house near a noise source that's cheaper than it otherwise might be and then get rid of the noise to increase your property value.
Same here in Colorado, Bandimere speedway was shut down because of noise complaints from newly built houses. Track was built in 1958.
And nobody saw the business opportunity of a lifetime to sell noise-cancelling headphones?! So much for capitalist opportunism...
Love Laguna race track. I was part of a Porsche race team in CA around 2000. G.A.S. and in the POC. Once at Laguna we had to add mufflers for sound ordinance. They had people at different corners of the track so everyone lifted at those points. It was a mad dash to parts store to fab mufflers to the cars. In velocity magazine the centerfold was pics of about 12 or so cars with all these weird exhaust mufflers pointing up and to the left so sound would go inwards of the track- Good times indeed.
Nothing would soothe my soul more than a drink/joint while sitting on my porch and listening to engines roar. I would love a house close to a track 😂
I love coming home from my second shift on the weekends and I can hear the late models and modifieds from over a mile away! It’s a relaxing sound! Just to hear engines screaming at high rpm on a dirt track
The whole argument that the cars are loud is so funny to me. Just because I don't live next to Monaco doesn't mean I don't have neighbors in their eg civics with five inch radius exhaust pipes thinking they're Ayrton Senna. If anything, I'd rather hear the actual racecar than some kid who thinks he's driving one.
Come to, Well actually, No dont come here, the crimes here is to basically cry, but Rosario has an racetrack that can be heard. And still no one is bitching about it.
I’ve lived next to an airport for over 20 years. When a plane flys over, guests will ask me how I deal with it. I always ask, deal with what? I don’t even notice it because you get so used to it. Edit: I completely forgot to add that i also live next to a major highway AND I hear train horns in the distance because I’m near tracks. Goes to show you get used to this stuff.
As I'm reading your comment I hear a plane flying into DFW airport lol. Right under one of the flight paths, but you get used to it! It's not bad. Sometimes the squeaky landing gear coming down is louder than the engines.
I used to live close to a large Airforce base. Big military jets a few hundred feet up are always a pleasure and never a problem.
I used to live right up against the railroad tracks. When I moved to a house a good 1/4-mi from the trains, I couldn't sleep for weeks unless I opened my windows to let in the soothing sound of those choo-choos.
@@25aspoonerRight? If I hear something interesting flying over I run outside to check it out haha.
I've heard stories of people who moved away from airport or from area where an airport shut down that it took them a long time to get used to the quietness again. People were so used to the sound that they can't go to sleep without it.
The Air Force Academy in Colorado has a similar problem. Amazingly people bought houses at the end of a runway. Then complained that planes were flying over their high dollar homes.
I’m glad yall covered this topic. As a motorcycle track rider/racer, I’ve heard soo many stories about law suits with that track. Nice work donut
I built my house next to a nuclear waste dump and I am now suing the city because my dog has two tails.
While funny, that's not how nuclear power works and jokes like this hurt climate change efforts by unfairly painting nuclear as "un clean" when it's in reality one of the best sources of energy we have currently.
Pah my dog can fly because i live next to the red bull plant and there is a leak. He is constantly hunting the flying deere
@@KuRsAwow he said nuclear waste, not nuclear power. HLW does fall under nuclear waste...
2 tails would be cool tho
That just means that’s a double good dog
I'm so glad you guys tackled this topic because, let's face it, this lawsuit is bullsh*t...
From what I heard here on Brazil. The last phase of Ultimate Drift was going to be hosted in an abandoned football camp in the middle of the city, which was going to be restaured by the event and used furthermore for other stuff (maybe football itself). But they gave up when someone from the government stopped the repairs because it "weren't bring repaired for the correct reason that was built at first place". They hosted the event on the airport near, but the camp still abandoned for more than 7 years.
The problem is they destroying the track for athletics. Despite the poor conditions, were the place for some for training. A smarter move would be making a drift area in Interlagos.
