By: Ray King
Pine Bluff City Council member Ivan Whitfield has been a proponent of establishing a race track, either inside the city limits or outside it if necessary, and in 2019, when he was chairman of the Traffic and Aviation Committee of the council, held several meeting with that as the subject.
Whitfield appeared on Talk Back Live with Floyd Donald Tuesday morning and talked about how he got involved.
Current Arkansas law prohibits the establishment of a racetrack inside the city limits, a law that Whitfield said was based on an effort by Ron Lusby when Mike Beebe was Governor of the state.
“There were some people that ran up to the Governor and that had a representative put in (the law) that you can’t locate it in the city limits,” Whitfield said. “The only place in Arkansas where you can’t locate (a racetrack) in the city.
In addition to land owned by the city near the airport, Whitfield said there has also been some interest shown in putting the track near PJ’s on University Drive.
“Out there by PJ’s, that’s an opportunity zone area and there are a lot of things that would really benefit the city,” he said.
