By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
A local youth mini car racing club has found a permanent home for its monthly racing events. But it will take a good deal of community involvement and public support to get the new space up and running for the kids.
The Southern Nevada Racing Association (SNRA) has been operating from the northeast corner of the Clark County Fairgrounds for about a year now. The club, which is sanctioned by the national Quarter Midgets of America (QMA) organization, has steadily grown in popularity. By the end of last season, there were 30-35 families involved with an average of around 20 cars attending each monthly racing event, according to club founder Jeff Hobbs.
“The Fairgrounds has been fine to get us started, and the Parks and Rec staff has been very good to us,” said Hobbs. “But we knew that we really would need our own place in order to take it to the next level.”
Hobbs said that the club has operated at the fairgrounds as a regular event. That means that, each racing Saturday, club members have had to bring all the equipment to the site, rebuild the track, operate the race and then take it all down again by the end of the day.
“It is a lot of work but it has worked out ok,” Hobbs said. “But we know that we really need a permanent spot to put our stuff. And more importantly we need to have a place where the kids can practice in between the monthly races.”
Hobbs said that this problem was solved by a friend who is a great fan of mini car racing. Las Vegas resident Brian Caruso owns Micar Fabrication and Design, a successful machine shop in Las Vegas.
Caruso’s family has been involved in mini car racing for generations. On site of the shop, Caruso also owns the Caruso Racing Museum, a space dedicated to the miniature car racing hobby featuring a variety of vintage cars, engines and other racing memorabilia.
Hobbs said that he had been talking with Caruso recently about the success of SNRA over the past year. Caruso asked why the club didn’t have a place of its own to call home. Hobbs responded that real estate in Moapa Valley has been in high demand and the club didn’t have much of a budget to buy property.
“Next thing I know, Brian is making an offer on a four acre, commercially zoned parcel out by the airport,” Hobbs said. “He bought it just for the club to use. I think that is pretty darn generous!”
Hobbs has ambitious plans for the parcel. He envisions a full racing complex at the site including a dirt mini car race track, a paved track, tracks for remote control car racing and RC rock crawling events, and possibly even a BMX race track in the more distant future.
“We are calling it the Caruso Raceway and Extreme Race Park,” Hobbs said. “Brian’s dream was that, 20 or 30 years from now, a successful race track will still be operating here. I think that if we do it right, and have the community get fully involved with it, it could end up being one of the nicest tracks in the nation.”
With mini car racing being popular nationwide, the facility could eventually attract racers and their families from all across the region to come to Moapa Valley and race, Hobbs said. But he emphasized that the focus would remain strong on giving local kids the opportunity to be involved in the sport.
“The first priority will always be the kids in Moapa Valley,” Hobbs said. “We want to keep it affordable and available to our local SNRA club members first and foremost.”
Hobbs said that he would like to have the dirt race track and a rudimentary parking lot set up and in operation by early 2023. Then operations can be moved there from the fairgrounds. Other additions will be brought online later on as the club gets more established.
But bringing this vision to reality will take some doing. Hobbs admits that he needs help from club membership and from the community at-large, to realize the vision.
“As a club, we don’t have much of a budget yet,” Hobbs said of the SNRA. “Thus far, we have gotten off the ground only through some very generous members of the community who have seen the benefits to local kids and have jumped on board to help.”
These have included community residents like Bob McCormick, Jesse Wade, Kirk Livernash, Charlie Stevens and more, who have made donations of materials, tractors, equipment or just time and labor, to help move the club forward.
“The community has been great in helping us thus far,” Hobbs said. “But we can always use more help. And it is a great program for local kids. So donations of funds, materials, equipment or just time in operating equipment are welcome in getting our new project started.”
The SNRA will begin its 2022-23 racing season at the Clark County Fairgrounds on Saturday morning, Sept. 17. The club will be hosting a free Pancake Breakfast that day with the entire community invited.
“It is a great opportunity for people to come and see what we have been doing, what we are all about, and where we are headed,” Hobbs said. “It is also a chance for people to learn how they can get involved.”
More information about SNRA is available on the club Facebook page at “Southern Nevada Racing Association;” or on the club website at www.lvqm.webs.com.