@@retromaniaco_br7422 The camp isn't "modifiable" so after the event it could be reverted to another sport? From what I heard the idea was to do that. And since it's abandoned, I think I prefer the modification anyways...
I've been going to at least 1 event a year at Laguna for decades. It's a great time to enjoy with friends. I really hope the suit gets squashed. I think they do a good job of managing the noise levels for the smaller events. Big events the series (IMSA, Indycar, TransAm, etc.) have existing regs around how loud the cars can be, since they have to fit in all over the country/world.
I worked at an industrial facility that had a neighborhood butted up against it. The neighborhood was built after the facility, and they'd complain all the time about noise and anything that they considered a nuisance. My thinking every time I'd hear about them complaining was, "Why did they move in right next to this place? What did they expect?" It seems like sometimes people move places specifically to have something to complain about. Some people just have nothing better to do.
Speculate, sue, sell!
America is full of whiney losers now its sad to see
had it in my town as well someone built a house next to the local airfield and then constantly complained about the noise of the planes. The other one bought a house next to the curch and complained about the curchbell
I guess trees along the edges of the race track closest to the houses would be the best solution. They'll block out most of the sound, and be the cheapest option. Also, Laguna Seca might be able to call it 'Carbon Offsetting'.
Like the park of Monza racing circuit
If it wasn't on a dry ass area. Then they will complain the trees are taking their water away from their gardens. People are dumb. And I bet it's the ones in the walled neighbourhood who are making the fuss, not the people they interviewed.
How expensive are stone walls the ones you get in cages or a wall of unusable tires would look cool
This is video is so well done, from content to presentation! It’s the best Donut video I’ve seen in a while. Kudos to the team.. keep up the great work!
I recently bought a house near Pacific Raceways near Seattle. We knew we were buying very near an active race track. The only thing that bothers me is the NHRA NW Nationals. The top fuel and funny cars will make your heart skip a beat when they launch. Simple. We just use it as an excuse to take a little weekend trip out of town. In my case proximity to a race track was actually a selling point as I enjoy going to races and events. The first guy he talked to summed it up for me.
That ending hit hard. I grew up going to my local track El Cajon Speedway watching the Saturday night guys and the destruction derbies after. Then as I got a little older I got to race on it with my local karting club right before it closed. Now it's just an empty lot next to the airport. They didn't even develop it despite all the whining about housing or expanding the airport. Such a damn shame.
Man, I grew up in lakeside and forgot all about the demo derbies as a kid…damn
Here in Phoenix AZ we are very fortunate to have Firebird (formally Wildhorse Pass, formerly formerly Firebird) sticking around. It has some incredibly fun tracks and is in a really convenient location. While most the courses are in a desperate need of a repave and maintenance, I have hopes the track will be able to return to it's former glory. It was the site of my first few track days, and countless number of events and memories. Plus it has 4 separate circuits and combining two of them, the longest track in Arizona which incorporates the drag strip as the main straight!
I'm so glad it reopened. Is it RadFord racing that owns it now?
Radford/Firebird is offering a country club membership option. I put my name on the list to become a member when they open membership which will be 3/16/2024.
it stays because its on tribal land and gila river doesnt bend over for the nearby suburbs outside the border
They were supposed to demolish it to build an overpass, more shopping (like we need that) and a entertainment venue (again like we need another one here in AZ) Im sure the Indian tribe would make more money with shopping and such but Im glad to see the track sticking around. Now if they just put some money into it to make it more modern and host more events there it would be perfect. Radford Racing actually owns their section so that was staying regardless of what was going to happen to the rest of the facility.
I camped there, the rifle range woke me up at 8:00 am sharp every morning. Those people filing lawsuits need to get over it or move, that track is so historic it would be a huge shame if the track closed because of a bunch of HOA Karens
I just found out there was a dirt circle track a few miles from my house. Being in Florida, it was one that had races promoted by Bill France Sr. with Fireball Roberts being a regular. A few days before that, i found out that the county dump was previously used as a drag strip. 60 years ago, when all of this existed, these areas would have been the middle of nowhere with sporadic houses, citrus groves, and pastures, yet racetracks everywhere.
