Popping up around the country is a new kind of club--one that welcomes dirty cars and grease monkeys, and doesn't discriminate between a Chevy and a Jaguar. This new club can best be described as a racetrack country club. It attracts those with a need for speed and a penchant for performance cars. Members bring their lead foot and leave their 9-iron behind.
These clubs offer members a chance to take their car to limits not legal on regular streets. The clubs--complete with clubhouses, initiation fees, membership dues, and private garages instead of locker rooms--shift country club life into a whole new gear.
Nationwide Trend
The unique thing about country club race-tracks is that cars of all types and drivers of all skill levels can compete at their own pace. Click on images to enlarge. Though this idea isn't a new one (see sidebar at end of article), it is catching on around the nation. Some point to the growth in enthusiast car groups for their recent rise. Others say wealthy baby boomers, with a disposable income and an empty nest, contribute to their growth. Either way, these motorsports playgrounds turn the stereotypical midlife crisis sports car dream into reality.
"There was a real need for a road course in Chicago. The closest ones are Road America in Wisconsin and Gingerman in Michigan," said Mark Basso, founder and president of Autobahn Country Club in suburban Joliet.
Basso, like others, recognized the need for this type of facility and found success after spending both years and millions in the planning and building of his membership-only track facility. Others are following. Clubs currently exist in Texas and Virginia, and two more are under construction in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.
While these clubs are spread throughout the country, their founders all banked on a similar idea: Speed is seductive.
MotorSports Ranch, Cresson, Texas
Situated about 14 miles south of Ft. Worth, Texas, lies a ranch that trades its livestock for horsepower. MotorSports Ranch, built and funded primarily by owner Jack Farr, was one of the nation's first membership-only racetracks.
Country club racetracks also play host to driver instruction schools and media events. Ten years ago, after taking his first performance driving class, Farr realized that he had no outlet to nurture his burdening hobby, and took it upon himself to build a track.
"A lot of people told me it was a stupid idea," Farr says. "A really dumb idea. Wouldn't work. Gotta have a racetrack. Gotta have organized events with spectators and all that hassle. For every race car driver I find, I can find about 100 guys that just wanna play and have fun and not make it into such a big stressful thing," Farr said in an interview in The Dallas Observer.
With a design all his own, Farr and five other members opened MotorSports Ranch in 1999, a sports car country club with a 1.7-mile road course.
Members must possess a racing license or pass a MotorSports Ranch driver-evaluation test. Fees include $2,400 for initiation, monthly dues of $75, and a session fee of $20 for each half hour of road-course driving. In return, members have access to the private road course 50 weeks a year, with exclusive use Monday through Friday and near-exclusive use on weekends--when it's available for group rentals by car clubs and manufacturers. A 12 x 25-ft private garage can be rented for $175 a month, which includes electricity and compressed air.
What's next for the ranch? For starters, a reality TV show is set to air this summer about everyday life at the road-course ranch. An expansion is also in the works, including a 20,000-square-foot clubhouse, covered paddocks, and an additional 1.5-mile track.
Autobahn Country Club, Joliet, Illinois
Mark Basso traded blood for grease at the tender age of six with a go-kart and some dirt in his father's backyard. "I've been a car guy my entire life. When I was 16, every road was my racetrack. But you can't drive like that any more. This is a place to do it right," said Basso, founder and president of the Autobahn Country Club said.
Now, eight years since the idea was first put to paper, Basso is the owner of the third-largest road-course racing facility in the country. Unlike larger tracks Road America in Wisconsin and Sebring in Florida, however, Autobahn in Joliet, Illinois, is a members-only club. It's the first of its kind in the Chicagoland area, and its location was no accident. A few miles to the north are Chicagoland Speedway and Route 66 Racetrack, each drawing thousands of race fans to the suburb several weeks throughout the summer.
The Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, Illinois, features two tracks that can be joined into one. An advantage of this design is that two separate events can take place simultaneously. "Joliet has become the racing capital of the United States, and, for this reason, I tried to build this club as close as possible to the tracks here. One other unique thing is that the Autobahn Country Club is only one hour from Chicago," Basso said, reflecting on reasons for its growing success.
Before opening its doors in April of this year, there was already talk of a waiting list. On opening day, Autobahn had 250 enrolled members--with only 40 spaces remaining--and an events calendar booked through the year by groups interested in track rentals. Fifty founding-level members paid an initiation fee of $100,000 for a lifetime membership free of yearly dues. Regular members pay a $25,000 initiation fee, which covers admittance for their entire family, plus $3,000 in yearly dues.
