{"id":50872,"date":"2026-04-18T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/?p=50872"},"modified":"2026-04-13T15:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T19:35:09","slug":"the-left-turn-168","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/the-left-turn-168\/","title":{"rendered":"The Left Turn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Oakshade Raceway Sportsman Class will have a series with the UMP Modifieds. Charlie Orns Photo.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By: Ron Burt<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio racetracks are laying to groundwork to protect themselves as more people are leaving metropolitan hubs to relocate in the country. Speedways that have been in business over 50 years could lose out to new homeowners because of the noise from weekly events. It doesn\u2019t seem fair for an established business to close because of a handful of new neighbors, but it\u2019s been going on around the country. Ohio racetracks want protection. It\u2019s seeming simple, the speedway was there first. Most of these tracks are family owned and started on their farmland. In the beginning of most, no houses could be seen in any direction. Real estate companies come along and buy up the land around the tracks and develop it and sell the lots for homes. Homeowners don\u2019t think about the racetrack next door until they have a cookout on a Saturday night and hear 3-4 hours of roaring engines. They complain to the real-estate company who have more money and better attorneys most of the time and the tracks are forced to close because of a handful of new homeowners from outside the local community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2025 the state of Iowa passed a new Bill 645, and it specifically protects motorsports venues from legal action from angry neighbors, assuming the track was there first. Any racetrack must comply with existing rules about allowable noise and light pollution, but as long as a track is following those rules, new complaints can’t be brought by nearby homeowners. With housing developments popping up everywhere, Bill 645 prevents some unscrupulous developers from forcing out motorsports. This protection is especially important for grassroots racetracks, that are a big part of Midwestern racing heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tracks and fans in other states have reached out to their own State Legislatures including, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana to start their own groundwork and set protection laws in place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently Representative Kellie Deeter (R-Norwalk) introduced legislation to create a clear legal framework for nuisance claims involving racing facilities and racetracks across Ohio. The bill would establish a complete legal defense for racing facilities against certain nuisance claims regarding activities such as noise, traffic, dust, or lighting. This would apply to a property owner who acquired or developed property after the racing facility was constructed. The legislation is intended to provide certainty and stability for existing racing facilities while preserving compliance with all state and federal environmental, health, and safety laws. If enacted, this would also prohibit counties or townships from adopting regulations that conflict with the provisions of the bill. The bill now awaits a number and committee assignment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oakshade Raceway in Wauseon has released the 2026 schedule with a big surprise. The Modifieds are coming! During the season the UMP Modifieds and Late Model Sportsmen cars will have a race series together. The speedway has run a few of these challenge races in the past and the fans and drivers enjoyed the two classes going head-to-head. The races will pay $1,200.00 to win. The first series race will be opening night May 2nd, with 7 more during the summer. Maybe if enough drivers build modifieds, in a year or two Oakshade might have a class for them. Until next week, keep your wheels down. Ron out! (www.facebook.com\/ohiosportsblitz)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Ron Burt Ohio racetracks are laying to groundwork to protect themselves as more people are leaving metropolitan hubs to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":50873,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,5],"tags":[20022,14948,15368,9803,14356,28724],"class_list":["post-50872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-sports","tag-charlie-orns-photo","tag-oakshade-raceway","tag-ohio-sports-blitz","tag-ron-burt","tag-the-left-turn","tag-ump-modifieds"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Oakshade-Raceway-Sportsman-Class-will-have-a-series-with-the-UMP-Modifieds.-Charlie-Orns-Photo.jpg?fit=666%2C444&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YQd9-dew","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 10:38:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50872"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50874,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50872\/revisions\/50874"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}