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Boone residents say race track is too noisy

By Dave Faherty, wsoctv.com
By Dave Faherty, wsoctv.com

BOONE, N.C. — Complaints over a race track in Boone have some neighbors asking county leaders to shut it down.
 
The track reopened earlier this year after it was closed for more than a decade.
 
Eyewitness News reporter Dave Faherty spoke with nearby residents fed up with the noise.
 
They race on the dirt track nearly every weekend since getting the town's approval earlier this year.
 
But some of the homeowners said they didn't know about the old track after it closed 17 years ago.
 
On average, nearly 500 people come to the Mountain View Speedway in Boone for Saturday night racing.
 
Jill Hoekstra knows when the races start because she can hear it from her front porch and recorded it with her cellphone.
 
"When it affects a neighborhood to this intensity, that we can't even go outside and have a conversation, that we can't even relax at our own homes," Hoekstra said.
 
The track's operator, Mike Budka, wanted to bring affordable family entertainment back to Boone by reopening the old track.
 
They don't sell beer here or violate the county's noise ordinance by operating past 11 p.m. and he got approval first from town leaders, Budka said. 
 
"We actually went above and beyond and extended our hands to the neighbors and said that we would work on quieting the cars down with turndowns and mufflers," he said.
 
Jane Butler is a retiree from the Raleigh-Durham area to enjoy the mountains and never knew a track was there. She said she doesn't have friends over on the weekend.
 
"If you and I were standing on a deck this close, we would be yelling at each other," Butler said.
 
Budka said he's going to keep the track there and appreciates the support by others in the community.

"A lot of the supervisors for the town use to come here back in the day and some of them even raced here," Budka said.
 
He's going to require drivers have mufflers and other equipment to quiet the cars more by Labor Day.

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