Buying a race track seems like it could be fun. If you forget the stress of running such a massive facility for just a minute, the idea of owning the place where loud cars go vroom seems incredibly cool—especially when you can bid on one for less money than a Macbook Pro. Right now, the property auction for Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, Kansas, is live and the current bid for it sits at just $1,000.
Heartland Motorsports Park shut down in 2023 after nearly 35 years of action following the tax troubles of its owner, Shelby Development LLC. Now there are 29 different lots being auctioned off, all containing different tracts of land. Most of those tracts are wide-open, filled with acres of green grass, but Lot 13 contains all of the racing surfaces and relevant buildings. Better yet, at the time of publishing, Lot 13’s current bid is just $1,000. Since bids are made in $500 increments, the next hopeful buyer can bid on the entire track for just $1,500.
Initially, the auction’s deadline was set for July 17. However, a $500 bid was made as a last-ditch effort to extend the auction, which now ends at 6 p.m. CT on July 24. That means there’s less than a week for this place to find a new owner.
Lot 13 features the largest bulk of the total property’s 621 acres, 89,000 square feet of building space, and existing utilities such as municipal water, sanitization, and electricity. So whoever ends up with the winning bid will have a full race track in their possession. It’s unclear what condition the facilities are in, so there may be some renovation needed, but since the track was operating last year, it should be close to good, working order.
Now, just because the current bid is at $1,000 doesn’t mean someone can get it for that much. While most of the lots are being sold with no reserve, Lot 13’s sale needs to be confirmed by the seller. If the bid doesn’t meet the seller’s requirements, it won’t be finalized.
Additionally, such venues are incredibly expensive to run and have high taxes to be paid. Chris Payne, owner of Shelby Development LLC, told The Topeka Capital-Journal that the company owes Shawnee County $3.2 million in back taxes but intends to pay it back. Even if the sale price turns out to be comically low, it comes with a hefty financial burden. But if you have the means and the desire to save a dead racetrack, now’s the time to pay up.
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