The final financial details are apparently in place for a new racetrack near Newton. Newton attorney Dennis Chalupa works for the group that’s putting the deal together, and he spoke with reporters Friday in Newton. He says U-S Motorsports Corporation has completed arrangements that will lead to construction of a 70-MILLION dollar racetrack complex. Ground will be broken for the project this spring. It’s good financial news by a community that has been rocked by layoffs at Maytag. Chalupa says the track will bring new jobs to the area. There will be 35 to 50 full-time employees at the track. On race weekends, he estimates up to 500 workers may be needed. The track will be designed by NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace. The race track will be the first designed by an active professional driver. The track will be 7/8ths of a mile and there’ll be seating for up to 80-thousand. Track developers say nearly eight million people live within 200 miles of Newton, and that’s their target audience for the big time racing events they hope to schedule at the track.”One of the things that I’m excited about it that I think this makes Newton a real destination as opposed to somewhere you drive through and maybe stop,” Chalupa says. The Newton City Council is scheduled to vote on the development agreement next week. An earlier deal had called for the city of Newton to guarantee one of the loans for the track, but under this new arrangement, the city doesn’t have to back the loans. Chalupa says that makes it a “no-risk” deal for the city. The track will be built just southeast of Newton, near Interstate-80 exit 164. If all goes according to plan, the first race at the track could be held in the summer of 2006. NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace, the track designer, is retiring from the NASCAR circuit and plans to be on hand for the groundbreaking in Newton later this spring.
