Across the United States, the local auto racing tracks that have anchored rural and working-class communities for generations are disappearing.
Some have lost out to real estate developers when suburban sprawl makes the land beneath them too valuable to ignore. Others are strangled, slowly, by noise complaints and nuisance lawsuits filed by residents who moved to the area long after the track had been built.
Now, state legislatures are pushing back. From Georgia to Wisconsin, lawmakers have been introducing so-called “right to race” bills.
Over the past year, at least 13 state…
