Miller Motorsports Park Closing This Fall After 10 Years of Operation
If you’ve meant to make the trip to Utah to turn some laps around Miller Motorsports Park, you might want to do it this year. The jewel of a circuit located a short drive from Salt Lake City, built to the tune of $100 million, will close October 31st.
The track was a project envisioned by the often controversial Larry H. Miller, a Salt Lake City native and lifelong resident, businessman, and philanthropist. Miller, whose other ventures included retail, entertainment, automotive, and professional sports businesses before his death in 2009, first broke ground on the track in 2004 before it was opened two years later.
The track’s closing at the end of this racing season will mean it lasted only 10 years.
The Larry H. Miller Group, the company that operates Miller Motorsports Park, does not own the land on which the race track is built; instead, it is leased to the group by Tooele County. The group will not be renewing the lease with the county, effectively shutting it down. All assets at the 511-acre site will also return to the county.
“On behalf of my family, I would like to thank all of those who have supported the track over the years, both locally and worldwide, for their enthusiasm and use of the facility,” Larry H. Miller Group owner Gail Miller said in a statement released by the organization.
Not all hope is lost for the facility. County commissioners are now tasked with looking for someone or a group to take over the facility and the Miller Group has said they’d assist in the process.
“It was part of our conversation this afternoon,” said Tooele County Commissioner Shawn Milne to Deseret News. “They have assured us and we are faithful that there will be a smooth transition.”
Scheduled events will continue uninterrupted this summer. An all-day opening party is set for next weekend.
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This isn't a track I've driven on, but watching pro races there on TV it's always seemed totally boring, at least from a spectator's point of view. Miller's 23 (IIRC) turns all look more similar than they really are, and with nothing more than desert scrub as a backdrop. And why, or even how, they managed to build a track with no elevation change in that part of the world baffles me. If you want to see a recent era race track built the way it should be, try Barber. It's sad to see a race track go, but unless you live in that area, where alternatives are scant, Miller won't be much of a loss.
I can't help but see the fate of this track as being tied to the rise and fall of good sports car racing (ie ALMS) in the US. It broke ground when the ALMS was in it's growth phase and began hosting races during the "golden years" of 2006-2008. With the ALMS losing its "world class" luster until being absorbed into TUSC mediocrity (GTLM class not withstanding). I would imagine that times are difficult for most race tracks.