Ace Speedway owners argue to stay open, but judge will decide next week

With its future on the line, Ace Speedway sought Friday to run more races and argued in Alamance County court for the chance to reopen despite COVID-19 restrictions.

On June 11, an Alamance County judge issued a temporary restraining order against the speedway, barring further races until Friday’s hearing.

Friday, Superior Court Judge D. Thomas Lambeth Jr., said the restraining order would stay in effect until Wednesday afternoon, when his ruling will be made.

At Friday’s hearing, witnesses were called to talk about the track’s operations and the prevalence of COVID-19 in Alamance County. That included racetrack co-owner Jason Turner and an Alamance County sheriff’s deputy.

Last month, Ace Speedway drew thousands of fans, though the state does not permit mass gatherings. The health department said speedways and other venues must follow Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive order. Now in Phase Two, that limits gatherings to 10 people indoors and 25 outdoors.

But at Ace Speedway, people stood in long lines, few of them wearing masks, and cheered in the stands for “freedom.”

Stacie Saunders, director of the Alamance County Health Department, said Friday that at least one spectator who attended a May 30 race has contracted COVID-19. The person lives in Cabarrus County, Saunders said.

A crew member for one of the racing teams also has tested positive for COVID-19, The News & Observer has reported, citing a report by Short Track Scene’s Matt Weaver. During Friday’s hearing, state Department of Heath and Human Services attorney Andrew Kasper said the department has not independently confirmed that report.

Alamance County has reported 883 cases and 35 deaths, according to the state’s data on Friday. It is considered one of the state’s hot spots for cases. The White House Coronavirus Task Force expressed concerns about Alamance and seven other counties last week, The News & Observer reported.

Dr. Mandy Cohen, the state’s DHHS secretary, sued Ace Speedway and its owner-operators Robert and Jason Turner June 10, seeking a temporary restraining order to restrict racing on the Alamance County track.

The state’s order against Ace Speedway would allow it to operate if it presents a plan that is approved by DHHS as to how it would be in compliance with the social restrictions currently in place by Cooper’s executive order.

Ace had already canceled Friday’s scheduled races.

Racetrack attendance

Racetracks have become a flashpoint in the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, drawing crowds who wish to defy the governor’s restrictions for largely political reasons.

Turner, who co-owns the track with his father, Robert Turner, said the seating capacity for the track is 5,000 and that a crowd of about 1,000 on race days was needed to break even financially. He said 2,550 attended the May 23 race events; about 1,600 were at the May 30 races; and 1,200 at the June 6 races.

Kasper showed published photos Friday of the track from a race day, including shots of a packed grandstand and a large group of people in the infield section of the track.

“This is an unacceptable risk of transmission,” Kasper said.

Lambeth noted that Cohen had forwarded data in the DHHS affidavit that 805 of the hospital beds in the state were in use because of COVID-19.

“That raised my eyebrows,” Lambeth said.

“This is an unacceptable risk,” Kasper said again.

Turner testified Friday that health and safety precautions were followed at the speedway on race days, including temperature checks and sanitizing stations, and that a roster for virus contact tracing was kept for those attending the races.

Turner said there were questions about the accuracy of the tracing roster and the names and phone numbers submitted on the first race weekend. For the second race weekend, personal IDs were required and photo copies of the IDs were submitted to the Alamance County Health Department.

Raleigh attorney Chuck Kitchen, who represents Ace Speedway, has said Cooper’s executive order is unconstitutional. He said after the June 11 hearing that those restrictions aren’t reasonable and won’t allow Ace Speedway to operate.

In his closing arguments Friday, Kitchen said the Alamance sheriff had received a letter from the governor’s attorney, asking him to visit Ace and explain that racing could not continue. No other track in the state received so much attention, showing “selective enforcement” of the law.

This happened, Kitchen said, because “Robert Turner talked to the press,” he said. “He didn’t agree with what the governor was doing. ... Next thing we know, the governor is involved.”

He called COVID-19 a “bad germ” that needs to be taken seriously, but questioned whether it rises to the level of a state of emergency while hospital beds are still available.

“A state of emergency does not exist because you think something is going to happen,” he said.

Kasper countered that nearly 1,200 people have died from the virus in North Carolina, and while sympathetic to the loss of livelihood, the judge must balance the risk to public health.

“We have not passed over the hump,” he said. “There is a serious emergency, and that emergency requires serious public health measures.”

“I don’t think anybody takes delight in having a business not being able to have people come to their establishments, Ace Speedway included,” Lambeth said.

This story was originally published June 19, 2020 at 3:24 PM with the headline "Ace Speedway owners argue to stay open, but judge will decide next week."