Here's what was posted by a member on Maryland Mopars.
Quote:
Bill Wilcom is a friend-of-a-friend, and I just spoke to him last week about the rumors of 75&80 possibly reopening. Here is what he said; The track (and surrounding property) were always Bill's "retirement pension" meaning that when the time came to finally retire, the sale of the track was what would support him financially. He was offered several different lucrative deals in the last 10 years or so, as the price of real estate skyrocketed in Frederick County. A serious health scare several years ago was the catalyst he needed to finally sell off the property. A deal was struck with a delveloper to buy the property with plans to build a mixed-retirement community. A contract was drawn up, but it had some interesting provisions and contingencies in it about taxes, water/sewer/etc...
Well, long story short, the bottom fell out of the real estate market. On top of that, Frederick Co. dragged it's feet on getting municipal water/sewer lines installed, and now the purchaser has pretty much abandoned his plans on developing the property as originally intended. When the developer stopped paying the taxes on this land, the original contract pretty much became null and void. Viola! Bill now "owns" the track again. Bill has been approached by numerous local racers offering personnel and financial support to get this historic track back up and running. I was present when some financial figures were thrown around, and suffice to say this ain't gonna be cheap to pull off (heck, just look at the pictures!!).
So, the bottom line is this: Bill KNOWS that people want the track back open. He has a lot of serious decisions to make regarding his level of involvement and whether or not this is something he wants to undertake at his age. His health is OK, but face it, he isn't 25 anymore!! I think it would take a big financial backer to come in and "take over" the operation, leaving Bill as the "CEO" but letting others deal with the daily headaches of getting the place back up and ready for racing.
Let's hope for the best! Central Maryland needs another drag strip!!
