Kalamazoo Speedway could be shut down by township

Alamo Township in Michigan could be shutting down Kalamazoo Speedway if it passes a noise ordinance Monday night. The ordinance will fine anyone $500 for each violation, which is 82 dB during daylight or 55 db at night. (For comparison, most road traffic is around 80 dB, lawn mowers are about 100 dB, and a conversation is around 50-60 dB). The speedway says this will pretty much put them out of business.

The situation in Alamo Township is a growing trend for racetracks across the country. Suburban expansion puts housing where racetracks already were (in Kalamazoo Speedway's case, they've been around 64 years). The suburbanites who move out there, knowing there was a racetrack there, then start legislating them out of business. Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield fell to this eight years ago, and recent battles with residents may kill off Nashville's Fairgrounds Speedway, a track steeped in NASCAR history.