By DAN KAPLAN
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU

Wall Township Speedway owners said Monday their decision to sell the 55-year-old Route 34 track to a home builder is based on financial difficulties, but they want drivers and fans to know the raceway is "committed" to the upcoming racing season.

"There's somebody very interested in the property," part-owner Fred Archer said. "There's no doubt. But we're open for the 2005 season, and we're here."

Meanwhile, Township Attorney Roger McLaughlin said Monday that he is scheduled to appear at 9:30 a.m. today in Superior Court in Freehold to ask a judge to order a Paramus developer, MDK Development, to stop using the corporate name, Wall Township Redevelopment LLC, in literature promoting the housing project.

The complaint says the developer is "misleading" residents into thinking the township endorses or is associated with the project.

The track — scheduled to open in April — has lost money in recent years, although Archer said he would not cite figures. The track is dealing with increased competition from other Shore entertainment venues, he said.

The raceway also was dealt a blow last spring when the Board of Adjustment denied a proposal to build a drive-in movie theater next to the speedway that would have brought in additional revenue and further promoted the raceway as a family destination, Archer said.

"We have struggled," Archer said. "If certain things had come together . . . we wouldn't be at this point right now."

Two developers — MDK and Livingston-based Sterling Properties — have said they want to build about 250 homes and 70,000 square feet of office and retail space at the site.

The joint developers are under contract to purchase the 50-acre speedway. Their plan will be heard by the Board of Adjustment — an autonomous body — although some township officials have said they oppose the project because the speedway site is zoned only for future office use.

Resident reactions mixed

News of the speedway's closure, which could happen when the track holds the season's final race in November, was met with mixed reaction by residents on Monday.

Mike Dransfield Sr., 43, said he and his family — including two teenage sons who participate in quarter-midget racing at the 1/20-mile track next to the main oval — are devastated.

"We're a racing family," he said. "We're hopeful we'll get another season out of it. I'll believe it's gone when they bring the tractors in, and they start plowing away. In the meantime, we'll keep racing and look forward to this year."

Jimmy Blewett, 24, a two-time modified track champion, said he and his brother, John Blewett III, grew up at the track.

"There (would be) only New Egypt Speedway (in Plumsted) left, and that's a dirt track," he said. "For the asphalt guys, that leaves them out. You can't bring your asphalt car to a dirt track. It isn't the same."

But resident Jennifer Brogan, 35, who lives off Hurley Pond Road near the speedway, said she won't miss the track because of the noise it creates on summer weekend nights.

"You can even hear it with the windows closed," she said.

Mailing caused a stir

Township officials on Friday issued a statement expressing their outrage over brochures mailed to township residents that attempted to solicit support for the developers' plans.

The proposal calls for 194 town houses, 50 apartments and office and retail space that could include a dry cleaner, a drug store and a movie rental store, one of the developer's principals said on Sunday. The literature, using the name Wall Redevelopment LLC, said the plan will improve the area's quality of life.

"I was outraged because it implied that the "development group' was spearheaded by someone in Wall," Kim Fiorenzo, a Shark River Road resident, said in an e-mail. "At the very least, the redevelopment company is being intellectually deceptive at this stage, so my question is, "Why should we expect an intellectual honesty from them at any later stage?' "

MDK Development's attorney, Dennis Oury, could not be reached for comment Monday.

Tim Shinn, 50, a speedway co-owner, said Monday the project would boost home values.

"I personally see this as a tax boom for the town," he said.

But township officials said the proposal will be a tough sell because the master plan limits development along Route 34 to office, research and light industrial uses.

I've gone to this track a number of times, I will be sad to see it go if it happens. This is the track that Martin Truex Jr. cut his teeth on. His cousin Curtis still races there regularly.  Future racers from Jersey will be seriously hurt by this. I know most of you don't care since you aren't from Jersey, but just thought I'd post it anyway.

Well maybe some good news though...

NASCAR New York Plans: NASCAR's New York speedway plans are becoming clearer. The France family's International Speedway Corp., is planning a three-quarter-mile track, similar in style to Richmond's, on Staten Island. ISC said that it would bring the expected 95,000 race-day fans to the track on a fleet of 950 buses and 100 ferries, from 16 parking lots around the city.(Winston Salem Journal)(3-23-2005)

Not New Jersey, but close enough.