By STEVE BARRICK
TRENTON, NJ - The premature closure of America's Motorsports Park less than two years into its reopening by Cherry Hill, N.J. businessman and former race car driver Jeff Taylor was not done solely for fiscal reasons or municipal pettiness.
Taylor closed the place down to preserve his own well being. "I was quoted somewhere saying, 'we'll run specials only but not weekly' and that the track will continue to be viable. I'm here to say, right now that I will never run another race at America's Motorsports Park."
In his first year of operation, Taylor said him and his wife America's relationship with AMP's drivers, teams and fans was warm and cordial at its outset. But, Taylor said, it quickly changed.
When teams were picking up their pay from my wife, they would taunt her, throw the pencils and pens as they signed the release sheet with at her, just being abusive and for no reason." Taylor said.
Taylor said the number of rude people was "eight or nine" and it ultimately led to America no longer being on the speedway's front lines.
Then there was chronic fighting among race teams. There were minor scuffles like there are at many tracks but Taylor said some were brutal, injury producing affairs.
"I called the State Police several times and they said they weren't interested in coming on private property. I tried to sign criminal complaints with the Lawrence Township police against people who beat up others and they didn't want to hear anything."
"A couple of nights when it was really bad, the township police said they'd be out to see me - at ten o'clock the next morning. They said they were understaffed, they were too busy," Taylor said.
Taylor said a mid-summer incident this year with a driver's wife is what prompted him to close the track.
"I was heading down to the pits and a lady, a driver's wife, was walking towards me." Taylor said. "She walked by and something told me to be careful. I turned around just as she was throwing her camera at my head."
Taylor was similarly perplexed by an encounter with a surly competitor in one of the track's support classes. "A driver walked up to me cursing a blue streak, demanding to see a video of the race he had just been in. We watched it together, for ten minutes, and nothing happened, not to his car, not to anybody's. All the time, he's cursing about the officials at the track."
Taylor said that the collective abuse has taken a toll on him and his wife."To be honest, it's kind of like the wild west up here. I don't understand it. We had a banquet in January paid out a points fund, it was well attended, everyone had a good time."
"At the track, almost everyone is looking for a fight." Taylor's experience at AMP has been a costly lesson. He estimates he has $300,000 invested in real estate, improvements and equipment. He believes he has a buyer for the graders, water trucks and other assets and can sell the property either as a race track or as land that can be otherwise developed.
In the interim, Taylor is concerned about vandalism on the property, and theft.
Once Taylor and his wife decided to close three weeks early this year, Taylor said his problems with the unruliness of the region did not cease. In fact, they turned criminal.
"I've received numerous death threats from fans. One screaming woman told me I had destroyed her life and the lives of her family by taking away her Saturday night fun and it went on from there." Taylor said.
Jeff Taylor admits he is at a loss to understand the extraordinary depth of anti-social behavior he has observed and been in the midst of trying to operate, in the midst of the citizenry of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania.
The county is among the poorest in the Keystone State. There have been individuals who were supportive ot Taylor throughout his reign, including driver and sponsor Randy Sterling.
By and large, the majority of the Late Model and 305 Sprint drivers and teams, Taylor has found, are good folks. Taylor's personal goals with the race track were driven by pride, not by thoughts of striking it rich.
"I thought that we could work hard, build something we could be proud of, something the racers and fans would enjoy. I wanted to build a good track, have quality food and facilities and either break or make a few thousand dollars a few nights." Taylor said.
Not any more. "The last few weeks when I went to the track, the closer it got to the time when we opened the gates, the sicker I got," he said.
