A group of Louisville, Ky., investors is ripping up the pavement at what was Charlestown Motor Speedway, convinced they'll soon hit pay dirt.
The 21-year-old southern Indiana stock car track, which closed in 1994, is being redesigned into Podium One Motoplex, a dirt-bike racing facility, said Bo LeMastus, one of four partners in the project.
The investors, with financing from Jefferson Banking Co., plan to spend about $300,000, which includes the purchase price of the property, to create the Podium One, LeMastus said.
In October, LeMastus and group, as Podium One LLC, paid M & J Properties Inc. $168,000 for the defunct speedway and its 31 surrounding acres, located two miles north of Charlestown.
Podium One partners include LeMastus, who also owns Modern Marketing Concepts Inc., a Louisville-based importer and wholesaler; Jay Baumert, director of operations at Zip Express Courier Service Inc. of Louisville; Donald Graham, owner of Graham Construction in Louisville; and Bill Abel Jr., chief executive officer of Abel Construction Co. Inc., a Louisville-based general contractor.
Construction began last month, with the first of 17 racing weekends scheduled to begin May 1, LeMastus said.
In January, LeMastus, Baumert and Graham — all current or former motocross racers — renovated an 1,800-square-foot building at the Charlestown property.
That building now houses their 2-year-old Podium One motocross accessories retail business, which they relocated in January, said LeMastus and Baumert.
The shop had operated as a separate business, LeMastus said.
Now, with Abel Construction as the general contractor, the group is renovating the track's stands, which can seat up to 1,800 people, and other facilities, including a small restaurant.
Work began in January to remove the asphalt surface of the quarter-mile banked oval on the way to integrating it into a 2-mile dirt track with jumps, washboard surfaces and other obstacles, Baumert said.
The partners plan to spend about $40,000 to update and add lighting. "That $300,000 figure may be low," LeMastus said. "We're not done spending."
The new track will be used primarily for motocross, a type of racing in which riders on special lightweight bikes negotiate twisting, rutted courses. Most of the racing will take place in front of the stands, in and around the oval of what was the stock car track.
The partners hired John Savitsky, a New York City-based track designer and former professional motocross racer, to come up with a design extending the track outside the boundaries of the original track.
Podium One's revenue will come from retail sales, concessions, track advertising by race sponsors such as motorcycle manufacturers, and race entry fees less winnings. LeMastus said the group estimates each of the 17 race weekends — May through December — will generate about $20,000, or a projected 1999 revenue of about $340,000.
Podium One will employ about 20 people during races, he said.
The partners also hope to lease the facility to auto dealers who sell sport-utility vehicles for training and corporate meetings.
Terry Boyd writes for Business First in Louisville, Ky.
