North Las Vegas City Council to consider proposal for bicycle racing track

Jace Radke

Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2000 | 10:54 a.m.

Although older competitors can race at the nearby Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the city of North Las Vegas may be interested in building a track for its younger racers.

The North Las Vegas Parks and Recreation Board enthusiastically passed a recommendation that the City Council strongly consider a proposal to lease land to a national bicycling group to construct a BMX race track.

The American Bicycle Association, which runs 252 dirt BMX tracks nationwide, believes North Las Vegas is an ideal location for a track that could host national events, association vice-president Bernard Anderson said.

"We have two national events in Reno, and those bring out as many as 3,000 people to the races," Anderson said. "North Las Vegas is a lot closer to Southern California where a large portion of ABA members are."

The ABA was founded in 1977, has 60,000 members and sanctions over 9,000 events a year, Anderson said.

Parks and recreation board member Ken Fitzgerald was impressed with the presentation and endorsed the idea of a North Las Vegas BMX track.

"I see this as a great opportunity for the city if it's done right," Fitzgerald said at Tuesday night's board meeting. "If done right, this could be something that we're proud of and want to show off to other cities."

The ABA, a nonprofit group, is asking the city for a five-year lease of 1 acre for the track and space for a parking lot. In addition, the city would have to pay the track's utility bill, that would include some water use and electricity, Anderson said.

"The ABA will build the track, and will hire someone to run and maintain it," Anderson said. "The track will be made of about 70 percent clay and 30 percent sand and will be about 1,000 feet long."

The proposed track would be open for racers to practice on and also would host races, Anderson said.

Kenny Kane, a North Las Vegas resident and iron worker, has experience running an ABA track in Ontario, Calif., and would run the new track if it is built.

"This is something this community could really use," Kane said. "Racing gets kids off the street and out of drugs and into something positive. We help low-income kids get what they need to race, and it even can help get the kids to college.

"Besides trophies they race for saver stamps. The stamps are worth 75 cents each, and when they get to college age the ABA will put the amount they have in stamps toward the college of their choice."

Anderson says there are about 110 BMX racers in the Las Vegas Valley now, but that number would grow with a public track.

"Two years ago we had over 700 racers here when we had a track off Vegas Drive and Decatur Boulevard," Anderson said. "The city of Las Vegas bulldozed that track."

There is a private BMX track at the Las Vegas Speedway, but Anderson says a per race fee of $1,000 is too high a price for his nonprofit organization to hold races there.

Eric Dabney, North Las Vegas Parks and Recreation director, said the board's recommendation will be passed on to the City Council for consideration.