It gets a little more melancholy every time I write about a racetrack on the brink of extinction. Some are clinging to life with all they’ve got, hosting events with promoters cold-calling potential sponsors to make something—anything—happen. Others have been closed down for years if not decades as they sit, waiting for someone to save them. Florida’s Palm Beach International Raceway has long been in limbo, and though it looked destined for demolition in 2022, the local zoning commission shot down the high bidder’s proposal to develop the property. It’s for sale again now, and the CBRE real estate firm has it listed without a price in hopes someone will make an offer worth taking.
Just don’t count on it being cheap. It’s 174.4 acres of commercial land located in Jupiter, Florida, with a quarter-mile drag strip, a two-mile road course, a 7/10-mile kart track, some space for mud runs, and a clubhouse measuring 13,000 square feet. That’s so much room for activities, and no, I’m not sure when I’ll stop making that reference.
The listing makes a strong case for Palm Beach International Raceway apart from its size, too. It’s easy to access with four points of entry from Bee Line Highway; it’s already fully zoned for industrial use; and according to their stats, 18.9 million people are within a day’s drive round-trip from the facility. Only a small fraction of them might actually be interested in racing, but it goes to show that if you put on a good enough spectacle, there are folks to reach.
Judging by the pictures, most everything looks to be in decent shape. That checks out because the track, previously known as Moroso Motorsports Park, has only been closed for a little less than three years at this point. [Ed. Note: Yes, fellow Top Gear fans—that Moroso Motorsports Park.] It’s nowhere near as derelict as some former tracks we see pop up for sale, and with such a varied setup on the grounds, you could host different events on different parts of the facility each week if you wanted.
Indy 500 winner Danny Sullivan has been a big advocate for preserving the circuit, as he and a group of others formed Formula Race Promotions in hopes of buying it. They weren’t able to compete with Portman Industrial’s bid in 2022, though he’s retained interest ever since while telling local news outlet WPTV, “We do not plan on going away until they start scraping the track.”
The sellers are OK if someone chooses not to operate it as a racetrack, of course. CBRE notes that it’s nicely situated for government contracting, with Pratt and Whitney directly across the street. It’s also about roughly 15 miles outside Palm Beach so it’s not like you have people directly nearby if security is a major concern. Portman’s original plan was to put roughly 2,000,000 square feet of warehouses on the grounds, before that was shot down by the local government.
Still, there’s an outside chance that we might someday, somehow, see cars running around Palm Beach International Raceway again. I don’t know how much money it will cost, but nobody will until an offer is made. Here’s hoping, friends.
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