Now I want to see the Donut Team trying out different race tracks in the US and maybe have new hi-lo made exactly for that purpose
Excellent idea 💡
This would be a great series, one track per episode. A series that covers the history as well as the modern operations of racetracks around the country (then the world). A LOT of potential content that hasn't been tapped.
@@aadams3316 even some of the smaller race tracks could get exposure and help keep tbe lights on
@@aadams3316 it could show the local communities the new for a track and benefit. Especially in places with takeovers
the hi-lo tour
Thank you for mentioning palm Beach international raceway. It used to be my local track and was heart breaking when it closed down. Was an awesome spot that used to be in the middle of nowhere, until wealthy people moved near it in new houses
It wasn’t any housing development that shut it down. It was the owners who bought it and didn’t want the track. They just wanted the land and they wanted to rezone it and sell it.
VOTE REPUBLICAN AND SAVE COMBUSTION ENGINE AUTOSPORTS
It still hurts, I was the 3rd generation in my family to race there and unfortunately the last, but just know it had nothing to due with a housing development with it closing. Owners just sold it to the wrong people.
@GardsFTW not to start something, but I'm genuinely curious if Trump (or other republicans) has said anything about removing the regulation on cars that have been inplaced on them so far or any other laws that have badly affected the car market.
Just recently, my local dirt track (Boyd's Speedway in Ringgold, GA, which has been in operation since 1952) just closed and suspended the 2023 racing season, in 2018 the city of Cleveland, TN, shut down Cleveland Speedway and there's nothing left of the track today (most of the grandstands and stuff went up the road to the newly reopened Mountain View Speedway in Spring City, TN) and the closest track to me for dirt racing is North Georgia Speedway in Chatsworth. At one time Ringgold had 2 drag strips, Brainerd Motorsports Park is stil running, whereas Drag City is abondoned after people complained about the noise and of course, the neighbors won.
Here in Madrid, Spain, que have exactly the same situation with Jarama circuit, a track dating back to 1967, corner names include Nuvolari, Fangio,Le mans,Farina, Ascari, Bugatti, Monza and Maria de Villota, so you can tell the circuit has some history.
The same thing is happening in Portugal with the Estoril circuit.. noise complaints from people that bought the house years after the circuit was built
I lived about 5 miles as the crow flies to the west of LS from 2013-2015 (basically on the coast in Seaside). Some heavy fog mornings, you could hear the cars on track from my backyard. Personally, that just made me excited. It was an extra treat I didn't expect when I moved there. 500 miles later on that track, I can say it was everything I ever wanted it to be. This was a case where it was great to "meet" my hero.
Thanks for covering this!!
I live in Wetherill Park in Sydney Australia, the closest track to me is Eastern Creek Raceway and Western Sydney International Dragway(which are both next door to each other). The only times i hear any noise from the track (the Dragway not the racetrack specifically) is when the Top Fuel dragster's come out and even then you only hear the pass for a few seconds, heck the traffic on the main road here is louder than the dragsters but you can tell from the engine note that its the dragster and not a regular commuter car. Not only does the noise not bother me but it encourages me tu turn on the TV and watch the races live on the telly 😅
This reminds me of a lawsuit back in the 90's where I lived at the time (Laguna Hills). The county at the time had been planning for years to put in a bypass (what became highway 73). It was funny to see all these homes spring up, with a wide swath of land go undeveloped. We knew even back then, that a freeway was coming, and any original home owner (my parents included) were warned that a free was coming. Yet, when the day finally came, of course thousands of home owners tried to sue to stop it. The judge basically told them all (rightfully) to go get bent.
Part of it is because this land is marked as less desirable..cuz it's next to a nuisance. Then after a decade or two some developer comes along and sees how cheap it is and thinks, "I can make a profit from this" so they buy the land, build the homes, and then the homes get bought up by people who generally aren't told about the nuisance. Then, 20-30 years later people start going over the legal documents to find any/all ways they can get the nuisance removed.
