2008 Local Tracks

 

Race fans await Stockton 99 Speedway's comeback

August 25, 2008 6:00 AM From the Record Editorial Page

                                                                               Before and After Pictures of Track

It looks like there will be more cars circling the quarter mile track at the old 99 Speedway.

A French Camp couple, Tony and Carol Noceti, say they're ready to apply ample TLC and whatever it takes of a $1 million budget to bring the roar of engines back to the track.

First opened in 1947, the 99 Speedway shut down two years ago, victim of the times. The times in this case involved a booming real estate market. A Bay Area group planned a housing development on the 20-acre site. But the deal fell through as the real estate market fell away.

Now property owners Bob Hunefeld and Ken Clapp confirm that they are near a 5-year-lease deal with the Nocetis.

If it comes to fruition, it will mean a lot of hard work for Tony Noceti, a farmer, weed abatement contractor and avid race fan and driver.

He's always wanted to own a track, his wife said. It's been his dream.

Noceti's dream could come true, a dream not unlike the dream of many 99 Speedway fans who over the 60 years the track operated enjoyed many summer Saturdays at the Stockton attraction.