Laguna Seca Sued by Rich Neighbors for Being a Race Track

[jp1gt]

We have always lived on acreage. Sooner or later they start complaining about the smell and the noise. Should be part of the CC&R's, but then someone with money buys the planning commission and it all gets changed.

[auburnseeker]

33 minutes ago, Matt Harwood said:

Pffft. Remember all the pearl-clutching that went on when Elvis was on the Ed Sullivan show and--gasp--danced by moving his hips?

Though as the needle moves further and further,  at some point it may hit a spot where anyone but a few will say, this has gone too far,  ad as we are seeing today in many facets of life,  how do you go back from too far as each step slowly gets ingrained in society. 

[West Peterson]

Pure and simple: If Laguna Seca generated enough money, they wouldn't think about closing the track.

[Barney Eaton]

I don't think they have a issue..........internal combustion engines are going away and all vehicles (including race cars?) will be electric

and they will have nothing to complain about.

[30DodgePanel]

1 hour ago, Matt Harwood said:

Pffft. Remember all the pearl-clutching that went on when Elvis was on the Ed Sullivan show and--gasp--danced by moving his hips?

 

Your kids' music is DESIGNED to piss you off. Always has been.

 

I'm guessing your comment after my post was a blanket generalized statement not directed at me or my family but more of an example?

In which case I will not comment on behalf of this broken society. 

 

I will say that my kids have never enjoyed hate rock nor associated with that element of society. They work in the insurance industry for god sakes lol...

 

Hey, crazy idea Matt, sense you don't seem to mind hate rock, maybe think about getting with @rocketraider to rent his property out for the next show so he doesn't have to endure such nonsense?

 
Win win for everyone!  

Edited January 23 by 30DodgePanel (see edit history)

[TTR]

2 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

Pffft. Remember all the pearl-clutching that went on when Elvis was on the Ed Sullivan show and--gasp--danced by moving his hips?

 

Your kids' music is DESIGNED to piss you off. Always has been.

While I mostly anymore listen to pre-historic Heavy Metal, i.e. Beethoven, Bruckner, Mahler, R. Strauss, Wagner, etc, I still enjoy the sound tracks of my teen years by early AC/DC, Sex Pistols, etc.

 

It does create an interesting contrast when my shop CD player finishes the final notes of the Gotterdamerung at end of playing the entire 13+ hrs of Der Ring des Nibelungen and the next tune is "Holidays in the sun" followed by rest of the "Never Mind The Bollocks" album.

 

Or when "Tristan und Isolde" is followed by "Kill 'Em All" 🙄

 

 

Edited January 23 by TTR (see edit history)

[Leif in Calif]

On 1/21/2024 at 12:44 PM, zepher said:

Politics runs on $ so that is pretty much a given.

Absolutely true and more than ever these days! 

[Leif in Calif]

54 minutes ago, West Peterson said:

Pure and simple: If Laguna Seca generated enough money, they wouldn't think about closing the track.

I think it does, and they aren't. (see my earlier post) 

[JACK M]

1 hour ago, Barney Eaton said:

will be electric

and they will have nothing to complain about.

Except for those ugly solar and wind farms.

I hear that they kill birds, right?

[8E45E]

4 hours ago, Steve_Mack_CT said:

Agree in principal but given the state of popular "rock" today, I might side with the residents on this one.😉

I would rather have those who paid to pitch a tent for an evening of fun nearby than those who do not in public parks these days!!

 

Craig

[Steve_Mack_CT]

@Craig why do I feel both of our humorous comments are going to get us on a jam here... 😁😁😁

 

 

[8E45E]

2 hours ago, 30DodgePanel said:

In which case I will not comment on behalf of this broken society. 

 

I will say that my kids have never enjoyed hate rock nor associated with that element of society. They work in the insurance industry for god sakes lol...

A lot of modern music sums that up today:

 

[auburnseeker]

1 hour ago, JACK M said:

Except for those ugly solar and wind farms.

Worse than those is the green junk yards full of spent green energy tech no one wants to deal with.  One complains about automotive grave yards which actually have some useful scrap in them and can be crushed for a profit and guys will even fight over the scrap,  no one wants to touch the green waste.  Of course we can send it all to Africa where they will "recycle" it in a controlled environment by union members. 

[JohnS25]

I grew up north of Laguna Seca 

in the Santa Cruz mountains. My parents used to take my brother and I to Laguna Seca all the time in the 70ies . When we would get to the track we would run to the top of the hill, there were two oak trees up there and if you climbed up them you could see almost all of the track, I have great memories of that place from when I was a kid and later in life when I was a professional race car mechanic and raced there. I was never a driver but my brother was, he won the 1991 San Francisco region SCCA  GT1 championship in his 1969 Camaro. The Camaro has been a race car since new and it’s first race was the 1970 Trans Am season opener at Laguna Seca.

 

The Camaro in 1970

and a picture from 1992 

the car was retired halfway through the 92 season as he got a full tube chassis car.

