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Event attendees celebrate as construction on new racetrack in Kern County begins
| Wednesday, Feb 7 2007 8:10 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Feb 7 2007 8:35 PM
The green flag dropped and mammoth engines in the earth-graders roared. Alan Destefani, Mesa Marin Raceway's first track champion, pulled away. Marion Collins, an old hand in an earth-grader, chased him. They turned the corner. They came roaring back.
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Marion Collins speaks to the media after groundbreaking ceremonies for the future site of the new half-mile race track just off Enos Lane adjacent to Interstate 5.
Marion Collins, far right, helped shovel dirt during groundbreaking ceremonies for the new half-mile race track that is scheduled to open in spring 2008 just off of Enos Lane adjacent to Interstate 5.
Alan Destefani, left, and Marion Collins, right, race Caterpillar machines during a groun breaking ceremony event for the new half-mile race track just off Enos Lane adjacent to Interstate 5.
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Collins made a late move to the outside, but it wasn't enough.
Destefani won the first semi-official race in the open field that will soon become Kern County's new half-mile, banked-turn raceway Wednesday morning. A crowd of around 300 cheered and laughed.
The race was Collins' idea for spicing up an old tradition -- the groundbreaking.
"Ordinary things are just not my style," he said.
The two men and their families have teamed up to build the new track.
And the spirit of demolished Mesa Marin, which Collins built in the 1970s, was clearly alive Wednesday as they celebrated the beginning of construction at Enos Lane and Interstate 5.
Hundreds of racers, race fans, car builders, journalists and dignitaries joined them.
"I've been to a lot of groundbreakings since I've been in office," said Kern County Supervisor Ray Watson. "This is the largest groundbreaking ceremony I've seen in Kern County."
After the race the Collins and Destefani families bowed to tradition, grabbed golden shovels and tossed up some dirt clods in celebration.
By January 2008, work on the $35 million complex should be complete. In spring 2008 race cars -- not earth-graders -- will be competing on the fresh asphalt.
"This is an extremely big day," said Larry Collins, Marion's son and project president. "We want to build this entertainment experience so even if you're not a big race fan, you're going to have a good time."
Bakersfield NASCAR Grand National West racer Mike Duncan said the new track is a big deal for local drivers who lost a home when they lost Mesa Marin.
"It's just really special to have someplace to call home," he said.
Racer A.J. Destefani said that even though his family was a partner in planning the new track, he didn't dare believe the dream was real until Wednesday morning.
"The last race at Mesa Marin, I never thought I'd get in a stock car again," he said.
On Wednesday, he knew he'd been wrong.