Forum: Northern California Sprint Car (go)
Moderators: StuDeedooo

Anyone know more about the dirt oval located near Sacramento International Airport, along Elkhorn Boulevard? It's right of of Hwy 99 Exit 307, about 10-12 minutes north of downtown.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=W+Elkhorn+%26+Lone+Tree,+Sacramento,+CA&sll=38.686448,-121.550803&sspn=0.024019,0.038109&layer=tc&ie=UTF8&ll=38.684605,-121.554515&spn=0.01201,0.019054&t=h&z=16&cbll=38.685604,-121.557706&panoid=7eOfailCU_DG5MRQLIXJ3w

There's a birdseye view of it on Live Search Maps, showing that it is slightly banked...

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCC&cp=qfdb7n4w3f1s&style=b&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=8104993&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1

Is this some team's personal test track or something? It looks big enough to be raceable...

- Chris

wow, what a mystery.

"Ralphie, Senor, muchas gracias por una mas cerveza"  -
Scott Daloisio @ the PAS

Using GMaps Pedometer, the track apparently is about 5/8 mile long (at .6557 mile) -

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2322082

What's intriguing about that area - while housing development has gone on extensively on the east side of Hwy 99 Exit 307, I don't think any new houses are being built in that vicinity now due to the most recent Army Corps of Engineers analysis of the levees along the Sacramento River in the North Natomas region. The Live.com aerial did show some grading for divided streets being placed about a half mile west of this oval, but the road to the track still is there.

- Chris

Mystery solved: this is the old Two Jakes Park equestrian facility (now located in Walnut Grove or whereabouts), at 3822 W Elkhorn Blvd.
http://sacramento.citysearch.com/profile/map/35609238/sacramento_ca/two_jakes_park.html

A photo of it is on this page:

http://www.willeyfarm.com/Split%20The%20Bill%20Album/Split%20the%20Bill.htm

It gets a mention here:

http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/planning/environmental-review/eirs/greenbriar/07-other-ceqa-required-analysis.pdf

Of course, the planned development in that area was before the North Natomas floodplain was ruled too risky an area to continue building houses. The PDF document above notes that it is also in the airport overfly zone, 1.6 miles east of Sacramento International to be precise.

Wonder how much investment in infrastructure (a few grandstands, a concession booth or two, a water truck, scoreboard/timing, safety walls) it'd take to turn that into a raceable course...

- Chris

I am with you Chris, hope someone with $$$ takes an interest. The Sacramento area is rich in open wheel history and tradition. But is there room for another track in the area with Placerville, Marysville and Chico all running either Friday or Saturday nights? Just a question and thanks Chris for all of your great research.

"Ralphie, Senor, muchas gracias por una mas cerveza"  -
Scott Daloisio @ the PAS

Thursday nights are open, right? That was one thing I absolutely thought about, that Placerville/Chico/Marysville already have the main weekend spots. I wonder what the grid size situation was back when West Capital (as well as Grass Valley and Auburn) was operating, with today's trio of sprint car tracks all in operation even then - keeping in mind that Placerville did not become a full time sprint car venue until the early 1980s.

Seriously though, I wouldn't mind at least a venue for special events, much like Cal Expo in this area used to be for decades (or what Calistoga is now - although that is for entirely different reasons, given that Calistoga had more activity on it in the 70s and 80s). And with the amount of drivers based in Sacramento County and the surrounding area, it wouldn't be hard to get them to haul up there.

The Sacramento Raceway quarter mile oval closed this year if I'm not mistaken, though IMO it's too small for the full-sized sprinters in any case. Across from the Sacramento Raceway dragstrip on the north side is the abandoned remains of the Thunder Park dual ovals, I don't know who owns that land. Sacramento Raceway's location south of Mather Field does not help access much (the track is 5 miles away from US 50), compared to the W Elkhorn oval being a mere 1/3 mile west of Hwy 99 Exit 307.

In all honesty, W Elkhorn seems like it has better access too than Cal Expo, as 99 has room to be expanded to more lanes if necessary (unlike Business 80) and that area has not been and now will not be developed out any time soon, due to the flooding issues.

- Chris

Hmm, maybe the track is in operation as a horse course again, of all things? A Live.com search on the 3822 W Elkhorn address gets the following result, supposedly from this year:

http://www.mi-harness.net/brf/CA.html

SACRAMENTO EQUESTRIAN CENTER
3822 West Elkhorn
Sacramento, CA 95835
(916)925-1755

However, another site gives an entirely different address for the equestrian center:

http://www.thecityofsacramento.com/stable/index.html

Sacramento Equestrian Center
(916) 925-1755
5190 Garden Hwy
Sacramento, CA

The latter address corresponds with the "River Oak Ranch" and is located well away from the dirt oval.

On the other hand, an entirely different phone number for the 3822 W Elkhorn site comes up on this search:
http://yellowpages.kcra.com/Horse+Boarding+--26+Rental.q.html

Two Jakes Park
(916) 921-8503 : 3822 W Elkhorn Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95835

---

Here's what I think is the most recent overhead of the track, via Mapquest:
http://www.mapquest.com/mq/10-yOkfIWEjjaNBI09zahM4

Note that the new north-south street between Hwy 99 and Power Line Rd has been constructed, as well as the realigned W Elkhorn Blvd - but the oval remains, as well as the access roads. None of the buildings from the site's past are left (as noted previously with the Live.com overhead).

A Historicaerials.com overhead shows the buildings to have been gone as early as 2005, when they had been on the site in 2002.

