Craig King, of J.P. King auctions off the Montgomery Motorsports Park on Tuesday. (Photo: PHOTOS BY MICKEY WELSH/ADVERTISER )
A longtime racer bought Montgomery Motorsports Park at an auction Tuesday and said things will keep rolling along once he takes over the drag strip.
David Elsberry bought the 138-acre racing venue off North Boulevard for $430,280. He said he's been racing there for more than 20 years.
"Basically, the people that everybody's dealt with will be the same, but I'll be active also," Elsberry said after the auction.
Stallings and Sons construction president Rick Stallings bought 249 vacant acres around the track for $2,500 per acre, a total sale price of nearly $630,000 with fees. He said he planned to sell the properties as developmental land.
The properties are zoned for everything from an industrial park to an airstrip. Former owner Jimmy Easterling said there are a lot of possibilities for the land around the Motorsports Park, and that he'd like to see it turned into a family destination like a water park and campground.
Elsberry said he was interested in the neighboring land but wasn't willing to outbid Stallings.
"I needed those, but I didn't need them that badly," Elsberry said. "I needed those at about $1,200 an acre. I didn't need them at $2,500.
"Right now we're gonna worry about that quarter-mile strip."
The NHRA-sanctioned racing venue has been open for nearly 20 years. Upcoming events include the Million Dollar Drag Race in October, which last year paid a single winner more than $200,000.
It also hosts concerts and other community events.
Easterling said he knew he was taking a chance by auctioning the property with no reserve but that he hoped to bring in more bidders and generate more interest by not setting a minimum price.
Bidding opened with auctioneers asking $10,000 per acre, and the asking price dropped to $2,500 per acre before anyone placed a bid.
Easterling, a Clanton resident who is retiring and selling off his businesses, said he has invested more than $5 million into the properties over the years and was disappointed in the total sale price of just over $1 million for all of the land.
"I gave it away, but that's the way it goes," he said.
updated by @johnny-mallonee: 12/05/16 08:53:29AM