Nashville Fairgrounds neighbors seek ‘collaborative conversation’ for speedway site
Josh Baxter, Nathalie Becker, Heidi Basgall Favorite, Kyle Frohock, T.S. Harkey, Katie Overby, Elizabeth Tanquilut, Brooke Wilson
| Guest Columnists
Alice Rolli and Freddie O’Connell discuss racing at the fairgrounds
Alice Rolli and Freddie O’Connell discuss racing at the fairgrounds
Nashville Tennessean
Dear Mayor O’Connell:
We voted for you in 2023. Most of our neighbors did, too.
We believed you when you said Nashville had enough taxpayer-subsidized pro-sports coliseums. We believed you when you said neighborhoods would come first in your administration — and that parks and green space would be a priority, along with affordable housing.
We still believe in you. But candidly: Our faith is shaken.
Bringing NASCAR into our neighborhood doesn’t honor your pledge to us
We’re dismayed by reports that you’ve been talking with North Carolina-based Speedway Motorsports LLC about nearly doubling the size of the Nashville Fairgrounds speedway and green-lighting NASCAR into our neighborhoods without talking with us.
If true, this would be contrary to your pledge to include neighbors in planning the Fairgrounds’ future — and, frankly, a betrayal of your stated civic priorities.
We worry that you may be subscribing to Speedway Motorsports and NASCAR’s false narrative, which is: Neighbors have no right to complain about noise and traffic because we knew there was a minor-league racetrack at the Fairgrounds when we moved into the area.
Surely you know that’s a hollow argument — like telling residents in Green Hills they should welcome an NFL stadium at Hillsboro High just because Friday Night Lights were always part of the deal.
The best use of Fairgrounds land is not a NASCAR racetrack
We believe that, in your heart, you agree with us. Frankly, we’re hoping you’ll lead our community in a different conversation about the Fairgrounds — one focused on a core civic question: In 2025, what’s the highest and best use of 25 acres of publicly owned land in the heart of Nashville?
In no thoughtful plan for Nashville’s future is the answer a NASCAR racetrack. Even James Weaver, Speedway Motorsports’ top lobbyist, once agreed.
In a 2010 Tennessean op-ed — back when he chaired the Metro Fair Board — Weaver concluded that the city should permanently close the racetrack after extensive studies and public meetings.
“While the passion of the racing community was evident,” Weaver wrote, “the city’s continued operation of the racetrack did not make sense given the overwhelming opposition to it in the neighborhoods that surround us.”
The only thing that’s changed since then is Speedway Motorsports has spent millions on lobbyists, PR firms and astroturf campaigns to shift public opinion.
But they’ve failed.
What Nashvillians really want for the Fairgrounds land
A recent county-wide public-opinion poll showed more than 70% of Nashvillians prefer a comprehensive plan to “add affordable housing, create a new public park and clean up Brown’s Creek,” the polluted waterway that runs right next to the racetrack, over bringing NASCAR to the Fairgrounds.
Let’s be clear: This isn’t just about noise complaints. It’s about public land, public priorities and fiscal responsibility.
If there’s truly such strong demand for pro racing in Nashville, why does Speedway Motorsports need public subsidies to make it happen?
We’ve seen no credible, independent evidence that this project would generate more long-term economic value — or public benefit — than a well-planned green space and community investment.
Once the subsidies, infrastructure and environmental cleanup costs are factored in, this deal may not pencil out for anyone except Speedway Motorsports.
This is about bringing ‘real value to all Nashvillians’
And while we recognize the track’s long history, let’s not mistake nostalgia for necessity.
The site operated as Cumberland Park from 1891 to the 1950s — a community green space, not a speedway. NASCAR only arrived mid-century and left town in 1984.
What we’re asking for isn’t unprecedented. It’s restorative.
Transforming the speedway into a regional park would offer real value to all Nashvillians: a cleaner Brown’s Creek, space for festivals and outdoor events and a true midway for the fair.
It would also support your “Plan to Play” vision, which calls for adding 4,500 acres of public green space to Nashville’s network of parks and greenways. Why not start at the Fairgrounds?
Let voters decide
Mayor O’Connell, if the politics are too dicey right now — let’s put this decision to voters. A broad coalition of neighborhood, environmental, faith, labor and planning groups supports that approach.
But if you try to wave NASCAR into our neighborhoods, we’ll be forced to mobilize — at the Metro Fair Board, at the Metro Sports Authority, at the Metro Council and in the court of public opinion — to protect our community and our city’s future.
We don’t want a fight. We want a collaborative conversation about what’s best for Nashvillians — not an out-of-state racing operation.
When you’re ready to talk, you know where to find us.
The authors are voters and homeowners who live in the Wedgewood Houston neighborhood near the Nashville Fairgrounds.