Tough reality

[Edm]

Somewhere written on that wall with a sharpie are the words "Tony Amico sucks".

I still had hope that the track would be saved, this hit pretty hard, it still saddens me.

This was taken yesterday.

[Edm]

heres another

[carolwicks]

ouch

that was like getting a punch in the chest... ;-( yep... Amico sucks in a huge way!
carolwicks aka OZZIE

[AB195]

Ouch-----those pix kind'a hurt a little bit.

[JDsDad]

Let's give "credit" where credit is due.....The correct name of this POS is Tony Amico. Public Enemy Number One of any fan of the finest racing (and testing) facility in the Southeast.

[woody]

If the truth be known with out Tonys Help lakeland would have beem closed years ago.I personaly would like to thank Tony for his effort and am sorry that the current conditions would not allow the track to stay open .We all must do what we can do in these times . Lets try to aim our efforts to try to help the local promoters to try to raise funding for more local support of the local classes so we no longer have to race for what we were paid in the 70,s . Woody

[KelliR95]

How in the world did Tony Amico help keep Lakeland open?

Please enlighten us dumb race fans.

If the truth be known with out Tonys Help lakeland would have beem closed years ago.I personaly would like to thank Tony for his effort and am sorry that the current conditions would not allow the track to stay open .We all must do what we can do in these times . Lets try to aim our efforts to try to help the local promoters to try to raise funding for more local support of the local classes so we no longer have to race for what we were paid in the 70,s . Woody

[Osmosis Jones]

First things first.

Please, if you will, enlighten some of us other "dumb" folk as to how Tony Amico is to blame for all of Lakeland's problems?

Everyone keeps saying racing is a business. The economy sucks. Track owners are crooks. Racers need to be saved from themselves. Etc, etc, etc...

How does a business transaction turn this guy into racing's version of Satan? Did he pass up some lucrative offer from someone who wanted to keep an over-sized, snoozer of a racetrack open for 4 or 5 special shows a year? I don't recall hearing about anybody like that stepping up to the plate. Feel bad because you can't go sit in a 10,000 seat grandstand with 300 other people and watch a cargo train go around in circles? Why is this Mr. Amico's concern? He is a businessman just like many other track owners. Exercising options is what they do. No one is going to pass up turning a profit on an investment just to provide a place for a couple dozen other people to have fun once in a while. A track owner and/or promoter has to earn a living just like the rest of us involved with racing. Just like ya can't run a Late Model without good funding, you can't run a racetrack without turning a profit. In the end, no matter what you hear or read, it's always about the money.
Always.

[Boneman]

Not always, Osmo. Some things are still done on principal, and in our case, out of love for the sport. You could argue that everything has a price, but I know there are track owners who are taking it on the chin to keep some of these tracks open.

[carolwicks]

like choking on a chicken bone...

once again i have to agree with OJ... UGHHHHH (lol) the man owned the track. he needed the money and he sold it... that is simply a business deal. not everyone are devoted to this sport. some are in it for an investment(not a good one right now)...
if i were broke and the only thing i had left was a race track that wasnt bringing in money (for whatever reason), i would sell it before i would go bankrupt..."sentiment" does not pay the bills !. i just wish tony stewart or some other racer with money had been able to buy it and promote it the way it should have been. it was a 300 fan, roundy round five times a year track because NONE OF THEM PROMOTED IT!.....
anyway... its a done deal so why cry over spilled milk. if things go the way they are we will mourn some more over dead tracks...
i loved USA speedway. but im greatful i still have CCMP close by...
OZZIE

[Edm]

"Snoozer of a track" You must have missed the races I was at. I have seen some of the best racing anyone could ever see there.

Rumor was it would be leveled back before Tony bought it, therefore its possible that he did save it for a few years.

I understand him selling it to make a few $$$, but I need to be mad at someone so I will continue to blame him. I am sure more could have been done with the track and the property to make more money.

There is all kinds of property around the track for all kinds of ware houses, I still dont understand why they have to use the area where the track is at unless its one of those huge complexes like they have along the interstate.

[AJ14]

There are much worse things than "Tony Amico sucks " on those walls . Everyone wanted to leave a message for Tony regarding the closing of the track . Tony bought it as an investment , not to keep it alive forever . He decided it was time to sell and along came a buyer . Rockefeller Development from New York . And no , not related to THE Rockefellers i'm told . They also bought a bunch of acreage around Lake Mary / Heathrow area for more industrial parks .
Shame , i enjoyed going there . It was purchased before the other vacant property nearby because the track property is already level and compacted , saving the developer a ton of site prep money .

[AJ14]

Also , wells are already dug , power already run , etc. . Thats why it went first .

[ovalracer44]

Not to mention impact fees are a bear on undeveloped land. If it has so much as a power pole, a water meter and previous commercial use, the grandfathering is worth a mint alone.

[Osmosis Jones]

Sorry Ed....

I kinda threw that one in there just to get a little action going....lol

How I felt about LIS really had nothing to do with why it's not there anymore or Mr. Amico's status as a persona non grata. I understand the need to vent and the need for a target to receive it. I really do. It's just when some people who don't know the whole story read stuff on here they take it as the gospel truth and then they tell some other folks and so on and so on and before you know it, this guy is the anti-christ of all that is motorsports come to take short track racing away from all of us.

Didn't know KARNACKY was that powerful a media giant didja? lolol

I really never did see a good race there out of about 15 or so I went to. I know people were awed by the speeds but I never saw any passing except on the straightaways. Carol actually got one right when she said it was never promoted very well. The only people who knew a race was coming up were the racers themselves or anyone who saw it on a wall at Hooter's.

LIS just wasn't my bag, I guess but I used to love the old quarter inside the 5/8th's in the old days. THAT was a driver's track to me.

M