It has been stated by Mayor Shumaker and others that our property is only valuable because it is across the street from the race track.  The business owners did nothing to make their property worth more, but it is instead, Bruton Smith, pumping millions of dollars of Speedway Motor Sports Shareholder cash into the race track and the local economy.

And that gives someone else more property rights than the actual owner?  What a lame argument to support the taking of land!   Ask your self the following questions.

The Answer to all is Yes! 

What's our point?  Outside forces increase (or decrease) the value of land all the time in this country.     A city expands into the country, a mall goes up across from you, a manufacturing plant comes to town (or leaves, in Bristol's case) etc.   It is the risk the owner of an investment (in this case land) takes when he buys that investment.  The owner benefits from the windfall of progress or has the wind knocked out of him due to regress. 

If you buy "huge tracks of land" in a Florida swamp, you are "investing in that land."  If the state of Florida comes in and tells you that they are going to put a maximum security prison and a toxic waste dump on either side of your property, then guess what?  Your property value goes down!  As an owner of the land, you had no control over that, and nobody from society is going to come in to bail you out of your loss.  Society says, that is the risk you took. 

On the other hand, if a guy named Walt who draws this little mouse, decides to "build a castle" in the swamp next to your land, surround it with theme park rides and call it Disney World, then you hit the mother load.  You had no control over that either, and nobody from society is going to come in and try to reduce your gain.  Society says that gain is a result of the risk you took.

Does this all mean the owner had absolutely nothing to do with it?  No, the owner did do one thing.  He bought the property!  He invested his money in the land, in the investment.  He could have chosen not to buy the land, and invest his money risk free in a bank savings account.  Nothing ventured nothing gained, nothing lost. 

Forget its land for a second.  In 1981, you invest your money in stock.  You might decide to invest it in this new little company that makes computer software, called Microsoft.  You might invest your money in a very successful typewriter company instead.   No matter your choice, over the next twenty years you will have no control over the wild success of Microsoft, or the demise of the typewriter company.  Yet you are stuck with the profit or loss based on your choice.  You made an investment.  You made a decision.  No one will bail you out if you lose, and they sure as hell have no right to deny your gain.

So, we bought it!   But as the guy on TV says...WAIT THERE'S MORE....

We also invested in improving our properties.  At Rogers Gardens, we started by removing the "massage parlor" that was on the property.  This probably made our neighbor's property value go up, and they had no control over that either.

If you think back to 1981, you might remember that "massage parlor" and you might remember that the mountain used roll up to the front of the property.  Mr. Rogers had tons upon tons of dirt removed from the property; making possible the "campground/parking lot" that is there now. 

If Rogers had not done this; there would scarcely be an acre of parking today.   In short, his property would only be worth 10% of whatever it is worth now.  So, perhaps the speedway created a demand for camping and parking, but Mr. Rogers created a supply of space. 

By the way, where did all that dirt go?  It was moved up and down the Volunteer Parkway by developers who used it as fill dirt.  Many valleys on either side of the Parkway were raised so that shops, businesses, and restaurants could be built.  For example, Councilman Messimer's Chiropractic office building.   Not only did Rogers move tons of dirt up and down the parkway, but so did Darrell Profit over the years.   Do you ever wonder what Mr. Rogers charged the developers per pound, per ton, per truckload?   He charged, ironically and coincidently, the exact same amount that was offered him for his property.  NOTHING!   Not one penny. In this respect, both Mr. Proffitt and Mr. Rogers have created more businesses in Bristol than Mayor Shumaker.