INDOOR RACETRACK Commissioners, port pursue second study

The port authority is a co-applicant with the county for the study money.
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners and Western Reserve Port Authority are seeking federal funds for a second indoor racetrack study.
Commissioners authorized the county planning commission Wednesday to seek funds through the Economic Development Administration's economic adjustment program for the second phase of a feasibility study of the proposed Mahoning Valley Motor Speedway.
The study is projected to cost $250,000.
The county and co-applicant, the Western Reserve Port Authority, would request a $125,000 grant from EDA, and fund the other $125,000 from local sources
The speedway project would cost $300 million to build, would initially seat 60,000, and would be expandable to 120,000 seats.
Brant Motorsports of Wheeling, W.Va., wants the project to be funded from a mix of private and public sources. Before than can happen a feasibility study must be done.
Local funding
Commissioner James Tsagaris the day before had said he wasn't seeing enough progress on the racetrack issue on the Western Reserve Port Authority's end.
The track is proposed for near the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, which is run by the port authority.
If the EDA approves a pre-application for funding, the planning commission staff would have to obtain commitments for the local share that would not include general fund dollars from either Trumbull or Mahoning counties.
Congress has included $300,000 for this project in the EDA reauthorization bill enacted in 2004, commissioners said. That legislation, however, also capped EDA funding assistance at a maximum of 50 percent of a total project costs.
Further study
The first government-sponsored study, commissioned for $60,000 by Mahoning and Trumbull county commissioners, found that the idea had merit and that a publicly owned racetrack could run in the black even if it didn't get a big race.
This second study would provide a more in-depth look at the market conditions and potential for the 40-acre covered racetrack.
Discussion of who would own the racetrack and who would pay to build it are premature before this and a third, financial study are done, officials say.