Vince Famularo of PAF services opened the meeting with a statement of the objectives for the formal committee to work on once elections of officers takes place. He outlined the plan for TopGunSE in Yaphank, including a professionally done video presentation, which has already been seen by the county officials considering the proposals for that property. While stating that this by no means guarantees that the facility will be built there, it is a promising development for that particular property. Neil Rosenburg gave a few more details of what the Yaphank facility would include, and gave figures for the projected economic impact of the project, which would benefit all county residents, and ultimately, all Long Island residents as well. A NASCAR style track would be built, with noise abatement a consideration, along with motocross, ATV, and go-kart facilities, along with an RV park, golf driving range, food court, a 6000 seat indoor theater and a 15,000 seat amphitheater, both with the same potentials as the Westbury (Northfork) Music Fair, and Jones Beach Theater in the scope of their appeal. A special event LIRR station would be located at the North end of the property, along with a 6 lane access road with a direct connection to the LIE. Based on figures from the economic impact the 2005 Nextel Cup race had on Las Vegas, adjusted for scale, literally millions of dollars would be generated to benefit the surrounding area.

    Mike Brown from FB Performance Transmissions, Joe Rivera of Pro Torque Converters, Ernie Krieg of S-K Speed Racing Equipment, and Nick Filippedes of American Racing Headers all spoke of the various benefits that developments of this type can and will have on performance and regular automotive businesses, again emphasizing that ANY race facility is good for the industry as a whole. These benefits grow for all industry as it runs the economic engine. Hotels, restaurants, cleaning suppliers, etc. will all see a growth in their businesses with the building of this type of industry. As an entertainment destination, not just a race facility, it can generate a year round economic impact, and create jobs for a few thousand people that didn’t exist before.

    The main reason for this preliminary meeting, though, was to gauge the automotive industries interest as a whole to join together in forming a working committee to lobby for facilities that will benefit their businesses, and keep their businesses thriving right here on Long Island. Quite a few people spoke of how a majority of their business currently is ‘off Island’ due to the current lack of a facility of this kind. A gathering of business leaders of this caliber can help change that, and many will benefit from it, including race fans like us. If you have an automotive related business, and you missed this important meeting, we will have information right here about future meeting, and it is in your best interest to learn about what this committee can do for you and your business, and to join in in helping it to move forward for the progress of all.

Notes:  TGSE had a fine display of an artists color rendering of the new proposed facility. Multiple poster boards showed in fine detail what a great facility this will become if built. While the aim is to build it on the Suffolk County surplus land in Yaphank, there are still talks going forward about a possible Calverton location, though that is not as strong a possibility…Attendance at the meeting was good, considering the short time frame (3 weeks) from concept to actual meeting. Future meetings should be better attended as the project moves along…a vote amongst those present adopted a formal name for the committee: Long Island Automotive Performance & Business Association or LIAPBA for short…the original committee is now charged with considering nominations for the permanent committee, to be elected at a future meeting. Those in attendance last night were given membership applications and paid a $5 fee to join….Long Island Jam will do our best to keep up with this development and do all we can to keep the racing community informed of it’s progress.