I have suspected for weeks that my wife and I were misled into signing the “Restore Our Fairgrounds” petition.
Today, an Instagram reel finally set me off.
The video portrayed the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway as a threat to Nashville’s environment and quality of life. It claimed that chipped paint from the speedway washes into storm drains and pollutes the water. It dismissed the track’s history and suggested that because NASCAR already races at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, the historic Fairgrounds Speedway is unnecessary.
Watching it, I realized I could no longer remain quiet.
This did not feel like a good-faith conversation about Nashville’s future. It felt like propaganda designed to convince people that destroying one of America’s great historic short tracks would somehow “save” the Nashville Fairgrounds.
And what makes me even angrier? Because of what happened outside my polling place last month, my name is on their damn petition.
I Asked Them Directly About NASCAR
My wife and I were approached outside our polling place by someone gathering signatures.
The canvasser opened with a simple, sympathetic question: Do you support affordable housing at the Nashville Fairgrounds?
I support affordable housing. Nashville desperately needs it.
But I also understood that there was an ongoing fight over the Fairgrounds Speedway, so I immediately stopped the canvasser and asked a very specific question:
“Does this petition have anything to do with NASCAR or the racetrack? Because if it does, I will not sign it. I support NASCAR coming back.”
He told me no.
Based on that answer, I signed the petition.
Then, yesterday, I received a postcard thanking me for signing the “Restore Our Fairgrounds” petition and helping the campaign qualify its proposed charter amendment for the ballot.
That confirmed what I had already begun to suspect: The petition absolutely has something to do with NASCAR and the racetrack.
In fact, that is its central purpose.
The proposed charter amendment would remove “auto racing” as a required use of the Nashville Fairgrounds and replace it with “affordable housing and/or workforce housing.” The campaign’s own website says its vision includes turning the speedway site into green space and using part of it for housing.
The canvasser did not leave out a minor detail. He gave me a direct answer to the exact question that determined whether I would sign.
That answer was false.
Today’s Reel Made It Impossible to Ignore
I was already angry about being misled.
Then I saw today’s Instagram reel attacking the speedway, and everything boiled over.
The campaign presents itself as an effort to “restore” or “save” the fairgrounds. But its own materials make clear that it wants to remove racing as a protected use and eventually replace the speedway.
That is not saving the fairgrounds. That is redeveloping a valuable piece of Nashville property for different purposes.
People are free to support that. But call it what it is!
Do not use “affordable housing” as an emotional sales pitch while hiding the fact that the signature is intended to help eliminate the racetrack. Do not pretend this is merely an environmental cleanup initiative. And do not tell voters who directly ask about NASCAR that the petition has nothing to do with it.
Local reporting suggests my experience was not an isolated misunderstanding.
Secret recordings obtained by NewsChannel 5 captured canvassers making claims about the speedway that the station determined were false, including that the track was already going to be demolished. Hundreds of Nashvillians have reportedly asked to have their names removed after saying they were misled about the petition’s purpose.
How many more people signed under similar false pretenses and still have no idea what they supported?
Lebanon Is Not a Replacement for the Fairgrounds
The suggestion that Nashville does not need the Fairgrounds Speedway because NASCAR already races in Lebanon is ridiculous.
Nashville Superspeedway is a 1.33-mile concrete, D-shaped oval with 14 degrees of banking. It opened in 2001 and is located approximately 30 miles southeast of Nashville.
The Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway is a historic .596-mile short track near the heart of the city. It is the second-oldest continually operating racetrack in the country and hosted NASCAR’s premier series from 1958 through 1984.
These tracks are not interchangeable. Honestly, NASCAR likely only came back to use the Lebanon track because they thought the Fairgrounds would be inevitable.
They produce different racing. They offer different atmospheres. They represent completely different eras of the sport.
Claiming the track in Lebanon replaces the Fairgrounds is like saying Nissan Stadium makes Vanderbilt Stadium unnecessary because football is played at both places.
