[ekraft84]

Here's an email from Scott (Lane) at Nelson Ledges when I let him know what we were doing:

Eddie,

Thank you for stepping up to head this fund raising effort.
I have not seen an entire wish list of things that are being requested yet, but some of the posts are fairly detailed and from conversations this past weekend I have a decent idea of what everyone agrees are the priority problem areas.

Some of these projects can be very expensive, for instance the section that we just completed last week between T3 and T7 riders left was quite extensive.
1) We moved, relocated and or graded approximately 1 million tons of dirt
2) Removed over 150 trees, just from that section
3) Removed over 80 stumps just from the new track side section that had to be finish graded, some of which were over three feet in diameter
4) Moved and restacked approximately 30,000 tires for over a six-tenths of a mile section BY HAND!
5) Keeping in mind that we could not work on anything trackside when the track is in use, and the fact that it had to be at least rough graded with all tire walls in tact (the old wall and the new wall) for safety every time we had people on track, and it had to be almost completely dry to work. Suffice it to say that this was a timing and scheduling nightmare, but I felt very happy that we were able to complete all this work, still stay in business, and get it done in a little over two years.
6) Planted some 22 Acres of new grass

Some complained that this section didn’t make sense to improve because it is on the inside of T4, but it is also included the outside of T3 which Jim S. and I felt was the highest priority because of the speed, number of hits, proximity of the old tire wall, and general disarray of that section of wall from being hit. Now, the T3 section was completed last and overall probably moved back the least in terms of distance, but it has a nicely stack wall with jersey barrier behind to eliminate penetration and quite frankly the gentlemen that went at T# this weekend would have definitely hit the old wall, so it has already helped. The second benefit to this section was the T6 driver left, because it was the most hit section by cars, after a double over-correction exiting turn 4. This section has claimed over a quarter million dollars of cars in the last several years alone, and I had determined overall it was the most impacted section of tire-wall at the track. Lastly, we started this project at riders left across from the T7 corner station, because that is where the bikes that crashed similar to Ruben this past weekend ended up landing. Now however, two years later, they are going still faster, and he landed 20 feet from where we stopped, or actually started, but that doesn’t matter.

Quite frankly, if I would have taken more time to estimate the cost, the amount of work and time involved in completing the entire section from T3 to T7 I may not have tried to do the entire section, or maybe would have broken the project up differently, or re-prioritized sections, something, I don’t know. If we didn’t have the equipment, motivation, and ability to complete this project in house the cost for an outside contractor would have been astronomical, well above $500, 000.00 probably much more. Thankfully we did get help from some of our friends during peak periods of the project, or else it would still not be completed.


Anyway thanks again for your consideration in spear heading a collection for safety improvements, we will make every effort to make as much progress as possible, both financially, and time wise as we can once we get the priority determined. These projects are much more involved than meets the eye, especially if done even close to properly, as I hope I have given you at least some idea of based on the brief description of what was involved in the section we just completed last week.

We will be getting starting immediately, probably tomorrow since we don’t have anything on track, hopefully it’s not too wet to get going.

If you feel that this email would be helpful to post on the WERA site, please do so. Most people give us at least some credit for trying to improve this facility, however few understand that we only lease this track presently and everyone that works here gets minimal compensation, including the management (i.e. Kerrie and myself) especially Kerrie, since I have to at least pay myself at least enough to cover my house bills. Additionally the existing owner does not want to participate in any capital improvements, which means we pay for everything and quite frankly have a limited opportunity to ever recoup any of our investment. Not to mention that as the value of the property is increased, so does the asking price. We are basically care takers, trying to make this as decent and as AFFORDABLE of a facility as we can because our family (not to mention hundreds of friends) have been involved here for over 40 years and someday we’d like to see it become something. I personally enjoy racing here and think it would be a shame to level the place for another housing development. There is too much history, tradition, and to many memories here. Not to mention that there are not many of the historical tracks that we as mostly armature racers can still afford to have our clubs rent anymore.


We sincerely appreciate everyone’s comments, both good and bad; we’ll try our best to make as much progress as possible in continuing to make Nelson safer.

Regards, Scott

Let's keep 'em comin' ..