NASCAR's track of future rising above rural Kansas

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Humpy Wheeler, that showman and preeminent visionary who has a side job as president of Lowe's Motor Speedway outside Charlotte, N.C., earlier this week dispatched a release to the media detailing his thoughts on what a NASCAR facility might look like 25 years from now. It's a grandiose picture, one where fans are transported via moving sidewalks and gain entry by a voice-activated ticketing system, cars compete on a synthetic, all-weather racing surface, and wireless, airborne television cameras beam it all home.

But there's no need to dust off such a crystal ball. With all apologies to Wheeler, the mastermind behind innovations such as extravagant pre-race shows and night superspeedway racing, the track of the future isn't a fantasy. It's real. And it's right here.

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In Kansas.

All is takes is one trip to Kansas Speedway to realize why this green, yellow and lavender edifice has become a darling of International Speedway Corp. and was a dark-horse finalist to land the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Because of their sheer size, race tracks aren't able to follow the trend set by stick-and-ball teams, which are moving their stadiums downtown from city outskirts in an effort to foster economic growth. So at Kansas Speedway, they've done the next best thing -- they've built a downtown in the city outskirts, and in the process rejuvenated an area that had been beset by poverty and flight.

Visually, the place is startling. Because of land costs, many NASCAR tracks are located seemingly in the middle of nowhere -- alongside cotton fields, deep in pine forests, or near old industrial areas. It seems that way in Kansas as well, when you leave the sprawl of metro Kansas City, Mo., behind, cross the same Missouri River that Lewis and Clark paddled, and enter those amber waving farmlands the state is known for. And then, at the junction of Interstates 435 and 70, everything changes. Between the 750,000 square feet of retail space, the hundreds of mall-quality stores and restaurants, the movie theatre and the minor-league baseball stadium, the 1.5-mile race track almost gets lost.

The retail area around Kansas Speedway is the state's top tourist destination, a place that draws 10 million visitors annually, a complex that helped Kansas improve from almost last in the nation in tourism to 36th. Those numbers will surely increase when the massive Schlitterbahn water park and resort opens in 2009. Then there's the cherry on top of the sundae, a $600 million hotel and casino overlooking the speedway's second turn, a project still awaiting approval from local and state governments.

Eight years ago, when the $240 million speedway was under construction, none of this was here. It's been a dramatic transformation, and it serves as a model for communities in other states where race tracks are being proposed. In places like Seattle and Denver, markets that ISC has targeted, there's staunch opposition to a NASCAR presence. That might change if they ever saw Kansas Speedway, an economic engine that hums long after the Cup cars have been packed up and hauled away.

"To see it grow the way it has with all these businesses and restaurants and hotels, it's fantastic," said Jeff Gordon, who won the first two Kansas races.

"I hope that you can use this as a model of what you can do with a NASCAR race track in your area. It shows that you can take a community and build around the excitement of this race track and create jobs and businesses. You look at the Seattle track and the reception they got there and how they were saying they didn't want it. If they came here and saw what has happened in this community and this area, I think they'd re-think that. It's pretty extraordinary what they've been able to pull off here."

Before the speedway, this was a sleepy, rural community 15 miles outside of downtown Kansas City, and a county known for little besides pheasant hunting. Track president Jeff Boerger, who formerly worked in economic development for the Kansas City Development Council, was the man charged with buying the 169 individual properties that now comprise the speedway property.

It wasn't an altogether painless process -- 20 percent of those parcels were obtained by eminent domain -- and taxpayers in Wyandotte County picked up a large chunk of the bill. Kansas Speedway has sold out every Cup event, but the fact that spectators have to buy a season ticket package that also includes Busch, Craftsman Truck and Indy Racing League events rankles some fans.

But it's hard to argue with the results. "The growth in this area has been phenomenal," Kurt Busch said. "I was here [Thursday] early and got to see some of the businesses and shops that have popped up out of the farmland, and it's been dramatic the last seven years since this race track was built. This was the only thing out here.

"I remember out on Parallel Parkway, I stopped at a gas station before our first test session and I asked them, 'Are you excited about this?' They looked at me like, what are you talking about? Now, that's probably the most thriving gas station in the area because of all the things that have been built up around it."

The next thing may be the sleek casino and hotel, a project proposed by the speedway in conjunction with the Cordish Co., a Baltimore development firm. The Kansas legislature recently passed a law allowing for the construction of four destination casinos, but only one in each region of the state. One of those will be in Wyandotte County, and the speedway bid is one of several that have been submitted. The county will recommend one site to the state in December. Boerger believes his facility is the natural choice.

"Not only does it interact with Kansas Speedway, it adds more success to this development," he said. "You want to continue to add things to your development, continue to grow. We've proven to Wyandotte County, everything we said we'd do, we've delivered on it. We want to continue that success, continue that growth, continue that wealth for Wyandotte County. The best pick, there should be no other logical reason than right here at Kansas Speedway."

Truthfully, Kansas Speedway doesn't need a casino to stand out among so many other facilities on the Cup tour. From the beginning, they did things the right way here. Nearby intersecting interstates ease the traffic flow. There's a wide, green plaza in the infield for exhibits. The fence along the garage area is broken at waist level by a rectangular opening, designed so fans can poke pens and paper through for drivers to sign. There's so much to do within walking distance. A movie theatre and a Chipotle have to beat spending all night in a tent.

But the casino resort will likely become a reality, adding a 300-room, five-star hotel to a corner of the state that once few people wished to visit. It will stand as another castle built in Kansas' own fantastical land of Oz.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.