@@CRneu I'm sure some didn't know, but a vast majority did know. It was very well known at the time. My friends dad was a lawyer, and bought one of those homes (to sell later). He got one right next to where the freeway was going in, for much cheaper than other homes in that area. He kept arrogantly saying that he would personally see to it that freeway would never get built. He thought the home would triple in value, once he got the freeway stopped. He greatly over eatimated his position. He still made a money on the house though.
Happened with Riverhead Raceway out here on Long Island a bunch of times. If you know where Riverhead is, it's basically as far as you can possibly get away from NYC without hitting the Hamptons. Up until the late 90's it was in the middle of nowhere but all of a sudden a land developer decided 100ft away from a track that had been there since 1951 was the best place to put new homes. Now if you've never been to a Modified race, those are some of the loudest cars you'll ever hear outside of a Top Fuel of Funny Car race. People of course complained that the track was too loud and when the HOA board was asked to point out their respective houses on an aerial photo, they couldn't find them. The defense said something along the lines of "Oh I'm sorry about that. This photo was taken in 1965. Tell me again when was your house built?". Now the only threat to the track is a scumbag developer that was foaming at the mouth for the elderly owners to pass away so he could build a strip mall. Thankfully it was sold to new owners before that could happen under the stipulation that it cannot be converted into anything outside the realm of being a race track.
Hey Long Island friend!
Yooo. Funny enough looking at your channel, I think I met you at NYR SCCA autocross at the Coliseum a couple years ago. I was the guy in the gray Crown Vic lol. @@CountersteerGarage
@@RetroGamerr1991 hahaha yup that’s me!
Thanks for this! I live in the Bay Area and love to take my motorcycle and cars every other month to Laguna, always a blast!
In Madrid, Spain, we have the same problem with the Jarama circuit. It was built in 1967 and between the 90s and 00s they decided to build luxury homes around it. Now they complain about the noise and want to close it. In fact on the circuit, except on important race days, there are certain areas where it is prohibited to exceed certain decibels, so you have to lift the pedal.
Same thing here in Oregon. Our only drift track in the PDX area, Parc ( Pats Acres) shut down. Someone new moved into the area knowing it was a go kart/drift & dirt bike track. Now they are shut down. Its a shame because some of us, including myself, are building a drift car with no track nearby. Now I have to travel 3+ hours to get seat time. Hoping it all gets worked out & motorsports becomes a respected category & keep it off the streets.
I heard about the track here in Oregon but I had no idea it shutdown what a shame
What about pir?
@@Bussdownbandit they don’t do many open drift events unfortunately
Damn I never got a chance to drift it I was planning a trip up there this year as well but nevermind now
similar thing happened at the cottage grove dirt track. it's still open but has a curfew now, or least the last time i looked into it.
As someone who lives in Monterey and loves going to Laguna Seca, this is such hogwash. The people who live in the first neighborhood Jeremiah went to are literally in the flight path of the airport here. ‘Plainers gon’ ’plain.
When you put it like that it makes it sound more stupid
@@bruh4573 dude, it’s so dumb. And like they said, there’s a gun range attached to Laguna Seca that’s even closer to that neighborhood. Some people suck.
That's the problem with rich doofuses getting away from the city (for whatever reasons they have, I can't blame them) and feeling the need to go beyond the suburbs and into the country, where they can find the space to build their little MEGA-MANSIONS or gated/fenced-off enclaves and give themselves a sense of safety from the rest of the world. But once they see an airport or a racetrack, be it a full-circuit road course, an oval, hey...Even a dragstrip, within their sight or ears... ...then all Hell breaks loose. A vicious cycle
Great video and I didn't expect to enjoy investigative journalism this much.
Amazing vid, and the short at the last part was flawless perfect way to end the vid
the home owners should be sued. it should be illegal to build near race tracks
You would think environmentally, it wouldn't be allowed. The 50s and 60s didn't take too much notice of fuel and oil spills, let alone lead.
