Plan for drag racing at Pahokee airport gets cold reception from Palm Beach County officials

WEST PALM BEACH — Drag racing won’t take place at the Pahokee airport anytime soon.

The Palm Beach County Commission expressed reservations Tuesday about Commissioner Sara Baxter’s proposal to use Palm Beach County Glades Airport as a temporary site to host car-racing events.

Most commissioners supported the idea of developing a track to replace Palm Beach International Raceway, which closed in April 2022, but said they didn't consider the airport along the eastern shore of Lake Okeechobee to be an appropriate site for auto racing and doubted the plan would win approval from federal and state agencies.

Baxter, who represents the county’s western communities, asked the county staff this year to study the possibility and requirements of using the Pahokee airport for drag racing.

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Laura Beebe, the county’s airport director, told commissioners the plan would require an extensive application process and effort from the county staff before it is even considered by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Baxter urged commissioners to vote in favor of going forward with the application anyway.

“It might get turned down,” Baxter said. “But at the end of the day, we've tried. We’ve done our part.”

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Commissioner Gregg Weiss rejected using county staff resources and time for the proposal.

“It's clear to me that this is way beyond what airports should be involved in doing,” said Weiss, who represents the West Palm Beach area. “I cannot support and will not support asking you to do any more on this.”

Mayor Maria Sachs told commissioners she didn't support pursuing the Pahokee airport for drag racing, but believed a new raceway built and operated with a private-public partnership would be successful in Palm Beach County.

“Since we have the interest here in the county with people who want to race … that we pursue but not necessarily with this airport,” said Sachs, who represents part of south county. “It seems like sometimes there's so many challenges, it's best not to go down that road."

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Sachs moved to table the decision until Tuesday, when commissioners are scheduled to review proposals to make 120 acres near 20-Mile Bend to be the new home either for an off-highway vehicle park or a new raceway.

Madelyn Marconi, a Palm Beach Gardens resident who grew up going to the old raceway and who has spoken often at hearings about the track’s future, said she was disappointed by most of the commissioners’ comments.

“There's no harm in trying,” Marconi said. “Ever since we lost our racetrack there's been a huge void in the community.”

“This is the closest temporary solution that we could have asked for,” she added.

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The Pahokee airport is a single-paved runway owned and operated by Palm Beach County. Located about 40 miles west of West Palm Beach, it is used for flight training and skydiving..

Beebe said Palm Beach County Glades Airport averages 100 operations per day or nearly 40,000 operations per year, and is busiest during weekends. The county recently completed a $2.4 million rehabilitation project to restore its pavements and other improvements.

Beebe told commissioners she didn’t believe that either the FDOT or the FAA would approve the plan. Both have extensive approval requirements regarding operations, the environment and safety conditions.

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She added that the FAA also recently adopted a policy on temporary closures of airports for non-aeronautical purposes that require approval by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation.

The new policy specifically states the agency should not approve car racing events on recently rehabilitated pavements and that airports are not considered suitable locations for velocity auto events, she said.

Beebe said car-racing events would require the full closure of the single-runway airport.

The county reached out to the airport’s primary tenant, Skydive Palm Beach County, for its thoughts. The owner indicated that it is unlikely to support drag racing events at the airport, would file a complaint to the FAA and ultimately leave if it is approved.

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There are other issues as well, Beebe said. The airport site is remote, more than an hour by ambulance or 30 minutes by air from the county’s trauma centers. There are only 19 parking spaces at the site, and it has no lighting for night races.

The events would also require mandatory overtime from airport staff, and the department currently has not had a full staff there since 2021.

“It's a lot to ask for folks that work 24 hours a day, seven days a week to do mandatory overtime,” Beebe said. “And they've been doing it for a couple of years now. “

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The county will be required to submit justification statements for the event, including a statement on why the closure of the airport is necessary and how the event use justifies the loss of the airport activities.

The application would also include a safety and security plan, security measures such as fencing, crowd control parking and traffic control, and a detailed sketch or map of the event with location of restaurants, seating, parking and concessions.

“This is going to be a very heavy lift for the department. We do have staffing issues,” said Beebe, whose office also manages Palm Beach International Airport as well as smaller facilities near Palm Beach Gardens and near Lantana.

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Baxter asked commissioners to go forward with the petition on behalf of those with nowhere to race or watch racing since the closing of the raceway near Jupiter, which was known as Moroso Motorsports Park before new owners renamed it Palm Beach International Raceway.

“We're here to support a community that has felt very upset about not having a place to go,” Baxter said. “This is also a safety issue.”

The closest sites to Palm Beach County for drag racing are Orlando Speed World and Brandon Motorsports Park near Tampa, both about 160 miles away.

Baxter added the location would give residents a safe place to ride until another raceway is built. The proposed construction of a track at 20-Mile Bend site could take years.

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Commissioners Marci Woodward and Michael Barnett said they wouldn't support the application process.

Woodward said Pahokee would only be a temporary solution and asked the staff for options for permanent locations.

“This is not what I feel comfortable asking airports to work on,” Woodward said. “Especially with all of these hurdles.”

Marconi said the Pahokee airport would have given racers a temporary site where they could compete safely.

"They didn't really see the potential for its use and the safety aspect,” she said. “If it saves one life, it's worth a hard, uphill battle.”

Valentina Palm covers Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Loxahatchee and other western communities in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at vpalm@pbpost.com and follow her on Twitter at @ValenPalmB. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Drag racing plan for Palm Beach County airport gets cold reception