For many years Palm Beach International Raceway (formerly Moroso Motorsports Park) was a case of ‘what might have been’. Built at great expense in the mid-1960s, it initially made a pitch for one of the world’s great endurance races, but ended up spending the majority of its time as a test track, with occasional club racing and the odd Trans Am visit.
In recent years the track has new ownership and has undergone a complete reconfiguration to allow the road course to operate independently of the drag strip.
Sadly, 2022 saw the curtain close on the circuit, with its owners elected to see it off for redevelopment, set to house large distribution warehouses.
In anticipation of the sale, the circuit organized a final racing meeting for April 23, 2022, the Pro Hydro-Clean Last Lap. It featured racing and demonstrations of cars and other vehicles associated with the circuit down the years. Advance bids were taken for the honour of the real last lap to be taken around the course or a run down the drag strip, at a private event at a date yet to be revealed. 100% of the proceeds of the auctions went to benefit the part-time employees of PBIR.
The sale of the site to Portman was conditional on the buyer obtaining zoning approval from the Palm Beach County Commission before the property could change hands. Somewhat unexpectedly, the county commissioners unanimously rejected variances to zoning proposed by Portman, leaving the developer to request a postponement. That, however, effectively rendered its deal with IRG dead and Portman subsequently withdrew its permit applications to the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
However, race fans shouldn’t get their hopes up, as IRG quickly made it very apparent that the circuit would not be re-opening. “We want to be clear that the future of the property remains the same: it will be developed for logistics and distribution use, with a process underway to choose a new developer,” spokesman Patrick Clifford said in a statement to the Palm Beach Post in July 2022. “The track is closed and will not be reopening.”
So, while the developer may not yet have been identified, it is clear that the 60-year history of racing in Palm Beach is now confirmed as definitively over so they thought.
Well, recently news has come out the the iconic track is back up for sale. https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/17047-Bee-Line-Hwy-Jupiter-FL/34504639/
