Suggestion I just thought about

[djgruesome]

After hearing about the 564 bust and reading/watching the news about the whole street racing, tuner, etc. scene in itself I'm more strongly in agreement that a track for legal racing is needed, and this is the suggestion I thought about. I apologize if this sounds crazy but it is something that just popped into my head.

Lately there has been alot of talk about the OCEANA air base closing down (I haven't followed it lately but if the base is not closing down afterall I apologize for this). But my idea was that if the air base does close down, the city could salvage one of the runways and use it to re-pave and make into a decent drag strip that we could all use. If need be the city could charge a mere $5 a car to enter and race. This make both sides happy in that we get a legal place to race, and the city can get the money it wants no matter what we do.

I know the debate over weather to close down the base or keep it open has been heated. But maybe since the bust on 564, and the need for a track has opened the eyes of local politicans, it could help push the vote to establish a dragstrip from one of the runways.

Again, this was just a thought that came to my head and I decided to post for everyones opinion, suggestions, or use this as a base plan for something entirly different, who knows.

[speedfreekgt]

that would most definitely be a wonderful thing it it could be done. And maybe in the future, it can(although I imagine it would still remain as military property, and they might be a bit iffy about it). Biggest problem I see is that my understanding is that we have oceana for atleast another few years. The city wants to keep it here, and seem to be fairly willing to do whatever they need to to convince the navy not to move it(i.e) move houses, businesses. If Im wrong, someone please let me know, cause it could be something to look into. great idea though, and maybe we should try to press a little harder on some of the other airports in the area that are already shut down. like you said djgruesome, offer them a chance to earn some cash, and they just may bite

[djgruesome]

Yea, I know there was some talk that the military would sell the land back to the city so it becomes local property again and not federal. Im not sure if that is the case for oceana but I know there was some talk about selling the land fort monroe is on to private enterprise.

[MerF]

Well, the most popular auto-x course in the area is on a military base, so I'm not sure how that works. But I don't see Oceana shutting down completely for at least another 5 years.

[djgruesome]

Like speedfreakgt said, if the base is not closing down for at least a few years, that could give us ample time to prepare our argument to turn the land into something positive for racing. Maybe then by the time the base closes, there will be a definite plan to turn the land into a track/place for us to meet and hang out.

[FLUFFY]

Oceana will not be closing any time soon. Cecil Field down in Florida was the only base capable of accomodating the amount of jets, equipment and personnel that the BRAC saw fit and Florida has since backed out on getting that base back to an operational status. Without that base as an option the only other way to close Oceana down permanently would be for the Navy to build a new base which would be a long time from now if ever. The cheapest route for the Navy is to keep this base, especially when one of Oceana's missions can only be performed from this location.

[C45P312]

I wouldn't look at Oceana for anything.

[SteveOlicious]

Isn't there a small strip in Newport News (Denbiegh area?) that was closed down years ago?

[djgruesome]

I'll check into it. It's gotta be somewhere in the vicinity of the Newport News/Williamsburg airport.