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Racetrack presented to Big Lake residents <br />Tuesday, 28 October 2008 <br />by Elizabeth Nelson <br />Staff writer <br />1 <br />~._1 <br />Even though no official proposal is on the table, concerned Big Lake residents squeezed into the town hall to learn <br />about what a race track would mean for their area. <br />On Wednesday, Oct. 22, 195 residents filled town hall to hear International Motorsports Entertain-ment and <br />Development Corp. (IMEDC) give a presentation on what the mixed-use motorsports complex could look like. <br />Every seat in the audience was filled, more than 50 stood in the back and many more lined the walls and even sat on <br />the floor as Jim Farnum, the chief executive director of IMEDC, gave a 40-minute presentation on what a racetrack <br />could bring to Big Lake. <br />The opening was a slide show highlighting numerous aspects of motorsports from photos of race car drivers proudly <br />holding up trophies to massive crowds gathered in stadiums. Appealing to a Minnesota crowd, Bob Dylan and Prince <br />songs played in the background. <br />The projected plans place the 400-acre project in an the area of County Road 14 near the end of 172nd Street in Big <br />Lake Township. <br />Farnum said the 400 acres has been secured through a purchase agreement, but,. if the idea does not pass, IMEDC <br />will not be stuck with the land. <br />The complex would cater to different motorsports with afive-eighths-mile high bank paved oval, three-eighths-mile oval <br />dirt track, aone-quarter-mile drag strip and a 100,000-square-foot exhibition and convention center for commercial <br />businesses relative to the track. <br />