Watch the video. Homeowners don't care. It's one rich guy who has been suing the county for different stuff for decades. No one is hanging out protesting events. This is like those guys who go around suing older mom and pop places for ADA violations, and you're hating on all handicapped people for it.
@@TheSolidSnakeOil absolutely. also, from an urban planning perspective it is so stupid to allow houses near race tracks
Most of us don't care. It doesn't even exist most of the time.
Nazareth speedway was mentioned on here and I love that. It’s just about 45 minutes away from my house and in the back yard of my friends house. Used to be able to walk out to the track to take a look at the oval and the things that were left there after it was bought and shut down for Watkins glen. Andretti had driven that track a few times too from what I was told, he lives right up there. Most of the tracks in the area up here have been shut down or replaced for dirt tracks. Taking a trip out to see a buddy that lives out near salinas, gonna make a stop at seca
It's even been immortalized in song, Mark Knopfler's Speedway at Nazareth.
Tracks here in the UK have been strangled by noise issues for years!! Like this case it is more often than not people who moved to the area well after the tracks started operating causing the issues.
Thankfully Radford Racing school is keeping the dream alive here in Arizona and they just came out with a yearly track membership that’s pretty dang affordable in the scheme of things. We are fortunate for now
Yes! I put my name on the membership list, can’t wait!
didn’t expect a donut video to almost make tears come to my eyes but i’ll take it. What a great video
They have gone way up in quality the past 2 years, just killing it
I agree too. This was a proper mini documentary.
One of my favorite bars in New Orleans was this old neighborhood music venue and also had courtyard in the back. Some New Yorkers moved next door, complained to the city, and got their music liscense taken away. They've been fighting to get music back there for almost 10 years now
Thanks for making this video! People really need to know about this, it's unbelievable.
Great investigative work boys. Please bring these educational videos back more often!
In New Zealand, one of my favourite tracks, Pukekohe just shut down. I have been fortunate enough to race at every track in New Zealand and I agree with your sentiment of getting out there and supporting your local tracks
Sandown in Australia is similar to Pukekohe, and is under threat too.
Same type of lawsuite ended the international curitiba racetrack in Brazil. People moved too close to the track and started complaining about the noise. They ended up having to shut it down and sell the land to companies that wanted to build houses and building on top of it
Didn't even knew Curitiba had a racetrack. Shame that people are assholes
That's the issue: real estate speculators wanted the land all along.
@@felipeferreira00 it was actually in Pinhais. But it was called the Curitiba race track (AIC) stock car and formula truck races where common there and multiple track days and events every year. An amazing track that ended up being destroyed. With no safe place to race people will be racing jn the streets
really hits home hard because my favorite local track/motorsports park was just closed down and i never got a chance to lap it. Thankfully i was able to go to one of its last events (IFO). You will be missed Heartland Motorsports Park.
Grew up next to The Milwaukee Mile. Nothing but sweet memories of the sound of racing on those hot summer days...
Up here in Oregon something similar-ish happened with the Cottage Grove Speedway. They built the speedway a long time ago right outside of town. Well, over time the town expanded and folks started building houses closer and closer to the speedway. Like 15 or so years ago a bunch of residents tried to sue to get the race track to close. The agreement they came to was that all racing had to be finished by 10pm. It's mind boggling though that folks would buy/build houses close enough to a race track to have complaints. Maybe don't move into the house if you don't want to deal with the noise?
Similar thing happened to Wakefield Park in NSW Australia. A new owner is thankfully getting to work with the neighbours and mitigate the noise (at great expense) to keep the track open. Frustrating situation
One better mate is Calder Park thunderdome. The track been there for ever and they built houses pretty much on the fence line and then they complained about the noise.
It’s sad to see good tracks closing, not too long ago my local dirt oval that I grew up racing on was closed because of residential development and the track ended up getting turned into a shopping center, definitely don’t take local tracks for granted because I’m seeing more and more of them get closed or sold in my local area. You don’t realize how many memories get made on the track until it’s not there anymore
The track closings almost brought a tear to my eye. Seeing my local track in memphis track close really bummed me out.
