Jon Asher PhotosBill Bader Jr. understands he has big decisions coming up regarding the future of his family's Summit Motorsports Park.

The track has outgrown its boundaries and as of late, the facility's neighbors appear unsympathetic.

Jon Asher PhotosBill Bader Jr. understands he has big decisions coming up regarding the future of his family's Summit Motorsports Park.

The track has outgrown its boundaries and as of late, the facility's neighbors appear unsympathetic.

Bill Bader Sr. bought the original Norwalk Raceway Park in 1974, eleven years after the strip was built.

"I don’t think in 1974 that he ever envisioned a facility that would have 30,000 seats, that would host half a million visitors each year, and something that would generate $100,000,000 of economic impact for its community," said Bader of his dad's initial vision. "It’s not anybody’s fault but we’ve just outgrown our campus. I think if dad would have realized it in 1974 he would have acted upon it then."

The primary issue confronting Bader is the need for the track to use an adjacent airport’s property as part of its traffic flow following major events.

"The track was actually built before the airport was or the airfield was," Bader explained. "We’ve outgrown our space; this has been an ongoing saga really since 2007 when we became part of the NHRA family. So it’s been going on for years."

The "straw that broke the camel's back" in the dispute was a denied permit to use the next door airport’s runway for egress. Bader said initial January approval was rescinded just days before the Cavalcade of Stars [Div. 3 LODRS] event; a decision he learned about through an article in the local newspaper.

"We were given the approval and then on roughly 36 hours before the closure I read on the front page of the newspaper that access had been denied," Bader said. "Nobody called me, nobody gave me a heads-up. The commissioners knew, the airport knew, and yet nobody calls me. I read about it in the newspaper."
 
The reversal, Bader said, created a huge headache for his team.

"The long and the short of it is that I’ve got this monster Saturday [crowd] of 40,000 people, and I have no way of getting them out beyond using State Road 18," Bader said. "Typically what we do is have half of our spectators go north onto the airport runway and gain access to Route 20, the other half take 18. So what this meant was we were going to have to dump everything onto 18."

Bader said the decision turned what would have normally been a one-hour exit into a three-and-a-half hour ordeal for race fans, something he describes as an unacceptable process.

"Quite frankly it was a train wreck and I mean a train wreck," Bader said.  "I said enough is enough and I went to the commissioners the following Tuesday and said I’ve been riding this ride for eight years. I’m tired of sitting at my desk every day with a stomach ache worried about getting people in and out of my park. That’s not the stuff I should worry about."

Bader threw out an alternative to the community, the equivalent of a nuclear strike.

"I told them that we were going to look for alternative building sites," said Bader. "That’s exactly what I’ve done. It’s not a bull up; I don’t posture, I don’t play games. With me pretty much what you see is what you get."

Bader admits he'd considered a new venue prior to the skirmish with the local government. He said up until now he had no reason to step outside of his present location; limiting himself to constructing the ultimate drag racing palace in his mind and with a few notes and sketches on a notepad.

"I’ve only acted upon it since the Cavalcade in May," Bader admits.

Bader clearly understands a move of this caliber will be a clear challenge with a shaky economy and an even shakier state of drag racing's affairs.

"I think that drag racing has its challenges, that’s for sure," Bader said. "But you have to understand, my events, my spring warm-up, my weekly program, my weekly super series points program, my events are all kicking butt. I’m having a tremendous year. If you’re referring to perhaps some of the concerns on the national side that’s one thing, but Dad and I believe people always have money for entertainment.

"During the Depression there were companies like Par, they would rent puzzles,” Bader explained. “They rented puzzles to people because people needed to occupy their time. So the Par puzzle company in New York used to rent puzzles to people and these were old wooden puzzles. Now they’re collector items that you buy for thousands of dollars on eBay but during the Great Depression people rented puzzles. There will always be discretionary income for entertainment. We have been a relatively recession-proof business because we offer affordable entertainment, we offer user friendly kids pricing, we offer free parking, so is the economy a concern? Sure. Is it a knockout factor? Absolutely not."

Bader said while there are realistic concerns, they aren't of the magnitude to inspire a retreat in order to play defense.

"The idea of starting with a blank canvas, a 500-acre, multi-use facility that could be built the right way with every creature comfort feature considered including adequately sized skyboxes and properly spaced and properly sized seating. I’ve got just a wonderful picture of what a true drag racing stadium might look like. It’s pretty exciting. It really is."

Don't count on Bader giving much insight into his vision, however. The family has been there and done that, with not so positive results.

"I haven’t gone to an architect because I don’t know what our new campus might look like," said Bader.  "I have a perfect rendering in my head. I can close my eyes and see it crystal clear. I know what amenities will be available. 30,000 stadium seats. I know every amenity every seat might provide."

Bader said many years ago his father shared a similar vision and it wasn't long after that his vision became reality at a well-known venue on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series circuit.

"I’m keeping those pretty guarded, what this new motorsports park might look like," Bader said.  “It’ll be pretty cool, that’s for sure.”

Bader said he's not angry, although he pointed out a lot of the ideas were implemented at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill.

Bader understands his facility doesn't necessarily have the overwhelming financial backing some of the super strips have, and to jump in at an equal level they've had to employ other techniques.

"We make up for it with our outgoing personalities and our friendly staff and our guest-first mentality and a clean, neat, well-groomed, well-manicured facility," said Bader.  "We’ve attacked it in a different way and actually I think in a more meaningful way. I think you can build a big beautiful facility but if it’s not run worth a d*** who cares? The shine comes off the apple real quick. It’s like marrying a pretty girl with no personality. That can only get you so far and then you’re looking at the reality that you’re going to be married for the next 50 years.

If there becomes a new Summit Motorsports Park, he adds "she will be a pretty girl, with a great personality."

"There needs to be real substance to what you do and so for me it’s exciting because if I can put those two together, if I could take the facility and couple it with the Bader way, man, that would be really cool and it’s very exciting," Bader added.

Bader is just as vague about where the new facility would be, other than that it won’t be far from the existing location.

"Seventeen-percent of the population is within an eight-hour drive of our zip code so wanting to maintain equal distance to all of our markets is important," Bader explained. "We’re looking at a twenty to thirty-mile radius of our existing facility but outside of Huron County."

Bader said Norwalk officials are concerned but face constraints in the issue.

"It is really is more of a county issue than a city issue because we reside outside the city limits, so it's more of a Huron County issue and we’re all trying to work through it.  We're just trying to grow our business and we don’t fit in our current space. We need that airport property in order to grow and we’ll find out here in the next 30 to 60 days if that can be a reality or not."

If not, Bader said the new facility would be due north or east. North would place the facility in Erie County and closer to Sandusky. If they go east, they are headed closer to Cleveland in Lorrain County.  

And for Bader, the decision will be challenging as to which direction to go but far less challenging than the decision to move. The decision, he adds, is out of his hands right now.

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