BELLEVILLE, Ill. — Racing could return to Belle-Clair Speedway as soon as next season.
The Belleville News-Democrat reported on June 1 that St. Clair County plans to use a portion of its COVID-19 relief money to rebuild the race track and make improvements to the adjacent Belle-Clair Fairgrounds & Expo Center.
In conjunction with the city of Belleville, county officials previously used $2.3 million to purchase the Fairgrounds & Expo Center where the track is located.
According to the News-Democrat the St. Clair County Board voted on May 30 to use an additional $14 million in Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to rebuild infrastructure at the facility.
“The track as it sits now is not capable of handling any events,” County Board Chairman Mark Kern told the News-Democrat. “It really is falling down. It’s not safe and would put the county in a position of liability should we have a race there before we’re able to go in and rebuild it.
“It will be really a complete rebuild of that facility and maybe enlargement as we’re doing it so that we can handle other events there. The fairgrounds’ gonna be the center of many activities in the county. We’re excited about it.”
Kern said his goal is for racing to resume in 2024.
Originally a half-mile horse racing track at the fairgrounds, Belle-Clair Speedway ran its first auto race in 1921. The track began running regularly in 1948 as a fifth-mile dirt track and was operating as a special-events-only track under POWRi sanction when racing was halted because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
No races have been run there since.