Photo credit: CBRE

“Ain’t dead yet!” as comedian Richard Pryor might say.

South Florida’s Palm Beach International Raceway, embroiled in controversy over the last half a decade, is back on the market. The famed multi-purpose racing venue, opened in 1965, was sold by the then-parent company of the IHRA, IRG Sports & Entertainment, in 2021 to an industrial warehouse developer, who laid out plans for a 2 million-square-foot warehouse complex. It held its final race on April 23, 2022. Local residents and low enforcement agencies have petitioned Palm Beach county lawmakers to save the racetrack, and despite valiant efforts by racing-minded parties to acquire the property, none to date have been able to meet the much higher commercial value — and therefore the asking price — of the 174 acres of land.

But it may not be over just yet.

Boca Raton-based commercial realty firm CBRE has listed the raceway for sale, unpriced and in acceptance of offers. CBRE’s listing leaves little doubt as to its target buyer, marketing the property’s redevelopment and commercial potential, highlighting its existing commercial zoning, large-scale build-to-suit size, inflow and outflow to the highway, its strategic location for government contracting, the local labor pool, and the potential economic incentives of its free-trade-zone location. It does make one note of “Existing improvements allow for the possibility of using the property as originally intended as a raceway.”

The 174.4 acres of land a short drive from the Atlantic coast, features a quarter-mile drag strip, a 2-mile road course, a 7/10 mile kart track, mud racing tracks, and a 13,000 square-foot clubhouse. The facility, which has notably featured some of the early street car shootouts and big-money bracket races, has also been a test facility for IndyCar and SCCA teams, and even played host to Janis Joplin, The Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane, Grand Funk Railroad, and other popular acts during its earlier years. The facility received an extensive facelift in 2008, bringing its surfaces and facilities up to modern standards — enough so to make it the defacto pre-season testing site for the NHRA’s Top Fuel and Funny Car teams for a number of years.

In recent months, locals have been championing efforts to bring a new track to fruition in the Palm Beach County area, prompting county officials to explore options for a new racetrack and search for a partner to potentially bring the concept to life. Whether the re-listing of Palm Beach International Raceway breathes new life into these initiatives remains to be seen, but the old track ain’t dead yet.