The pits were full up at the last Heads Up Madness event in November in this view from the top floor of the tower. You can see a portion of the circle track in the top left of the photo,

Here in the Tampa bay area the Sunshine Speedway and the Dragstrip is a long part of racing history. In 2004 the State purchased the land and the circle track was closed, though the dragstrip remained open thanks to Todd Dickenson, who was able to lease that portion of the land. Currently the property has the working dragstrip that has continued operation since the 50’s and a dirt motorcycle track. The circle track has since been used to test DOT toll operations but they have now decided to close that facility and reopen bidding for the entire property.

Thursday about two dozen interested parties met on the property for a pre bid meeting including Jimmy Cope, who says “It’s a lifelong dream” to run the circle track, according to an article on Bay News 9.com.

Bidding for the property will be closed on December 19th and there are many watchful eyes on the process as the direction of the property is unknown at this time. Many families have raced together and grown up over the years and recently Todd Dickenson began a successful late night program for street cars to help get them off the streets and a safe place to race and hang out. Being my home track of course I am quite interested as well and hope all parties can come to agreement so the racing tradition can continue.

Children of all ages got their racing career started here both on the drag strip and the circle track. Eventually the State intends to extend I-275 to the Bayside Bridge to improve traffic flow . The current plan is to bid out a five year lease for the property.