It’s a story that’s been captivating the drag racing and circle track communities for two years, and it’s recently taken another intriguing turn.

The Chandler Motor Speedway in Chandler, Indiana is slated for auction next month under court order as a result of a legal injunction and outstanding tax debts. The sale is yet another chapter in the sometimes tumultuous existence of the 50-plus-year-old facility that once played host to many of drag racing’s legendary figures, including Don Garlits, Shirley Muldowney, and Connie Kalitta. 

The strip, once a 1/4-mile venue that later switched to 1/8-mile competition and at one time hosted the AHRA’s 1/8-mile nationals, has been owned for the better part of its time by locals Harold and Phyllis Baker. A host of operators have leased the drag racing venue over the years, most recently by Evansville, Indiana resident Kevin Baesel, Jr. 

Baesel, a newcomer to drag strip operations and race promotions, attempted to revive the facility with high-dollar doorslammer events and plans for facility improvements to the aging racing surface, pit area, and structures. But track grinding services rendered by Southeast Grinding and Grooving LLC as part of that improvement plan may prove as the facilities’ ultimate undoing.

Photo courtesy William Wilson Auction & Realty

On July 11, 2017, Southeast Grinding and Grooving LLC filed suit in Warrick County against the Bakers and Baesel for unpaid services. On September 5, 2017, the Bakers filed in Warrick County court for the eviction of Baesel.

In the ensuing two years since Baesel’s departure, a Los Angeles-based entrepreneur with rumored ties to the Southern Indiana area known publicly as Reno Fontana has made known his intention to purchase the facility. Fontana, whose holdings are said to include Presleyland Speedpark LLC (an entity registered in the state of Indiana and incorporated in December of 2008) and The Movieland Companies, proposed grand plans to invest millions of dollars in the 131-acre facility by way of state grants that would be renamed Movieland Speedpark and play host to many of the major motorsports bodies, including drag racing, circle track, and trophy trucks.

Fontana’s proposed vision for the facility has included such concepts as slalom drag racing, double figure-8s on the oval, and a myriad of professional-level racing events that he says will draw 30,000 spectators to the small town site.

Fontana’s most notable business venture involved a widely-publicized acquisition and later foreclosure from Elvis Presley’s Palm Springs, California home in 2013. He also is the founder of Genesis Cash, a real estate investment company designed specifically for Christians. Fontana’s name first came about in reference to the Chandler track in 2009, when an ASCS dirt sprint car race paying an eyebrow-raising $15,000-to-win appeared on the schedule under the name Presleyland Motorsports Park. That event was later removed from the schedule.

Following months of rumored negotiations, Fontana reported the close of the sale in December, producing deed documentation in the sum of $10.00 noting the transaction between he and Bakers. The Warrick County Assessors office documentation confirms the sale. Since that time, Fontana has been actively promoting lifetime passes and trackside advertising via social media, and touting a full schedule of racing events, both on the drag strip and the neighboring 3/8-mile dirt oval, for 2019. According to his liaison, Summer Taylor, dirt track operations are still on as-scheduled in early April.

However, on December 20 the property was foreclosed on by the courts and on February 13, under court order by the Sheriff’s Department of Warrick County, the property was placed up for auction, citing the $59,069.06 judgement awarded to Peoples Trust & Savings Bank Southeast Grinding and Grooving to be satisfied with the auction proceeds. The legal notice named the Bakers and Baesel, not Fontana, as defendants. The judge named, at the request of the bank’s attorney, Peoples Trust & Savings Bank as the first lienholder on the property.

Per court records, Baker accrued a loan against the property with People’s Bank — the principle, interest, and protective fees were unpaid, totaling the lien against the property, with attorney fees, to $59,069.06. Additional records, according to Channel 14 News, cite outstanding tax issues associated with the property, as well.

Fontana, who did not personally return messages for comment, made the following statement via social media regarding the auction:

I can guarantee there will be no auction of the Chandler Raceway. I own the property. When I bought the property, I also inherited the mechanics lien of approximately 60K that was placed upon the property which is the reason for the auction announcement. I have the funds sitting in escrow to pay off the mechanics lien and other associated costs currently associated to the property.

As a condition of retiring the liens against the property, my lender is requiring that I have a clean phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) completed prior to release of funds to retire the liens. The ESA Report is currently being conducted. The property, as a commercial motorsports facility, has probably had a gallon or two of motor oil and gasoline spilled on the grounds since it first opened 55 years ago. A contaminated property can cost millions of dollars in cleanup costs to a new buyer (me) if an ESA is not completed prior to the final closing of a purchase.

Baesel, who has been forthcoming with information throughout the process, says he reached a settlement with Southeast Grinding and Grooving on December 4th. On December 17th the property was transferred to Fontana for what was published in the Warrick County Standard as a sale price of $350,000.

“Once the property went into foreclosure due to the taxes not being paid along with the note on the property not being paid the Bakers agreed to auction the property,” said Baesel. “At the same time I reached a settlement with the grinding company to pay the lien.”

The Warrick County court issued a judgement of foreclosure on the property on December 20, and on February 13, ahead of the auction notice, the judge named, at the request of the bank’s attorney, Peoples Trust & Savings Bank as the first lienholder on the property. Property tax records for 2017 show People’s Bank as having paid the year’s taxes.

Reno Fontana

According to Baesel, the Bakers landed in subsequent hot water as a result of the sale, believed to have stemmed from an improper handling of the transaction with Fontana as it related to the grinding settlement. The Warrick County Clerk’s office corroborated Baesel’s information, confirming to Dragzine that Baker was held in contempt of court February 13th and has been summoned for the contempt charges and unidentified damages in April. Around the December timeframe, the Bakers’ personal property was transitioned to “HPD LLC”, typically done to protect personal assets in the event of legal matters such as this.

The property is currently assessed at $191,500, with a value of $301,300. According to Baesel, the most recent private asking price for the property was $950,000. The sale price discrepancy — $10 and $350,000 — is one that Taylor told Dragzine she could not address. A message left with Fontana to address the price discrepancy was not responded to. The Warrick County Assessors office also confirms the $350,000 sale price.

With that, the future of the facility, shuttered for the last two years and already showing signs of  deterioration and overgrowth, remains in question. And who owns what and for how much is a question we’ll hope to answer in the coming days and weeks.

Fortunately for area racers, the property sits in a floodplain and partial wetland, making it highly unlikely — if not legally impermissible — to be fully developed for commercial or residential use. And so it may well remain a racetrack if the right buyer comes along. However, as parts of the property are marked as floodplain, building permits are not obtainable to rebuild some of the aging structures needed to improve the facility.

A live, absolute auction is still currently scheduled to be conducted March 20 by William Wilson Auction Realty at the Chandler Community Center in Chandler, Indiana. According to auctioneer Andrew Wilson, the opportunity to stop the sale “passed months ago” and that the auction will go on as planned by order of the court to satisfy the debts. Wilson did say there has been considerable interest in the property, noting that the vast majority of that interest has been from parties interested in maintaining it as a racetrack.

Messages left with the Bakers for comment were not responded to.