Laguna Seca Lawsuit: Homeowners Perplexed as Iconic Race Track Materializes Overnight
Imagine the shock if, after moving into your home, you discover that a popular and world-renowned race track had materialized overnight in your general vicinity. The horror. You’d rightfully be confused, possibly even enraged at such a happening, and keen to pursue a lawsuit. Believe it or not, this is exactly the phenomenon that unfolded recently. Based on our deepest reporting capabilities, we can find no evidence that WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca ever existed before 2023.
As expected, this sudden and unexpected conjuring has local residents incensed, as the noise and traffic from the venue came out of nowhere and was a shock to those who had moved into the area over the preceding handful of years. Naturally, residents have banded together to get rid of this nuisance that definitely has not been in the same location since 1957. The group, the Highway 68 Coalition, filed suit against Monterey County, which operates the fledgling track, on December 12, 2023, seeking to curtail racing at the venue.
The lawsuit hopes to target the track by calling into question the track’s zoning laws and lack of explicit racing use being in the track’s permits. The County of Monterey owns the track and spent more than $18M renovating the track surface and installing a new bridge over the front straight in 2023. The track is credited with bringing in about a quarter of a billion in local revenue each year, but the Highway 68 Commission makes a good point, noting that they have, “suffered and will continue to suffer irreparable injury as a result of the continued violation of the Respondents’ zoning laws.”
When reached for comment*, the Highway 68 Coalition was shocked—outraged even—that its mobile phone plan included the possibility of incoming calls.
The appearance of said track, which is suddenly very popular and definitely hasn’t been a staple of the area for almost seven decades, has taken a massive toll on local residents. “I can’t believe it,” said an unnamed real estate agent who recently listed a property just a stone’s throw from the track. “This house sold for $2.5 million seven years ago, long before the race track was there. Today it’s listed for just $4.25 million, we’ll be lucky to sell it for $4.2M.”
It’s almost impossible to imagine such a tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with those unfortunate souls who, through no fault of their own, live just minutes away from the Monterey Car Week festivities.
*We didn’t really call them and don’t much care what those jabronis think.
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Same Yuppies move into a new development in farmland and complain about the smell.
This may just be the very best of editorial integrity I have ever read!! Too bad it shows how whiny and ignorant and self important some people have become! This may not be the best way to handle the ignorant but back in the day and as a young gearhead this is what I did… our road growing up was only a quarter mile long and houses about 50 feet apart. There were 3 loud and rambunctious cars on our road. A 70 Chevell SS, a 69 Montecarlo and my 67 Cutlass with a high output W-30 package. We were all kids, me the youngest at 16. I worked since I was 13 and bought my car at 15 for $2,300 with some mild rockerarm chatter. Perfect car otherwise. Spent the next year rebuilding it into something that would completely terrify the uninitiated. We were rowdy muscle car owners but still grew up with enough respect that we didn’t vibrate the pavement before 8 or 9 in the morning and not past 9 or so at night. I routinely worked late hours at a local McDonald’s and would just idle down my road, then barely blip the throttle to get me up my driveway at 1am. A house came up for sale across the street and over a few houses. The very day the prospective owners came to look at the house the 70 Chevell SS was idling in my driveway and periodically revving its big block showing off the new straight pipes. He then shut her down and I fired up my Olds. Aggressive cams gave a deep and thunderous symphony of mechanical destruction…at 16 I wanted nothing else and was a happy happy boy! It was midday and we didn’t think much of it and it didn’t last long. I remember looking over at the new Suburban in the driveway of the house for sale and smiling because I recently laid a patch of rubber that went from the end of my driveway to that one, approximately a 100 feet long of what dreams are made of! Several hundred feet down the road was another patch of burt rubber coming my way, from the house where the 70 Chevell lived. At both ends of the street were patches after patches of rubber where we announced our arrival or departure. These eventual new owners of that house saw all of this, had to, and still moved in. I’m not saying we were right but I am saying they should have known what they were getting into. It didn’t take long for there to be complaints. I didn’t care much about that really but when an elderly neighbor we use to go grocery shopping for and take care of her yard said the new neighbor threatened to slash my tires…I kinda lost my cool. I sat in the rumbly Cutlass letting the temps come up the normal operating range and then slowly backed down my driveway and continued backwards until I carefully turned into their driveway. I backed up to within a foot of their garage and immediately tacked almost 6,000 grand then completely annihilated my fresh set of Firestones… smiling fiercely as I watched my speedometer hit 110 and 120 and yet I was barely moving down the driveway. I was equally happy with my 4 purple taillights (blue dot lenses) beautifully shining through the dense fog of a months pay shining off their white garage door. Yes they too complained… and eventually moved…
You should really check out haggerty’s records before publishing something like this. I have souvenirs and swag from Haggerty from that race track from years ago that I’m sorry you’re saying wasn’t there. I have been going to that track myself since 1975 and I have tickets to prove it. Hardly any of those houses were there back then. These people all knew that there was a racetrack in their vicinity. It’s funny how you can be that rich and stupid at the same time. I am tired of being hassled because I want to go and enjoy myself and I pay to enjoy myself. When you build a house near an airport which by the way is down the street so watch out cuz they’ll be going after that next…
…“check the records before publishing something like this”…Kelly…do you ever go to comedy clubs? Don’t waste your money.