The Fairgrounds Speedway is one of America’s great short tracks. Its banking, configuration and proximity to downtown give it an identity that cannot be recreated at a modern superspeedway in another county.
Its history is real whether opponents value that history or not.
NASCAR Wants to Preserve and Improve the Track
The proposed Fairgrounds project is not about NASCAR destroying the historic racing surface.
Published plans call for retaining the track’s geometry while replacing deteriorating infrastructure with new grandstands, modern amenities, hospitality and community spaces. The design also includes a 20-foot sound barrier intended to reduce the effect on surrounding neighborhoods.
People can question the financing. They can debate the number of racing dates, traffic plans and sound mitigation. They can demand environmental protections and firm guarantees for the surrounding neighborhoods.
Those are legitimate public-policy arguments.
But the idea that renovating the Fairgrounds Speedway means destroying it turns reality on its head.
The track needs investment. NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports want to provide a path toward making it a modern, major-league facility while preserving the historic short track itself.
That could be an incredible addition to Nashville.
Is Nashville SC’s Ownership Behind This Campaign?
There is another question Nashville deserves to have answered: Who is paying for all of this?
I ask that as someone who loves Nashville SC. I have been a season-ticket member for more than five years. I was there before the club moved into GEODIS Park, and I have proudly supported what Nashville SC has brought to our city.
That is why I am especially angry about Nashville SC lead owner John Ingram’s reported support for the anti-racing effort.
The campaign’s website says it is paid for by Citizens Against Racetrack Expansion, or CARE. Because the measure has not officially qualified for the ballot, its donors are not yet required to be publicly disclosed.
So I cannot say that Ingram or any particular business is secretly financing this campaign. We do not currently have the financial disclosures necessary to prove that.
But if Ingram is helping fund or direct an effort that misled my wife and me—and apparently many other Nashvillians—into signing an anti-racing petition, I want to know.
As a loyal Nashville SC supporter, that would feel like an enormous betrayal.
The campaign has paid canvassers, professional advertising, glossy mailers, social media videos and an elaborate redevelopment vision for an extremely valuable piece of Nashville land directly beside GEODIS Park.
The public has every right to ask who is financing it, whether major business interests are involved and what those interests stand to gain if the historic racetrack disappears.
This should not become a manufactured choice between Nashville SC and the Fairgrounds Speedway. I love Nashville SC, and I support preserving the racetrack. Both can thrive at the fairgrounds.
If this is truly a grassroots movement to save Nashville, disclose the money. Let Nashville—and Nashville SC supporters like me—see exactly who is behind it.
Take My Name Off the Petition
The petition campaign did not earn my support. I bet they hoped people like me would just stay quiet.
It obtained my signature after I explicitly said I would not sign anything connected to ending racing at the Nashville Fairgrounds—and was told that it had nothing to do with the track.
Had I been told the truth, I never would have signed.
The Metro Clerk’s Office has said there may be no legal mechanism for officials to remove individual names from this type of Metro petition. Residents seeking removal have been directed to contact Restore Our Fairgrounds at info@restoreourfairgrounds.org.
I want my name removed.
I support affordable housing. I support cleaning up Brown’s Creek. I support responsible development and protecting Nashville neighborhoods.
I also support preserving and renovating the historic Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.
Those positions are not mutually exclusive.
This campaign wants Nashvillians to believe that eliminating racing is synonymous with saving the fairgrounds. It is not.
Today’s Instagram reel did not introduce me to this controversy. I already suspected that something was wrong.
But watching the campaign smear the track with exaggerated environmental claims, dismiss its irreplaceable history and pretend the superspeedway in Lebanon makes it obsolete finally set me off.
I am an active citizen. I vote in every election. I take my signature seriously.
The canvasser looked me in the eye and gave me an answer that was not true.
You do not save Nashville by misleading Nashville voters.
You do not build trust by disguising an anti-racing campaign as a simple petition for affordable housing.
And you do not get to use my name to help destroy a historic racetrack I explicitly told you I support.
Take my name off your petition.