On Tuesday, March 13, Kimball County voters face a critical choice. The special election to approve or reject an $8 million bond issue to build a sportsman class drag strip somewhere in the county has the potential to greatly affect the region’s future.

There are few certainties if voters say ‘yes’ to the track--perhaps only three incontrovertible facts. First, it will give Kimball the highest tax rate in the state of Nebraska. Second, the individual taxpayer will realize little or no direct benefit from such a facility. Finally, the big name NHRA drivers are never coming to the county with their top fuel dragsters. The rest is speculation, and that’s what has caused such a volatile debate.

“It’s the word ‘may,’” said the outgoing director of the Kimball-Banner County Chamber of Commerce, Rod Horton. “Who knows?”

Even supporters of the proposed drag strip, working under the High Point Motor Speedway name, claim no crystal ball. “There’s no guarantees in life,” Dick Cutshaw warned attendees at a March 4 presentation. Instead, there are numbers drawn from tracks and studies unrelated to the Kimball area. And these deserve serious examination.

In their presentations, HPMS representatives claim that drag racing is growing by close to nine percent. When challenged, they have backtracked and specified that the figure refers only to sportsman classes--the amateurs and lower ranked professionals who run on small tracks. Later in the March 4 meeting, however, Cutshaw issued the following alarming statements: “Douglas”--referring to the only strip in Wyoming--”is gone, in its last year” and “Julesburg”--the closest facility to Kimball--”has been fighting for survival.”

The evidence is anecdotal, but drag strips across the country face serious challenges. One in Abeline, Texas, shut down due to the “failure to sell, lease or retain an operating partner,” according to owners Dean and Avla Kennedy. Memphis Motorsports Park in urban west Tennessee, which includes road and kart tracks, sold for a mere $2 million in 2010 after several difficult years. Dallas Raceway Park in Crandall, Texas, closed recently due to “hard economic times and financial reasons,” or so claimed a post on their web site.

Dragzine, an online racing magazine, followed up on the story of the Crandall center by pointing out “tracks that have been around consistently for decades have shut down left and right, while others are threatened by housing developments, a seeming lack of interest, or an economy that seems trapped in a downward spiral.” The owners of the facility resurfaced the track in 2009, also adding a tower, suites, a hospitality center, 13.5 acres of paved pit parking, bathrooms with showers and a fully stocked lake.

“We’re down 30 percent, and we’re one of the better ones,” said Dick Alexander of Douglas Motorsports Park.

Other tracks thrive, however. As Tim Nolting of the Bushnell Village Board and candidate for county commissioner points out, “if it does everything they say, Kimball could be a destination point--but that’s a big ‘if.’”

The ‘ifs’ are interesting.

In their presentations, HPMS representatives expect an average car count of 250 per race weekend over the season. Because sportsman racing draws only a handful of spectators beyond friends and family, Todd Barowsky, track manager at Julesburg, notes that sponsorship and volunteers help to some extent, but “car count is the only way to keep a track open.”

The 250 number comes from a formula devised by the NHRA--the National Hot Rod Association--to help facilities determine their performance in the market. It is based on an assumed radius racers will travel to a given track (in this case 125 miles), the general population of a region and a multiplier culled from research on the percentage of people who own race cars. It is the only tool Cutshaw has to make an estimate.

That Julesburg draws only 80 cars per weekend and Douglas 90 may--that word again--be due to circumstances related to radius and population.

From this projection, Cutshaw believes the proposed Kimball track will generate $400,000 in profit after expenses for the county each year and $2.5 million in direct and indirect monies flowing into the county through spending by visiting drivers and other sources.

He cites studies completed for a Lincoln track that has never been constructed and a strip in Pueblo, Colorado. And to his credit he uses these as best case scenarios.

No true feasibility study has been conducted for Kimball County. However, Julesburg town manager Allen Coyne estimates the annual direct and indirect economic impact of their track as more in the neighborhood of $15,000 a year. And Steve Henning, city administrator for Douglas, said “a little is the key phrase” when asked about the trickle down of money from the track.

When drivers come from a two hour radius, they tend not to stay in hotels or eat in local restaurants. Instead, they head home at the end of each race day, returning again in the morning. Julesburg’s city administrator and track manager confirm this experience. And Kimball driver Greg Dinges told this paper last summer that he tends to make the trek home rather than spend the night in the Colorado town.

