[sperry]

Originally Posted by Bob Danger

I saw this on the news the other night, the only events they are tring to cancel are the drift events. They have no problems with the Nascar events, like the one being run there this weekend. One of the owners was complaining about the tire smoke pollution.

That's not what their website says:

http://www.betteraltamont.org/index.html

Why do some residents of the Midway Road, Grantline Road and Patterson Pass area in the Altamont (Citizens for a Better Altamont) have opposition to the changes the new owners have made and want to make to the Altamont Motorsports Park (AMP)?
That is a very good question. Some of the reasons the residents are opposed are as follows:

- There are no "buffer zones" between the racetrack and the community on the west, south and east sides of the speedway. Decibel levels generated from the ractrack exceed those that are allowed.

- During the racing season the community is faced with an increase in property damage, trespassing, theft of personal property, privately-paid for dumpsters being used, increase in fire danger, increased traffic, increased noise and now lights that stay on late into the night adding to the light pollution in this area.

- There is no infrastructure set-up (and as far as I know of, planned for, just like the additional of Mt. House increased traffic on our roads) to handle this increased traffic. We have no stop lights in the area. The sheriff is at least an 1+ away. Midway Road and Patterson Pass Road are small winding country roads with little to no shoulder not setup to handle big racing rigs as well as a significant increase in traffic.

- Racing rigs as they go to the racetrack travel and higher than posted speeds down the middle of the roads because the roads are not wide and have no shoulder. They have been observed throwing lit cigarettes out the window as well as rolling right through posted traffic control signs.

Not a single mention of drifting or tire smoke. In fact, the drift events are basically drift autocrosses, which means no race haulers, which seems to be a primary concern. It's the NASCAR events that will tax their specifically called out issues.