Second hearing in state health department case against Ace Speedway held Friday

There was a second hearing in the case of the Ace Speedway in Alamance County Speedway against the state health department on Friday with familiar arguments going back and forth.

The speedway had been open and holding races amid the coronavirus pandemic until the state ordered the track to close declaring it an "imminent hazard" for spreading coronavirus.

The owner of the speedway says that the facility's peak season is between April and October. The early stages of the shut down canceled five of  15 scheduled races, costing the track a third of its projected annual revenue.

The owner claims that the mortgage for the speedway is in the neighborhood of $64,000 per year. That must be paid whether or not races are held.

But the state health department is concerned that the speedway operating not only defies statewide orders, but that it puts the health and lives of North Carolinians at risk.

Andrew Casper, the attorney representing the state, called it an "immediate threat" to human life.

The owners of the speedway have maintained that no cases have been tied to the venue, but a spokesperson for the speedway said that a case in Cabarrus County from March 30 had been tied to the speedway.

The health department does not know if that person contracted the virus or was symptomatic there.

The Alamance County Health Department used contact tracing and determined that most guests at the venue came from out of state, primarily from Virginia.

The state submitted evidence that included photographs of attendees standing close together and shouting, both behaviors that can raise the risk of spreading coronavirus.

This concern comes as Alamance County tests are coming back positive at a rate of about 10 percent.

At the end of the hearing, the judge stated his intent to reach a decision in the case by this coming Wednesday. ​