Bring out the speedster in you by kicking the gas pedal in the race track of Naples, Florida. There are many racing events in and around Naples, Florida but the one which features the baddest and the fastest cars around has got to be the Immokalee Regional Raceway. This 1/8th of a mile former airstrip is where all the fastest and most cool looking cars of the region battle it out in a test of power and speed to become Florida’s best racer ever.
Two totally inconsequential occasions happened in a brief span of time that brought about the creation of Immokalee Regional Raceway.
Firstly, Immokalee businessperson Ralph Hester caught some cops from close-by Cape Coral discussing the extremely risky increment in unlawful road racing that was occurring – and about how there was no legitimate place to race nearby. Second, Hester happened to be flying out of the Immokalee Regional Airport, which used to be Immokalee Army Airfield, utilized for B-17 and B-24 plane training. Once high up, Hester saw that there were painting a major “X” on each end of one of the runways.
When he got back, he asked what was happening: Turns out the air terminal didn’t have any need, and would not like to keep up that specific runway, and, hence, they were shutting it down. Hester believed that runway may make a truly decent eighth-mile drag strip. It soon did not take long before the Immokalee Regional Raceway opened on April 17, 1999.
The central vision of the track was to keep the races out of the streets and into the legal tracks. This is much safer for the drivers and the local community and this is also mainly the reason why street racing is illegal. Today, this all-concrete eighth-mile drag strip draws crowds of more than 3,000 to 5,000 people, cheering loudly for their favorite racer. This includes some 300 dragsters from all over south Florida and beyond. Hotels in Immokalee are always fully booked whenever a drag race in the Immokalee Regional Raceway is at hand, and these incidents are co-relational according to records.
But, running this very important track wasn’t all bright and sunny. Hester nearly needed to close the strip at one point in 2011 when the airplane terminal, which claims the property and was leasing it to Hester on a month-by-month premise, decided to dramatically increase the lease per a mandate from the FAA.
Given the way that Hester spent his own cash on the track and the offices, it would have been a blow to him as well as to the racing community. Fortunately, authorities from Naples, Florida went to his aid: Collier County Commissioner Jim Coletta, whose area included Immokalee, said at the time the circuit has been a huge advantage for the Immokalee people group. Luckily, an agreement Hester could live with was reached, and the Immokalee Regional Raceway is as solid as ever, with a timetable that incorporates racing on different Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. So, come and visit Immokalee Regional Raceway and feel immerse yourself into some hardcore high-flying action.
