Update on Construction of Proposed New Motorsports Complex Near Fredericksburg, Virginia

Developers are ready to begin work on a 160-acre motor sports and entertainment complex along Interstate 95 in Spotsylvania County .

The projects plans include a 4/10-mile oval racetrack, a 1/8-mile drag strip, a 2-mile road course and a go-kart course.

Plans include a three-story, 36,000-square-foot building for spectator suites and race operations, and grandstands that seat 3,500 fans for oval track events and 1,200 for drag races.

The complex will have a 46-foot-by-26-foot jumbo video screen to be used during events and for drive-in movies. Plans include space for exhibitions, festivals, trade shows, concerts and other events. Developers anticipate concert crowds of up to 9,000.

Dominion Raceway Holdings , the company that owns the project, was formed by developers Steve Britt and Jerry D. Evans. The company recently closed on a $3.25 million deal to purchase the land for the complex east of I-95 at the Thornburg exit south of Fredericksburg, exit 118.

Britt said Friday that the complexs total cost is projected at about $16 million and that site work will start in a few days. He said he hopes construction at the complex will be finished in about a year and that it will be open for racing in 2015.

Britt has a longtime association with stock car racing. When he was in high school, he said, he was part of a crew of classmates that fielded a car in races at Old Dominion Speedway near Manassas. Decades later as a successful developer, he bought that 3/8-mile track.

After operating the track for about three years, he sold it to developers in a deal that closed in April, he said. Terms of that purchase were not disclosed. The track, which had been holding races since 1948, has been demolished, he said.

I love racing, and I wanted to see if I could do a new racetrack and do it differently, Britt said. I want this to be a great community-event place, a modern interpretation of a raceway.

The 4/10-mile Dominion Raceway oval will hold weekend races for several months each year. It will be smaller than the 3/4-mile Richmond International Raceway, which seats about 84,000 and is host to two major NASCAR annual events.

The new oval will be longer than the 1/3-mile Southside Speedway in Chesterfield County.

Britt said the complex could not support itself with racing events only. I feel sure well have several hundred events a year, he said. Its not going to be just a weekend venue.

He said cars running the oval-track races at the complex would run with mufflers as had been the case for decades at Old Dominion Speedway reducing the noise impact on neighbors.

Evans said that, unlike Britt, he is not a racing enthusiast.

Im into the project because I realized how good it can be for the community, he said. You can have just about any kind of event you can imagine there. You can have your wedding there.

About 40 acres of the site are available for other commercial development. Evans said businesses such as restaurants and auto service companies could locate there. I think that other development will follow, he said. That will be good for employment in the county.

Britt said the complex will have about a dozen permanent employees and that some events will swell the staff to nearly 100.

The Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors approved the necessary rezoning and special-use permits for the complex and is considering exceptions to a noise ordinance. The site plan for the complex is under review by the countys planning department.

The developers have been working with the Virginia Department of Transportation since January to deal with traffic issues. In a letter dated Thursday, VDOT detailed remaining concerns and asked for a revised plan to address those concerns.

rhallman@timesdispatch.com