Grant to study racetrack OK'd

The port authority will be asked to approve the grant.
WARREN -- A federal grant to determine feasibility of an indoor racetrack near the airport in Vienna Township has been approved.
Alan Knapp, Trumbull County Planning Commission director, said he received notification Wednesday.
Knapp said the grant will go to the Western Reserve Port Authority, which operates the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.
The $185,000 will go to hire a consultant or consultants for studying "the world's first indoor motor-sports racetrack, including identification of needed infrastructure, a marketing study, economic impact analysis, engineering and design review and other studies," according to the planning commission.
Location
Knapp recently told a gathering of residents living near the airport that the most likely location for the complex would be outside of Vienna Township. He said there do not appear to be locations in Vienna that could accommodate it.
The project is being called the Mahoning Valley Motorsports and Exhibition Center.
Reid Dulberger, Regional Chamber executive vice president, said recently that one of the more important aspects of the study would be to determine how to deal with the fumes and noise that would come from indoor motor sports.
In April, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, said the project will move forward if the study shows the racetrack is a viable project. If the study indicates the project isn't doable, the speedway will not be built, he said.
Ryan successfully got money for the study into the federal Economic Development Administration bill enacted last year. The supporters don't know where the $300 million to actually build the facility would come from or who would own it. These and other questions could be answered by the study.
Funding
The grant will be matched dollar-for-dollar by local funds from several groups. The local share breakdown is:
U$40,000 from Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
U$40,000 from the Western Reserve Port Authority.
U$65,000 from Brant Motorsports of Morgantown, W.Va., the project developer.
U$40,000 from organizations including Trumbull 100, Western Reserve Building Trades and the Builders Association of Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.
Bob Brant, president of Brant Motorsports, has said the track would be built to initially seat 60,000 and be expandable to seat 120,000 people. Brant wants the project to be funded from a mix of private and public entities. Brant said his company has spent more than $4 million on the indoor racetrack concept.