Last year ISC was unable to find a lawmaker willing to sponsor the necessary legislation. It was generally acknowledged at the time, that since it was a short session — and an election year in which the entire House and half of the Senate were facing the voters — no one wanted to deal with anything controversial.

However, Rep. Geoff Simpson, D-Covington, said on Jan 19, that he would introduce the appropriate legislation to move the bill forward. According to Grant Lynch, spokesman for ISC, there are also enough sponsors on board to introduce the bill in both the House and Senate.

Rep. Sherry Appleton, who has been most vitriolic in her opposition, said, “I cannot believe a legislator outside of Kitsap would prime a bill to put NASCAR in Kitsap, when his constituents would not be impacted with traffic, quality of life and infrastructure issues. They would be impacted by the risk of the bonding.”

Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island, was a lot less strident, saying only, “We knew someone would sponsor it, we just didn’t know who until now.”

However, racetrack supporters are finding support in some surprising places. Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, an outspoken opponent of taxpayer-funded sports stadiums, was quoted in the Seattle Times as saying he thinks the project “pencils out” for the state. “I think they’ve got a reasonable financing package,” he said. “The numbers say that it would be profitable for the state.”

Dunshee had considered sponsoring the bill but decided it was too big a commitment considering his new responsibilities as vice chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. “I’ve just got too much to do,” he stated.

But the proposal does have some heavy backing in the form of Congressman Norm Dicks and Adam Smith, as well as Bremerton Mayor Cary Bozeman, who would like to annex the site into Bremerton.

Dunshee took a lot of heat from local Democratic legislators, who in spite of several polls showing that their constituent’s opinion on the racetrack is at least evenly split, oppose it personally. However, Dicks reportedly called Dunshee and personally urged him to keep pushing the proposal.

Senator Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, is the one local legislator who has kept an open mind on the issue. “Improving job growth continues to be my top priority as a legislator and I believe this project shows some potential from an economic development perspective,” he commented. “However, there remain concerns that have impeded the proposal. How can this project be developed to minimize impacts on our area’s quality of life and our natural environment? How will the need for transportation improvements be addressed to accommodate the influx of vehicles on our roads during event weekends? And, how can we minimize downside risks to taxpayers?” he asked.

“There have been discussions over the past year about ways to address these concerns, and the details remain in flux,” he added. “I believe the outlook for the proposal will be directly related to the ability to address these concerns on the front end. Will these issues be addressed? Time will tell,” he said.

Originally, the racetrack was proposed for Dunshee’s district, but ISC abandoned Snohomish County when land costs there almost tripled overnight, spurred by speculation about the proposed location.

Originally, ISC would have had to assemble over 200 parcels of land to make the site work. In Kitsap, they are dealing with a single landowner and a fixed land cost.

The proposal calls for the creation of a Public Stadium Authority that would issue bonds to finance nearly half the cost of the facility. The bonds would be repaid through the sales-tax collections that the track will generate. ISC would pay most of the rest of the costs, including cost overruns, with the balance coming from an admissions tax on race tickets.

ISC Vice President Grant Lynch has personally urged supporters to keep pressuring Kitsap-area legislators with phone calls and e-mails.

The bill isn’t site-specific, and Dunshee said there has been some discussion about the possibility of another location, but said it would have to be somewhere near a lot of hotels, because the majority fans would be from out of state. He added that from what he’s seen, he believes most people in the Puget Sound region will probably support the track.

Meanwhile, on Jan. 22, the Kitsap County commissioners voted 2-1 to pass a resolution that they appear to hope will slow the proposal from moving forward. It calls on the Legislature to reject any bill not requiring the developer to pay for needed infrastructure improvements. The resolution also demands the county be allowed to collect the entire five percent admissions tax, that private use of the facility be subject to leasehold excise taxes, and that back taxes on the property be paid, along with financial guarantees to local taxing districts if attendance is not as high as ISC projects.

Track supporters were incensed at the timing of the resolution — especially since none of the commissioners have a clue what is contained in the newest draft of the legislation. During the public comment period before the commissioners voted, supporters of the track criticized the commissioners, saying any resolution should have at least been delayed until the proposed legislation was introduced and everyone knew what it contained.

Virgil Hamilton, president of the Olympic Peninsula Building Trades Council said that the new bill will have in excess of $25 million for infrastructure improvements — double what had been proposed originally. He also stated that there were numerous other changes that the commissioners should at least become aware of before voting on any resolution, because the new legislation addresses a lot of the issues the resolution demands.

Commissioner Jan Angel voted against the resolution for the same reason. “Until we at least see what kind of legislation is being proposed, any kind of resolution on this is premature,” she said.

Other critics stated that the resolution was little more than a carefully timed political statement aimed at legislators in Olympia. Tim Thompson, of Thompson Smitch, consultants for ISC, complained, “I believe this resolution is intended to impede our ability to secure state legislation and kill the project.”

The resolution also stipulated that the county should have approval authority should any city try to annex the site. That has been a major bone of contention between Endresen and Bremerton Mayor Cary Bozeman ever since Bozeman announced at a Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council (KRCC) meeting on Jan. 9, that the city was considering annexing the site and that Bremerton was in negotiations with ISC. A Bremerton annexation would remove all decision making power on the track from the commissioners and shift it to the Bremerton City Council.

“I’m a big supporter of the NASCAR track,” said Bremerton Mayor Cary Bozeman. “We’re moving forward to see what the financial and other impacts would be for Bremerton. We’re running the numbers right now.”

Bainbridge Island resident Chris Van Dyk, who organized a ballot measure in November prohibiting Seattle from offering any deals to the Sonics basketball team, said that should the Legislature approve ISC’s funding request. he would sue to force any spending measure to a statewide ballot.

On Jan.24, ISC President Lesa France Kennedy and supporters of Great Western Sports met with Washington Governor Christine Gregoire, several key legislators, elected officials and business leaders from across the state.

France Kennedy stated: “We had a very productive meeting with Governor Gregoire. I truly appreciated the opportunity to discuss the merits of our proposal and, more specifically, the details of the legislation expected to be introduced in the coming days. We, along with our supporters and bill sponsors, were able to demonstrate our progress thus far, and I look forward to updating the Governor on our future efforts.”

More than 35,000 citizens have signed petitions in favor of track, and it has been endorsed by over 50 business organizations, hundreds of private sector businesses, and almost every organized labor group in the state.