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In most areas of the country you can’t even buy a home on a tiny plot of land for $115,000, but that’s precisely what Tennessean Scottie Corbin is selling the 22-acre Great River Road Raceway for — lock, stock, and barrel.
The 1/8-mile dragstrip, located in Dyersburg, about an hour north of Memphis, is being sold in virtually turn-key condition, including a brand new computer system and LED scoreboards that he recently invested $30,000 in. For any prospective buyers, “all they have to come in with is a tractor and a lawn mower and they can go racing” as Corbin shares. “Everything’s there.”
Corbin, who purchased the track a little over a year ago when it was last listed for sale, plans to open the track for racing in April whether the track sells or doesn’t, but he does insist that the asking price will go up at that point, as he plans to invest further funds into improvements if he is to continue its operation for another season.
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Opened in the early to mid-1990’s, Great River Road has exchanged hands four times, ending up in the hands of Corbin, a local racer who’s been involved in the track in some capacity for much of its existence. And even if it goes into the hands of another buyer, he’s not quite ready to relinquish his fingerprint on its operation.
“If somebody does buy the track, it comes with me. They have to buy me too,” he says with a chuckle. “I’ll be here just about every weekend. I tell you right now, if I don’t have anything to do with that track, it won’t be worth sh-t. Everybody knows me, everybody loves me, they know I’m a straight-up guy, and what I say is what I’m going to do. I don’t bullsh-t around. If I guarantee a thousand dollars and three cars come in the gate, I’m going to pay a thousand dollars, that’s just how it is.”
Corbin continues, “whoever buys it, I’m with them 100-percent to help them, whatever I need to do, whether it’s helping prep, or running the Facebook page. I ain’t just going to sell it and walk out, I’m not going to do that.”
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Is the $115,000 pricetag a steal? “Oh, it is,” Corbin is quick to confirm. “It’s a nice track, but it needs a little bit of work; just painting, maybe some concrete work, just little stuff.”
The price is even more surprising when you consider the product: a concrete 660-foot strip, paved asphalt pit area, concrete guardrails, a two-story timing story, outbuildings, grandstands, and of course the fully-functioning and new computer system.
Asked why he’s getting out of the business, Corbin shared “I’ve got a lot of race cars; I run a lot of no prep and Outlaw 10.5 kind of stuff and I like to travel, so I just want to be able to go racing a little bit.”