When could racing return to Belleville’s Belle-Clair Fairgrounds? Here’s what we know
St. Clair County plans to use COVID-19 relief dollars to rebuild the Belle-Clair Speedway racetrack facility so that events can take place there again.
Officials previously used $2.3 million of the county’s federal dollars to buy the Belle-Clair Fairgrounds & Expo Center with the city of Belleville.
The St. Clair County Board voted Tuesday night to allocate another $14 million in Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds toward improving the aging infrastructure at the fairgrounds. County Board Chairman Mark Kern said in an interview after the meeting that their plan includes work on the racetrack at the property.
“The track as it sits now is not capable of handling any events,” Kern said. “It really is falling down. It’s not safe and would put the county in a position of liability should we have a race there before we’re able to go in and rebuild it.
“It will be really a complete rebuild of that facility and maybe enlargement as we’re doing it so that we can handle other events there. The fairgrounds’ gonna be the center of many activities in the county. We’re excited about it.”
Kern said his goal is for racing to return by 2024, barring any construction delays.
“Ordering of materials and getting the workforce to be able to complete construction projects is challenging, but my goal would be that we would be racing next year,” he said.
The $14 million will fund other improvements at the fairgrounds, including a new roof and HVAC system, according to Kern.
Racing promoter interested in working with St. Clair County
Kenny Brown, the owner of POWRi Racing in Belleville, said he has expressed interest in working as a promoter to the county. Promoters line up drivers of stock cars and open wheel cars to run at the track.
POWRi was the last promoter at the track before races were halted in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, Brown said.
“I would like to be considered as the promoter,” Brown said after hearing about the county board’s decision to improve the racetrack. “We’d be excited to get in there and get it going.”
Kern did not immediately respond to a request for comment about a potential agreement.
Racing has not resumed since the COVID-19 shutdown.
When races were conducted at the track, the noise from the engines could be heard through much of the city.
Track in Belleville dates to 1948
The Belle-Clair Speedway is comprised of a fifth-of-a-mile, banked dirt oval with a grandstand seating 5,000 people. It opened for midget racing in 1948 with stock car and hotrod racing following in 1949, according to research by the Belleville Historical Society.
The track was built by the Belle-Clair Fairgrounds Park Association soon after the group bought the site in December 1947.
Over the years, the track has also hosted demolition derbies, mud racing and motorcycle contests, according to the historical society.
The speedway shared the fairgrounds with the St. Clair County Fair until the annual fair stopped in 2014.
St. Clair County plans to revive county fairs, too.
The county board applied for the state funding that is available for county fairs at its December meeting. The deadline for counties to ask for financial support from the Department of Agriculture is Dec. 31 of the year before they plan to organize a county fair.