 
I still have the Camaro in the corner of my shop but it hasn’t seen the light of day since 92 

 

John

[Pfeil]

3 hours ago, Barney Eaton said:

I don't think they have a issue..........internal combustion engines are going away and all vehicles (including race cars?) will be electric

and they will have nothing to complain about.

Nope, Next, they will complain about traffic, and with that rise in traffic injuries and death. environmental impact other than cars like noise and stress levels going up.

[rocketraider]

3 hours ago, 8E45E said:

  Racetracks do tick all the boxes for a rockfest in the way of ample room, large open space, and a place to park and pitch a tent, all on private property.  

 

I'd like to think residents are able to tolerate ONE evening a year for a little noise and nonsense!!

It's a four day event and a badly managed one at that.

 

There's basically one way in and out of the place. Except for on-site camping all parking is remote and relies on shuttle buses to get people in and out. 

 

On-site camping traffic was backed up for miles on two-lane roads that aren't made for such traffic. School buses and emergency vehicles couldn't get thru.

 

It ain't the music, and all the metalheads I had any interaction with during the event were pretty decent people. You just can't oversell your event by 20,000 tickets, treat your stage crews and support people dirty, cheap out on your water and portajohn facilities, not have an emergency evacuation plan in place and then expect your event to be successful.

 

The 2022 BRRF actually went pretty smoothly. Then this year the promoter got greedy. He was permitted for 45,000 attendance but oversold the event by at least 20,000 tickets without telling either the VIR people or the county staff. My old boss worked EMS this year and told me there had to have been 65-70,000 on site.

 

Again, it ain't the music or the metal community people. VIR can handle 40,000 easy enough; they've done it before without things turning into a cluster. It's a shady, greedy, incompetent promoter. I'm told 2024 event tickets are already on sale even without a firm band lineup. Remains to be seen if local authorities let it happen at VIR again.

 

Rode over to the village today for lunch. Noticed a timber company is clear-cutting over near the VIR entrance. Makes me wonder if someone has development plans for that property. If so, whoever buys in needs to know before closing that hey man, there's a racetrack nearby!

[8E45E]

18 minutes ago, rocketraider said:

It's a four day event and a badly managed one at that.

School buses and emergency vehicles couldn't get thru.

 

It ain't the music, and all the metalheads I had any interaction with during the event were pretty decent people. You just can't oversell your event by 20,000 tickets, treat your stage crews and support people dirty, cheap out on your water and portajohn facilities, not have an emergency evacuation plan in place and then expect your event to be successful.

 

Then this year the promoter got greedy. He was permitted for 45,000 attendance but oversold the event by at least 20,000 tickets without telling either the VIR people or the county staff. My old boss worked EMS this year and told me there had to have been 65-70,000 on site.

 

Again, it ain't the music or the metal community people. VIR can handle 40,000 easy enough; they've done it before without things turning into a cluster.  Remains to be seen if local authorities let it happen at VIR again.

 

Obviously, the local ordinances as per venue capacity, and sanitation facilities was breached.  That issue should have been handled by the Department of Health and the Fire Marshall for enforcement, regardless what the promoter attempts to get away with.  It appears he got away with it last year, but it is also up to these "watchdog" residences nearby to launch an official complaint if they see overcapacity taking place.  In the end, the VIR gets a bad name, (which it seems it already has to some), and should someone get killed or injured, the VIR could be shut down for good, and no one wants that.

 

Craig

[TAKerry]

We had a very large abandoned naval base a few miles down the road from me. Over the years there were a dozen ideas on what to do with the sight. One venture was a nascar track. At one point it seemed like it might be a reality but people fought hard against it. Then, it was a tech campus that was going to bring in thousands of high paying jobs. Then it was just plain housing. They settled on mega warehouses (like a dozen other spots in our county) that have been finished for a year now and still sit empty.

[Pfeil]

The first time I remember of something like the topic happened to my community somewhere in 1968-69. Boeing was set to release the new 747. I lived in a place called Westchester I was on the very north end with Santa Monica Mountain and city, ocean views. It was a sort of municipality of the city of Los Angeles, Like San Pedro, Hollywood, Venice etc. LAX was also part of that L.A. city area. The airport wanted to expand for the new big jet. The North runway started up either buying out homes and businesses and schools in the incoming flightpath, no referendum from the city to the folks. They soon figured out that noise from takeoff would affect another L.A. municipality called Playa del Rey, so they tried to buy out these million-dollar ocean view homes. After the buyouts stopped and no one else would sell the city stepped in and condemned the rest.

Next was Lyons drag strip 1974? Housing crept closer and closer, the complaints grew, and it was gone before you knew it.

City of L.A., LAX, lots of power and money get their way.

 

City of Wilmington Part of the city of Los Angeles, and Carson, part of the County of Los Angeles get their way and Lyons is a container lot for the port of Los Angeles. FYI, the same thing happened in the 90's to Terminal Island drag strip- now a port container lot.

 

It's the money.