Same thing happened to my local track, Illiana Motor Speedway. Built in 1947 with nothing but farms around it. 50 years later the farmers sold their land to build houses. The people complained about the noise and won. The track closed in 2016. I'm happy to say I had a chance to drive on it for a few laps before it closed.
I miss Illiana so much!! One of my friends & his wife was one of the complainers. I never worked on their cars again once I found out....gets better: they bought the house for the better school district and their former 7 year old who is now 16 is a certified car nut.
@@2muchspl sounds like you should rally to ban what they love so their investments are a waste of money and passion too. It'd be ironic if their now car nut kid was on board too lol
The FAA works with some regional airports to determine which homes are impacted by airplane noise associated with the airports, then provides funding to those airports to run programs that pay for eligible homeowners to install improved soundproofing and noise mitigation on their properties. One example is the Louisville Regional Airport Authority's "Quieter Home Program," which is completely funded by the FAA (shoutout to James's hometown). I think most people here would agree that the track is historic and was there first, so the complainants don't have much right to complain. But i think it would be great if organizations like the SCCA, ADRA, or even larger racing organizations like Arca, NASCAR, and Indycar would cooperate to establish funding to help both big and small tracks under threat in the US fund similar programs in their areas. Even if some of us don't think they should have to, helping people soundproof their homes/properties around tracks could be a great good-faith/good-neighbor program to help get ahead of complaints/lawsuits, drum up more support for the tracks, appease the most upset neighbors, and keep them from closing down. Showing some effort to help mitigate the problem (however small it is in reality) could give them a better chance at survival than outright resistance. It would surely give the track(s) more ground to stand on in court.
This is a great idea, boosting this
i dont think thats completely fair, the faa is funded by the government and the other organizations arent. its not a half bad idea but instead of the organizations running the track being on the hook for the noise abatement it should be on the developers to foot the bill.
What concise and well researched video. Good job Donut!
Adding more Trees can help with sound
So can not buying a house next to a race track
Then they'll get sued for using up too much water in a drought area. Hard to stop someone with a lot of money and a vendetta.
This is why I left. Everything cool is illegal. Everyone is out trying to sue everyone else. Everyones self entitled. taxes are through the roof. Half of everyones a Karen. It's a shame what they did to the place.
you wouldn’t stand a day in germany brother 😂
California when I was a youth in the early 90's was a lot more; it is what it is kind of vibe. Now everyone is in each other's business just to start drama or sue them.
Just please don't move to Arizona. We don't want anymore Californian's here. Y'all don't learn your lesson and keep voting for what you fled.
Dont come to France if you think that your taxes are high :D
mostly blame it on the rich my man
The same happened to Lime Rock Park in CT...
That shooting range was great. Used to go all the way to 500 yards. Sadly, last time I went, it was limited to 100 yards. Last time I visited the track was for a Miata event (I don't own one but went with my friend who had).
Happens here in Australia as well. Oran park is now a housing estate. Sandown has been under threat for decades as it's in the middle of a suburb (was once in the middle of a paddock) Wakefield park has been temporarily closed and will hopefully reopen after some works
Yeh Australians cry too much Always a victim of something
Don't forget Amaroo park too
Wakefield Park is surrounded by farms... and still people complained.
Same thing happened with Calder Park although it's been back up and running for a while.
Oran Park was on crown land on 50 year lease, the government didn't renew the lease as the land was intended for release and rezoning as part of the western Sydney 2025 initiative, people forget a lease is a set term , don't plan ahead of what isn't set in stone. Wakefield had always been on the chopping board and isn't really the same story as Laguna, infact it is the opposite. The surrounding residents of Wakefield had mostly been there first , first come first served principal, they had no restrictions on decibel until then began to run more events than the residents where initially told. They were never forced to close either, the originally owners went bankrupt and was bought out . The new owners then had to start again with proposal and business plan to local council. They were conditionally allowed to reopen pending major earthworks to create natural sound dispersal walls etc to meet new requirements. Marulan is another example where someone purchased land, decided to build a racetrack for all in the middle of moderate sized lots with residents living there way before they came along. They again where hit with constant sound complaints and ended up with decibel limits and curfews which in this case probably deserved as they knew exactly what the risks where when your closest neighbour is s 800m away from the track
I grew up in that neighborhood!!! It's a car lovers dream seeing all the super cars and project cars drive by on my way to school. I have the best memories watching races every weekend with my family. Everyone who lives there knows about super bike week because its the loudest but even then its just sounds like bees in the background. I wish I could have been there to meet Jerry walking around on my street.
