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Posted by Fred on 5/11/2008, 10:50 am, in reply to "AV Press article"
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Thank's Duck! Good to know what's going on. Fred
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: This story appeared in the Antelope Valley
: Press
: Thursday, May 8, 2008.
: By BRIAN GOLDEN
: Valley Press Staff Writer
:
:
:
:
: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
: Norm Hickling's words last week landed like
: a salve, rather than salt, on the still-open
: eastside wound that is the former Los
: Angeles County Raceway.
: Hickling, the Valley field representative
: for Fifth District Los Angeles County
: Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, told the
: Valley Press last Friday that Antonovich
: sees economic development in Lake Los
: Angeles and a new Valley motorsports complex
: as mutually beneficial priorities.
:
: Hickling's disclosure that a successor to
: LACR has already been discussed in the
: County's regional planning department was
: welcome news to Jeff Hillinger, the graphic
: artist and movie industry computer
: generation consultant who has been
: spearheading efforts to replace the famed
: dragstrip that was closed by Granite
: Construction mining efforts last July 29.
:
: "That is good to hear," Hillinger
: said Monday. "I just wish they would
: keep us more informed on this, because we
: have people who're making efforts to buy
: land out here, and it would be nice to know
: that the County is on our side."
:
: Hillinger said he has had several
: discussions with Hickling.
:
: He said he is convinced of the sincerity of
: Supervisor Antonovich's interest in
: replacing the former drag racing icon that
: drew more than 250,000 visitors to the
: Valley annually.
:
: "I believe in Antonovich, I really
: do," said the man whose passion for
: LACR prompted him to move himself and his
: bustling high-tech business from Glendale to
: Littlerock. "Businesses out here in
: Littlerock and Pearblossom are feeling it,
: man. Restaurants, hotels, even the auto
: parts places, because if somebody at the
: dragstrip needed a part, they bought it
: right here in town."
:
: When not building websites and consulting
: computer-generated special effects for
: cinematic use, Hillinger has been absorbed
: in developing what is now up to a 14-page
: business plan for a new LACR.
:
: He had the services of a financial planner
: and a real estate agent to assist with the
: vagaries of land acquisition and purchase.
:
: But since his organization is made up
: totally of volunteers bonded by a passion
: for hot rods and drag racing, the challenges
: of the current economy have forced attention
: to be diverted elsewhere.
:
: "SaveLACR has people who are willing to
: put up their own money in to take care of
: things like environmental impact reports and
: the other red-tape stuff," Hillinger
: said. "That's how badly we want to see
: a new dragstrip built to replace LACR.
:
: "But there are certain things, like
: infrastructure and access roads, that only
: the County can do."
:
: The Supervisor and the SaveLACR zealot have
: in fact corresponded about the specific
: piece of property the County has in mind.
:
: It is a 500-acre parcel that would be third
: in size only to Willow Springs International
: Raceway and Auto Club Speedway at Fontana as
: a motorsports venue in the state of
: California, were it ever developed.
:
: The SaveLACR group has also been eyeing a
: second, 140-acre parcel only a few miles
: east of the former LACR site. Currently it
: is used extensively for movie, TV and
: commercial location shoots.
:
: "The owners there reside on their
: property," said Hillinger, who brought
: the second real estate possibility to
: Hickling's attention. "They're totally
: open to doing something with their
: property."
:
: Working with tract numbers and regional
: planning and the other intricacies of
: development enabled Hillinger to make a
: valuable discovery.
:
: The land areas under discussion would fit
: right in with the County's 30-year plan for
: the Valley, which includes a freeway to
: by-pass Highway 138 and link Interstates 5
: and 15.
:
: "The hotels, restaurants and
: entertainment venues in my plan would be
: just as welcome to truck drivers and
: motorists on the freeway as they would be to
: drag racers and fans coming to town for a
: weekend," Hillinger said.
:
: In the meantime, Hillinger says there is
: something the County can do immediately that
: would show good faith for the big-picture
: motorsports complex to come.
:
: "I'm still getting calls from people
: asking about the Wednesday and Friday night
: street-legal program at LACR,"
: Hillinger said. "These kids need a
: place where they can race safely, under
: supervision and with the proper safety
: equipment in place.
:
: "The sheriff already blocks off streets
: in the outlying areas of the eastside for
: movie and TV shoots. We've all seen those
: roadblocks. Why can't the county block off
: one of those roads that dead-end between the
: alfalfa and onion fields one Friday night a
: month and we can have safe drag racing for
: our young people?"
:
: Hillinger has already floated the idea to
: several large businesses in Palmdale, who he
: said have expressed interest in underwriting
: the K-rail, Christmas tree and other
: features needed to transform the road into a
: temporary dragstrip.
:
: A fee of $10 per racer could be assessed to
: create a fund SaveLACR could put toward the
: expenses of site surveys and EIRs.
:
: "Our dream is still a new quarter-mile
: dragstrip, with an off-road racing course
: and an oval for the stock cars,"
: Hillinger said. "But in the meantime,
: just one night a month would be a huge help
: to keep somebody from getting killed street
: racing.
:
: "One night a month. Is that too much to
: ask?"
:
: bgolden@avpress.com
:
:
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: © 2008 Antelope Valley Press, Palmdale,
: California (661) 273-2700
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