‘You have 30 days.’ Commissioner challenges SC fans to buy closed Greenville racetrack for $5.6M

At the end of a 3-hour-long public hearing on whether the Greenville Pickens Speedway would be torn down, the chair of the Pickens County Planning Commission said to speedway supporters, “$5.6 million — he’d accept an offer — you have 30 days.”

Kelsey Crooks made the statement after the Planning Commission put off making a decision on an extension of an industrial park on the site of the racetrack and two adjacent properties.

Phil Wilson, a principal at RealtyLink, who is working with the development group, had said earlier, “If someone wanted to buy it I wouldn’t stand in their way.”

Whether that is a reasonable outcome remains to be seen.

Brandon Langston, who has been outspoken in his support for saving the track, said after the meeting even if they could come up with what he considers an unreasonable sum, he believes the developer would deny the offer.

They are determined to build the industrial park, he said.

Langston also said the track is worth no more than $3 million because it is run down.

Tasha Porter Kummer, the first woman to win a Late Model race — the prime event — at Greenville Pickens who has been trying to find a buyer, said Tuesday she hasn’t given up.

“At 28 acres at $200,000 an acre, I’m not sure because I’m not in real estate and I don’t know what the going value for property on 123 is,” she said. “However, there have been tracks bought and worse damage for more money.”

She said she’s getting more and more calls about the track.

“The county refuses to acknowledge that instead they want to bring in a development that is going to impact heavily on traffic and buyout and disrupt several local businesses and eventually putting a lot of local businesses out of business.”

Warehouses and manufacturing facilities have been built beside the track site by SC Speedway Hwy 124, but the actual track has been left alone.

The application under review Monday night was for three parcels, the track itself, which would be the site of a 376,380 square-foot industrial building, an undeveloped outparcel for other industrial buildings and a 13-acre retail, gas station restaurant complex south of the speedway.

More than a dozen people spoke against the plan, describing the history of the racetrack and what it has meant to them and generations of their families.

Greenville Pickens Speedway opened in 1940 as a half-mile-long dirt track. It went dark during World War II and when racing resumed on Independence Day, fans saw two horse races and a car race promoted by Bill France, who two years later founded NASCAR.

The track was paved in 1970 and hosted various Winston Cup races through the years.

Richard Petty, Junior Johnson, David Pearson, Dale Earnhardt and his son Dale Jr. raced there. Many of the legendary racers’ names remain painted on the walls surrounding the track.

“They (the developer) closed the entrance,” Josh Medlin told the commissioners. “That tells you right there they had no intention of keeping the track. They want it all so they can line their pockets.”

Buck Chapman said the development would make the highway around it another Woodruff Road, referring to the Greenville road that is so congested with businesses, planners are looking to build a bypass.

“With proper management this track could be a showplace for Pickens County,” he said.

Several people suggested the speedway could be profitable, but Wilson said it wasn’t at the end and couldn’t be again. He also said the businesses in the park work unusual hours and would not contribute to traffic problems.

Commissioners asked for traffic studies, which Wilson said they will provide.

He estimated it would take $20 million to refurbish the track.

“Everybody would like to see the track,” he said. “Nobody wants to pay for it.”