Same problem from South Africa 🇿🇦 - the iconic Kyalami is so underuse because of local business around the track…
My 13 year old nephew recently did a few laps at Laguna Seca with his mom on their mountain bikes. His parents have been racing there for 20 years in Miata’s, WRX, ITR, S2K, Mustangs, and F80 M3. As for noise, yes it can get noisy with 20+ racecars roaring at full throttle, but your average stock car or motorcycle isn’t too bad. My wife and I stayed in Calistoga when a Sprint car race was happening all weekend. The track was about 2 miles away but we could hear them roaring through the meadow. The only relief was when there was a caution flag or break between sessions. Oh and if speed isn’t your thing, the Land Rover off-road experience in Carmel is a lot of fun. My wife insists on playing over there every time we’re in the area
Happened to Pukekohe raceway in NZ just last year. Venue was owned by the horse club, and they couldnt use their horses while the cars were using it. So they shut it down last year to "focus on their horses". Track had been there since the 1960s and some true worldwide greats had learned to race there, such as Bruce Mclaren, Jim Clark etc.
Wild Horse Pass in Chandler Az is not closed. It has been renamed to Firebird Motorsports Park.
Funny how it went from firebird to wild horse back to Firebird 😂
And now Firebird is offering a country club type membership. See you at the track!
Wow, amazing production in this one.
I was an assistant director for SCRAMP at Laguna Seca for 8 yrs and my father did it for 38! Grew up going to the track. From being in Rick Mears fan club to driving the original cork screw with my Audi S4. Lifetime memories at this track. The locals are amazing. The community thrives on the track and visitors. In 2011 when Moto GP came back to USA there was over 200K at track and 77k bikes parked in and around track. It was epic!!! The near gated community would let people from track and racing teams even golf in their neighborhood. IF this is not One guy its definitely the new money people moving into the area. Granted there is more events. But in that gated neighborhood it is not that loud! Yes you hear it, but you live mile from a race track lol. Helicopter camera circling raceday is probably the noisiest thing to be honest. It will be so sad for area and racing if it closes somehow. If any reader/watcher visits area, the Camping at track when no racing is awesome. Tent to RV. Check it out if on a vaca. Great sites and so cool to see track empty. Oh and eat at Fish Hose in Carmel or Monterey. Smoked Oysters and any fish in their "crumble". You're welcome.
I watched a race at Laguna Seca in 1965. I was in the Army and stationed at Fort Ord, at that time the Laguna Seca was part of Fort Ord, that is how the county wound up owning a race track.
Living near Laguna Seca right now, building a house near a racetrack gets you racetrack noises. Some of these houses were built in the late 60's early 70's well after the track was built. Just like living near an airport, which also exists there and sometimes has flights going over the racetrack. Or a US Army base that was active until the 90's. More annoying is the traffic that comes through clogging up Hwy 68, which happens basically every day but is worse on track days.
One of the most important Donut episodes I've seen in a while. My heart tears every time I hear about another track closure. And there have been a lot.
8:30. I hope they do a sound test of a full tilt race event. I imagine the hum of 20-40 cars doing laps together is probably a lot more noticable. But still infrequent
And NOT very loud a half a mile away
I absolutely love donut for making videos like this
Same thing happened to Lions Drag strip off Alameda. People moved next to race track knowing race cars are loud... Then complained that race cars are loud.
I bet they complain about the street racing in the area now too after the track closed