When I first heard about the complaints over the proposed drag strip at Lowes Motor Speedway (LMS) - I asked myself - how loud is it really?
Pretty freakin’ loud.
According to makeitlouder.com (which is one of the coolest website names ever). N.H.R.A. dragsters can produce sounds in the 160db range when standing nearby. That’s in the same range as a fighter jet taking off - with afterburners.
Using a little math, a worst-case scenario looks like this:
| Distance | Sound Level (db) | Comparable To… |
| 200 ft (good seats) | 147 | Standing next to a Formula One car…wide open |
| 1/2 mile (Embassy Suites) | 124 | Front Row during the last 45 seconds of “Freebird” |
| 1 mile (a couple of neighborhoods) | 118 | A car horn - as heard with your head under the hood |
| 1 1/2 mile (a few more neighborhoods) | 115 | $150 tickets at an Elton John concert |
| 2 miles (Concord Mills) | 112 | Same concert; but in the bleachers |
| 4 miles (my house) | 106 | The garbage truck |
Again, this is the worst-case scenario and NOT a detailed engineering analysis. This does NOT take into account any sophisticated sound abatement - like trees. This is sound moving, unimpeded, over a flat plane with no interference from a stationary source. Actual sound levels will differ and will probably be lower.
The point that I’m trying to make is this is not the Jail Trail made over. The residents in that area do have a right to be a little concerned. LMS’ safety record includes a collapsing pedestrian bridge and a wheel flying off of an Indy Car into a stand full of spectators. The City Council did the right thing by stepping in for the sake of public safety
But what exactly did they step in?
The Sound of Money
The timing of this couldn’t be better. The week before a race and the month before a municipal election, our City fathers decided to get into it with one of their largest taxpayers. While I’m sure that it scored them some votes in the 115db plus range of the table above - there are some other factors to consider here.
1. Money - The incumbency that the Mayor and City Council enjoy is due in no small part to the relatively low taxes that we all pay. Most of the windfall taxes (large revenues with little services) come from the businesses down the length of Speedway Blvd. (Concord Mills, the Convention Center, The Speedway, the Harley Store, etc.). They pay more than their share so we don’t have to pay ours.
2. Money - Hundreds of thousands of people migrate here to spend money, watch 43 cars go fast and turn left, drink a little beer, raise some hell, and go home. This happens twice a year and we’ve managed to get good at making jobs out of that and the smattering of smaller gatherings that the Speedway attracts.
3. Money - The City, County, State, and Federal government have spent millions of dollars on the infrastructure around the area.
4. Money - Some of our neighbors have graciously offered to take the sound problems off of our hands and were ready to heap incentives and free land at Mr. Smith and the newest Speedway in the country. Oh, you don’t think the State would offer Bruton Smith a whole new round of incentives? If Meg Scott Phipps, Jim Black, and - the newest addition - Mary McAllister are any indication of the going price of a North Carolina Democrat - a few thousand dollars can buy a lot of favors.
I’ve lived in several places where a facility would put off some awful odor. The local residents would chuckle and say, “That’s what money smells like around here”. Well, in Cabarrus County - you can hear what money sounds like.
Reaction Roundup
In spite of the many faceted money argument, unlike our friend at the Brain Cell Destroyer and my new, favorite realtor from Harrisburg - I’m not going to fault the City Council. Like the “Great Escape” episode in Harrisburg last year - the City Council’s heart was in the right place even though their tactics were a little harsh.
Also, I think that Bruton Smith would probably build a state-of-the-art facility and the negative effects of the drag strip aren’t as bad as people are worried about. That puts me at odds with our favorite liberal blogger.
The business community has decided to throw money at it. No, not their money - just ours.
As for the City Council and our Billionaire friend - I’m confident that they’ll work it out in the end.
They’ll do it without having to make this a company town - again.
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Subscribe via E-mail
8 responses so far ↓
1 Aaron // Oct 9, 2007 at 1:52 pm
It’s funny you mention the old bad smelling towns who glady tolerate it for the decreased tax rate.
I remember as a Young Marine at Cherry Pointe the sign on the entrance to the air base. “Pardon the noise, it’s just the sound of your Freedom…”
Maybe not quite the same thing but it’s close enough.
2 Andy // Oct 9, 2007 at 3:02 pm
To the folks in Concord who are complaining about all of this: You Bought A House Near A Race Track What The Heck Do You Expect??? If you want to live in that area then its just something you are going to have to deal with. The race track was their when you bought your house. You knew this. You should have known how loud the race track would be, how much traffic it presents, etc. Anyone with an average amount of commonsense could look at all the land the speedway owns and figure they would probably expand creating more noise and traffic.
I grew up in Harrisburg and I’ve dealt with the good and the bad of living near the racetrack my whole life. My family was in the area a long time the race track was built but they didn’t complain when it was. I don’t feel sorry for anyone that’s been living around that area since the race track was first built, they knew what they were getting into. It’s simply the price to be paid for living in that area. Who I will feel sorry for are the rest of the taxpayers in Cabarrus County if Bruton holds good to his threat…
3 LiberalNC // Oct 10, 2007 at 12:11 am
When will people finally get it in their heads that NONE of the neighbors of the speedway are complaining about the speedway? Of course they all knew it was there when they moved in.
What they’re worried about is about the newly (as in: it wasn’t there yet when folks moved into the area) planned drags trip that will be practically in their backyard.
Speedway is not the same as drag strip.
Say you moved into a house that’s 2 miles away from a water treatment plant, does that not give you the right to complain about a hog farm that they’re planning on building within a mile from your backyard????
4 Justin Thibault // Oct 10, 2007 at 5:49 am
Andy - Thanks for joining us.
LiberalNC - From what I’ve been told, prior to the City Council’s decision, the area around the speedway was specifically zoned to allow drag strips. The point that Andy and Aaron are making is that it’s a little difficult to complain about noise when you’ve bought a house near the 4th busiest airport in the state and two of the largest tourist attractions - one of them being a speedway.
The area was already zoned to be noisy. It would be like me moving to San Fransisco and complaining about them putting a Communist Party headquarters next to my house. It comes with the territory and is probably within the zoning.
As for this specific case: while I think that some city council action was appropriate, I’m becoming more and more convinced that this was more a case of our City fathers being unaware of what’s going on around the city outside of the area immediately surrounding Union Street and less of a case of “the people” vs. the big, bad billionaire.
5 Bonny Sisson Stilwell // Oct 12, 2007 at 10:42 am
Gorbachev went from the Presidium to the Presidio in San Francisco and set up his New Underworld Order with the help of Nancy Pelosi,et al., calling themselves Presidio Partners. Read all about it on http://WWW.AmicusVeritas.org
6 Justin Thibault // Oct 19, 2007 at 10:05 am
Bonny - And that’s related to this article, how?
7 MarkMartin // Oct 24, 2007 at 12:35 pm
Perhaps Mr. Smith would consider hosting an event at the drag strip for the NEDRA (National Electric Drag Racing Association). Their website is http://www.nedra.com. Also, there was a story recently on the NBC Today Show regarding the success of an electric motorcycle at local drag strips. Here is a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2WdcKNZW8w
The motorcycle is called “KillaCycle” and their website is http://www.killacycle.com. Mr. Smith could help revolutionize the drag racing industry.
8 herman hood // Mar 19, 2008 at 10:16 pm
well i live 2 miles from virginia motorsports park and love every minute of it.yes i race and don’t complain about the noise.matter of fact i will be coming to the track with my big rv and parking on the front row at the track and spending good money to do so.