Also noticeable on all overheads is the unusual frontage road alignment where Power Line Road crosses Interstate 5 - there is enough space there to build an interchange for that road, and the realignment of W Elkhorn Blvd to about a quarter mile north of this potential interchange provides for some more access options to the area in the future (a possible I-5 Exit 527). Another unusual frontage road routing exists near where Lone Tree Road would theoretically cross I-5, with just as much space for an interchange - this would give the best access to the track from those coming in via I-5 south.

- Chris

A lease agreement with the property owner, and a investment of between $500K and $1M will probably get the track to open, provided that you can get proper permits from the county and state.

While it's likely that the neighbors won't complain, there's really no guarantee that they won't. And I'd geuss that Caltrans will NOT build an interchange just for the track. So while it is nice to dream, the reality is that converting this facility into an auto racing track is higly unlikely and a very poor investment with little chance of a profitable return to the investor(s).. It would probably take less money to reopen Chowchilla or Stockton....

Chuck.....

There's already an interchange at the track area though as mentioned earlier (Hwy 99 Exit 307), so that part's taken care of. The permits though I actually think are a bigger hangup, given what happened to Thunder Park in 1980.

Stockton 99 is already reopening, slated for next March (at the cost of nearly $1 million in infrastructure expenses, taking the old grandstands and such out of storage). I think of those ballpark figures as a general idea of what it takes to start a track from near-scratch - and that will always be a major hurdle.

As for nearby residents - there is a house or two on that far west end of Elkhorn, but no other development of any sort between the airport and Hwy 99 (and as noted earlier, that won't change any time soon due to the area's heightened risk for flooding). However, there have been houses constructed on the other side of the freeway, east of 99. Not sure if there are soundwalls between the highway and those homes.

- Chris

Out of pure curiosity, I drove up to the West Elkhorn Boulevard area to see what it was like, right after work on Friday afternoon.

The new north-south street, Metro Parkway, was constructed (along with the West Elkhorn realignment) as part of a still-undeveloped industrial and commercial complex, the Metro Air Park:
http://www.vpmedia.us/metair/

Environmentalists have objected to the Metro Air Park, and funding for it was uncertain a year ago when the North Natomas development moratorium was announced, well before the current economic crisis:
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2007/11/12/story2.html
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2006/05/08/tidbits1.html

However, the Metro Air Park webpages do suggest that Phase 1 of construction has been funded, though I can't see much else beyond the construction of Metro Parkway and the realignment of Elkhorn.

The map of the proposed complex on their site does provide a couple of important insights:
- Metro Parkway, which currently ends as a cul-de-sac, IS planned to be extended south to a future interchange with Interstate 5 at some point (a potential Exit 526), which would provide easier access to the area from I-5 southbound (and from points west in Yolo County)
- West Elkhorn Boulevard is slated to be extended from Power Line Road west to Airport Boulevard, providing easier access to the area from the airport itself
- The dirt oval is not in the development area at all!

Driving eastbound on West Elkhorn back to the 99 freeway, one thing that will undoubtedly be cool to look at at night is the downtown Sacramento skyline - visible from West Elkhorn already, and would likely be visible from the track. (I'm not even sure that can be seen from Cal Expo for comparison.)

Now I'm fully aware that this is all one big pipe dream - still, it's not often that a 5/8 mile oval is sitting there in a location that is extremely convenient, yet still for the most part untouched! Always fun to imagine how something like this could work out, if a few race fans would just win the lottery or something.

- Chris

For a little bit of fun, I did some image editing of the Mapquest.com overhead shots to show how the parcel would be structured if it was ever converted to racing usage. I think "West Elkhorn Speedway" would be a nice subtle homage to West Capital (which also was located on the west end of a major Sacramento-area thoroughfare). I have the grandstands on the northwest side of the track, facing southeast (in tune with Chico and Calistoga and Placerville all have east-facing stands, and to ensure views of the downtown Sacramento skyline from the seats).



And to set the context, here's an wider image of the area, showing the streets (both constructed and planned) in the proposed Metro Air Park, as well as the proposed Metro Parkway/I-5 interchange:

- Chris

that is awesome... great post........obviously not much going on this weekend as that looks like it took some time to put together.... i approve this message

thanks man! It's always fun to play around in a photo editor and see what you can do with empty space...it's rare though to have a track sitting there like that in real life! Especially one that's 2/3 mile long...(I think the measurements are closer to 21/32 of a mile, but 2/3 sounds better. :p )

The one issue with a track that big is making sure that the cars don't get too single-file/hooked up, something that I've noticed has been a complaint about 410s at half miles in recent months on the main forum, and which is even more of a problem on the mile tracks. (That was also an issue with WoO at Calistoga...)

In my "fantasy layout" I essentially used a grandstand setup not unlike Silver Dollar's (main grandstand, and T4/T1 bleachers). Not sure if that's ideal for a track this lengthy.

---

Checking the parcel of land (3900 Elkhorn) at the Sacramento County assessor's website...

The property has an assessor's # of 201-0300-077-0000 - and a land value of $21,817,398! Wow! That's rather expensive land, though it's hard to tell if that number will be trending downward with the development moratorium. (For comparison, the parcel of land where Sacramento Raceway is located - 5305 Excelsior - has a land value of only $167,758; combined with improvement value, personal property value, and fixtures, the net assessed value is still only $718,184 - probably due to the poor access to the site, and its location just to the south of Mather Field. The whole parcel covers the dragstrip, the oval, and the old Thunder Park raceway.)

- Chris