"I wanted to build a nice place, like a country club, where members could bring family and friends," Basso said.
Although Basso agrees that the club attracts mostly affluent members, he also sees diversity among the drivers. "First and foremost, members are car guys, or even car girls. But basically, members of the club are car people from every walk of life," he said, and then named off area manufacturer reps, dealers, and members of local car club groups who've joined Autobahn.
The $14 million facility features two tracks. Both were designed by road-course designer Alan Wilson--known for his role in developing tracks like Arizona Motorsports Park, Gingerman Raceway, and South Carolina Motorsports Park. The North Circuit measures-in at 1.46 miles, with ten turns. The South Circuit features 2.10 miles of road, with 15 turns. Combined, they stretch to 3.56 miles.
Members currently have access Tuesday through Sunday, seven months a year, to at least one of the tracks. Both tracks are closed for group rental on Mondays. The facility also features 38 1/3-acre team lots available for purchase by members to build garages and lofts. Future amenities include an .8-mile go-kart track, a clubhouse featuring a restaurant and banquet facility, and an automobile museum.
"So far, since its opening, the club has been wildly popular and has exceeded our expectations," Basso said.
A Club Within a Track
Existing tracks have latched on to the private racing trend, incorporating clubs into existing facilities.
For a fee of around $125-$150 a day, plus monthly dues of $100, members of the Motorsport Country Club have access to the track at the Virginia International Raceway (VIR) during specific member driving days. They also have access to the Plantation Clubhouse and restaurant, swimming pool, and VIP passes and parking permits for all track events. As the club grows, VIR plans on adding more members-only driving days, as well as long-term, on-site storage facilities and residential villas available for member purchase.
Similarly, members at the BeaveRun Motorsports Club near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, have members-only driving-day access to BeaveRun's North track, a 1.6-mile course, and the Wilson Circuit, a pro karting/training track that is .8 mile long and can be shaped into five different track configurations. Club dues include a $6995 initiation fee and a $1,000 annual fee, with no additional usage charges. Members also get VIP treatment during major races and access to the general go-karting center. Plans for a 2.0-mile South track are in the works.
Around the Next Bend - Club Motorsports
Set to break ground this summer is the Valley Motorsports Park in Tamworth, New Hampshire. Opposition from area residents has put a halt to bulldozers for the time being, but founders hope to construct a 3.3-mile track designed by Alan Wilson. It will also feature a professional driving school, a garage and maintenance service area, clubhouse, as well as a hotel and spa. Despite resistance from its neighbors, owners at club Motorsports, who formed in 2002 to begin track planning, aim to open the Valley Motorsports Park in summer 2007.
"County club type racetracks are going to become established in America. Golf clubs have prospered for years as spots for elites to socialize, play, and do business. So will car country clubs. But instead of playing with a 5-iron, they'll play with a Ferrari," said track designer Alan Wilson.
Sidebar -- Ahead of its Time: Meadowdale Grand Prix 500 Club
A Midwestern Council of Sports Cars Club grid from Meadowdale with the #1 and #2 Meister Brauser Scarabs of Harry Heuer and Augie Pabst.
In an area 40 miles north of Chicago exists a forest preserve district named Raceway Woods. Amongst the trees resides the memories of a struggling racing club that was established there nearly five decades ago, and the remnants of its 3.27-mile track. It stands alone as one of the first motorsports country clubs in the United States.
Exerpts from a Meadowdale brochure promise a health club, swimming pool, and picnic grove. Click on image to enlarge.
Meadowdale International Raceway was built in 1958 in what has become Carpentersville, Illinois. For nearly a decade, it hosted spectator road races as well as local car club events. Several years into the track's run, founders created the Meadowdale Grand Prix 500 Club, a members-only driving club similar to the thriving motorsports country clubs in existence today. Advertised as an "Elegant Social Club," members were promised track-driving privileges and V.I.P. access to spectator races. They were also promised a clubhouse, restaurant, and a pool.
Sadly, the Grand Prix 500 Club was ahead of its time and never attracted enough support to make good on its member facilities. While some memberships were sold, the idea never really got off the ground. By 1969, the track was closed due to lack of funds and races. Today, all that is left is an aptly named forest preserve to mark the track's--and club's--existence.For more information about Meadowdale International Raceway, the history of the track, and the Midwest Council of Sports Car Clubs, visit http://www.meadowdaleraceway.homestead.com/and http://www.mcscc.org/. Images from Meadowdale courtesy of MCSCC.
