Race Track in Standoff With Governor as he Orders Closure of Track Hosting Race as “Protest”

“Gov. Roy Cooper ordered an Alamance County speedway that’s violated his executive orders against mass gatherings closed immediately, declaring the venue an imminent hazard,” says The News & Observer (TNO).

If Alamance County sounds familiar, that’s because it had made its way around the news just a couple of days ago. Within the county, Ace Speedway had opened up for an event that was simultaneously labeled a protest. You can learn more about that story here.

As the event was set up, it would draw a crowd of over 2,000 people. Naturally, this had given rise to some concerns about the spread of COVID-19. The protest, as the track called it, would violate local Coronavirus guidelines of allowing 25 people to gather together.

The track management was told that it would be allowed to open again if it presented a plan to adhere to the state’s Coronavirus guidelines. The plan has to be approved by the Department of Health and Human Services in order for the track to be suitable for business again, says TNO.

The governor insists “This speedway has knows that the (mass gathering) order is in existence and has flagrantly violated the order and put their customers in danger as well as anyone who has come into contact with their customers.”

As of now, the speedway lists its next event on June 19th. Gov. Roy Cooper’s orders would insist that the speedway post a notice on their Facebook page that their events are canceled until June 26th. That notice was to be posted yesterday via the orders, the report says. However, the track hasn’t posted anything relating to the issue.

It’ll be interesting to see how this all unfolds in the coming days as it appears as if Ace Speedway is in a standoff with the local government. Depending on how everything goes, we could even be looking at a precedent for how these sorts of reopenings are handled in the future.