In addition, discussion of projected indirect benefits fail to consider that, thanks to the added tax burden of .13 per hundred, close to $800,000 would be taken out of local circulation by taxation each year--real money that cannot be spent in shops and businesses.

“Good luck--that’s all I can say,” Henning added when discussing profit and loss realities.

Kimball county commissioner Dave Bashaw explains that the board’s seeming reticence to back the HPMS proposal stems from such discrepancies. Commissioners have visited with Douglas, Pueblo and other track operators and elected officials.

“We have looked at the same areas [as Cutshaw] and we’re getting different information.”

Discrepancies abound in the presentations. Cutshaw expects no more than 250 spectators, according to the model. Then blurts that the plan calls for 5,000 seats. At one point in the March 4 presentation, he predicted 13 new “well paying” full and part time jobs created for the track--something drawn from the Pueblo study--”and I’m being conservative.” The breakdown of the Kimball model, however, reveals only three full and three part time positions.

When asked about police protection, he pointed out that one of the part time jobs is a security person.

HPMS repeatedly cites the NHRA, once claiming it is “the same body we would use to run the track.” But the track would, in reality, be owned by taxpayers and run by the county, who would appoint a board to oversee its operation. An NHRA spokesperson denied any knowledge of HPMS or the Kimball proposal--though it is unlikely they would comment on a facility merely under consideration.

Still, there seems to be some fuzziness when Cutshaw discusses progress on the facility so far. When asked on March 4 about running city water to the site, he insisted there would be no need because the location already has well water.

But there has been no decision on the location--and one cannot be made until the county begins accepting offers.

Cutshaw spoke about completed engineering plans for buildings at the facility. Yet these, too, would be subject to the government bid process.

“We’re not even sure,” Bashaw said when asked about the county’s next steps should the vote be in favor of a track. He listed feasibility studies, environmental impact studies, considerations of water and electricity, applications for land and personnel, insurance issues (“if someone gets hurt, do they sue the entire county?”), the possibility the county would have to purchase another ambulance, meeting state and NHRA rules and regulations, marketing expenses and--even before much of this comes to pass--working with bonding companies.

While HPMS claims a strip could be up and operating in six months, two years is more likely, given all the government hoops that must be dealt with.

Even if the track is approved, it is not certain a bond company would see value in the proposal. They must front the $8 million.

Taxpayers will pay that amount--if it is the final figure--plus another $4 million in interest. Accordingly, Evertson Operating Company will pay an additional $58,000 each year in taxes based upon current assessed values. Clean Harbors will take on $41,000 in added burden, Daum & Sons farm will shell out $2,500--or almost $50,000 extra over the 20 year bond period.

“The taxpayers are going to lose money because they have to pay the bond,” Cutshaw admitted in the March 4 meeting.

Kimball County voters will have the right to vote every five years to approve or disapprove of the issue. But, Cutshaw pointed out, “it’s a moot question.”

Whether the track succeeds or fails, taxpayers must still honor their bond obligation of .13 per hundred in added levies.

“You can’t back out of it,” he added.

HPMS supporters insist some, if not all, of this deficit will be made up by a rush of entrepreneurs into the city. This, of course, is speculative--especially considering the natural impulse of business owners to shy away from high tax rates.

One of the most common statements in support of the track runs along the “at least they are trying something” lines. Cutshaw bluntly claimed “the only way to turn Kimball around is this bond issue,” after explaining how two private investment firms turned down the HPMS proposal, considering it unfeasible unless Kimball were a destination center.

As an aside: suggesting a track would be successful if Kimball were a destination center does not translate as ‘the track will make Kimball a destination center.’

Horton echoed the common statement, “if you’re against the track, offer an alternative.”

Sisters Grimm opened in Bushnell last year. Recently Dawn Moeser opened a florist shop, Mad Dog’s Sports Bar filled the old Greg’s Grub space, a photography studio started up, the bakery added lunch service, Castronics merged with another firm and is planning additions and new hires and an oil service company called American Testers is ready to launch.

They are small, but they represent people offering alternatives.





Additional Tax To Top Companies And Land In Kimball County, Per Year (if track is approved):



Evertson Operating Co.          $58,042

Clean Harbors $41,337

Frenchman Valley Coop $ 6,445

Recovery Energy $ 3,415

Wind River Exploration $ 2,961

Daum & Sons $ 2,482

Gene & Rhonda Purdy $ 2,122

Panhandle Coop $ 2,082



(based on current assessed value)