I was rolling on the floor the whole time! Icing on the cake? I hadnt heard someone call someone else a jabron since high school hahahaha. Completely agree!
This is pure gold. The witticism of the article had me giggling, and then I noticed the comments. I rarely read beyond the first couple of comments on any given article, much less make one myself. I found that I was both impressed that the article was published and disheartened by the utter stupidity spewed into the commentary.
Oddly enough, both of these things gave me a rare laugh out loud moment. So thanks, I guess, to both writer and oblivious respondents.
Ditto!
Sardonic, sarcasm would be with malice, well maybe. Fondest memories mid-eighties Hans Stuck 962 120mph,Bobby Rahal
Indycar 127mph average, old course! Standing at fence past admin building as Jaguar GTP blew by right below my feet, God what glorious sound. Yes I have my tee shirt of that car.
I’ll trade my Ky house and lot (even) for one of those poor souls so they can get away from the horrible noisy racetrack
You live in KY and you say you want to move to CA? Wow, now that’s sarcasm right there, folks!
10-4
Hmmm… These people can *gasp* airbnb their home for speed week / month, go to Europe for a month or three. And have enough left over from their Airbnb rental to cover their mortgage for the year… Just saying or on second thought don’t buy a home next to a world-renown, historic racetrack. Or airport for that matter…
Seems like the kind of people who would move in next to a railway then sue to get the federally protected tracks removed
Should have checked zoning in area….That track could be grandfathered in….
If you buy a house, and then get surprised by something like this – then your recourse is to sue your realtor or the seller’s realtor for lack of disclosure. Great article, love the sarcasm. Scared for our local track Road Atlanta, built miles from nowhere, now mcmansions abound all around. We’ve had to put up with quiet hours on Sunday morning for years at RA, it being in the deep south… I’m worried this same idiocy is coming to our track.
No recourse; it’s not the sales agent’s fault the track was there first, and he’s NOT required to disclose it. The failure was in the part of the buyer for not doing due diligence, in this case a drive around the neighborhood.
Oh, this track is real? I only thought they put it in multiple driving video games for the last 30 plus years and had no idea it existed in real life…😉
And, for those of you who are paralyzed from the neck up, that, too, was sarcasm.
My heart bleeds that those poor put-upon inconvenienced homeowners will only be able to sell their houses for twice what they paid for them. Boo hoo.
Maybe we should get together and figure out how to shut the highway 68 coalition down.
THIS. ^^
Let’s countersue, track days have higher legal sound limits, no limits on attendance size, concerts allowed up to 9pm, and one 24 hour race per year. Let’s do this.
Firebird Raceway in Eagle Idaho had the same issue. Houses sprang up and then the dumb homeowners complained. They also tried to shut it down. If I understand correctly the track owners (great family) were able to get it on the historic register. I think it’s now safe as a result.
I live downwind from Firebird – and on some days, the noise from races drifts all the way to our place. I sometimes crack open a cold one, set up a lawn chair and just sit there, soaking in the sounds of horsepower, dreaming of the good ol’ days. I would gladly join in a lawsuit where someone would like to shut it down – ‘cept I’d be on the track’s side!
There are a lot of new developments going in around that track right now – mostly between there and me. I hope the measures the New family took are strong enough, as I see the potential of something similar to the Laguna Seca story on the horizon.
This is exactly how greedy land developers destroyed Bridgehampton on Long Island in the late 90’s. I was there and I saw it first hand. They started with phoned-in noise complaints (from NYC) during events and then escalated to lawsuits until the local govt. just caved. Now there are a bunch of McMansions and a crappy golf course where the track once stood. This needs to be taken seriously with legitimate legal push-back or it could happen.