The anti-Nashville racing locals might have just put their case into jeopardy. Their quest to ban racing at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway has taken them a bit too far.

There’s a group of locals in green shirts with "Sign our Petition" written on it roaming around persuading people to sign the petition to end racing at the historic track. They intend to put them on the ballot next year. But their persuasion has made them adopt misleading practices to make people enter their names.

Hidden footage has captured them saying that the track is “getting demolished” either way. Whereas the truth is NASCAR has never confirmed this, and in fact has been open to restoring racing if the issues resolve.

NewsChannel5 captured and reported that those people are using one of these two pitches to persuade people wrongfully:

“So, they’re getting rid of the track, but instead of letting corporate buy it, we’re giving people the choice to vote for affordable housing.”

“NASCAR is destroying their old racetrack, so we’re saying we want to at least turn this spot into something that’s for the community.”

Joe Williams, the veteran track announcer, widely known as the "Voice of Nashville Racing," was unhappy seeing these deceitful attempts captured in the videos.

“To say the track is scheduled to be demolished anyway is wrong,” Williams said. “A signature on this petition gathered under false pretenses destroys the future of this facility.”

To do something about this, he has now joined the “Decline to Sign” initiative intending to correct the record before more people sign it.

 Petitioners who are against the racing made many claims against the track, one of them being that NASCAR is destroying the track, having faced losses. But Williams laughingly denied those, saying,

"NASCAR's never lost a dime at this place. Never."

The opposition group faced a setback earlier this year as well

The opposition group's campaign, led by Mike Kopp and former Nashville law director Saul Solomon, already faced a setback in April this year when a Davidson County Chancery Court dismissed a charter amendment regarding the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.

The amendment intended to remove "auto racing" as a protected use of the Nashville Fairgrounds and replace it with "affordable and workforce housing."

Former racer Neil Chaffin challenged this. Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal ruled April 24 that the title of the proposed amendment was not clear enough, as reported by WSMV.

The coalition later re-filed the petition with revised language. They called this attempt a "temporary setback" and vowed to continue its effort to let voters decide the Fairgrounds' future.

Written by

Suyashdeep Sason

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason