St. Clair County updates Belle-Clair Fairgrounds racetrack timeline
St. Clair County officials have set a new target to complete the racetrack at the Belle-Clair Fairgrounds.
County Buildings Director Jim Brede told the board that manages St. Clair County-owned property on Thursday that officials hope to finish the project next year.
Plans call for the new track to be constructed in the southeast corner of the 200 South Belt East property. During Thursday’s meeting, the Public Building Commission voted to spend $4.1 million to prepare the site for construction.
Brede referred to the work as the project’s first phase.
“All this stuff takes time, so to be able to get the racetrack built by next year, we don’t want to wait until we get the whole project,” Brede told the board. “We’re going to have to start doing things in sections.”
The board hired Impact Strategies for the preparation work. The company previously was awarded a $370,650 contract to design the new racetrack.
The additional $4.1 million to Impact Strategies will cover demolishing houses the county purchased to expand the 22.5-acre fairgrounds for a larger racetrack and more parking. Four other structures previously were demolished for $65,800, which was covered by a state grant.
Impact Strategies will also relocate utilities such as gas and sewer lines, along with other site work.
State funding moved to 2026
Illinois lawmakers Rep. Jay Hoffman and Sen. Chris Belt, both D-Swansea, announced in 2024 that they had secured a $5 million state grant for the racetrack project. The grant was originally included in the state’s fiscal 2025 budget, which ended June 30.
The funds have been moved to the fiscal 2026 budget. In a statement, Hoffman said the grant had to be reappropriated for the next fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026.
“I am hopeful that the money will be released to the county in the very near future,” Hoffman said.
Belt’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
During this week’s meeting, Public Building Commission member Edmond Brown asked Brede whether the county has a cost estimate for each phase of the racetrack project.
Brede responded that an estimate isn’t available because the design is not yet finished.
“We’re getting close,” he said.
After the meeting, Brede said the design had been revised as recently as Wednesday to address how cars will enter and exit the dirt track during races.
“We’re still going through trying to figure out what works,” he said. “But right now, we can at least get the site work done.”
Brede referred questions about the project’s financing to St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern, who could not immediately be reached for comment.
Officials originally hoped to reopen the Belle-Clair Speedway—with a new track, grandstands, concessions and restrooms—for auto races in 2024. The target moved to 2025 and now to 2026.
The county demolished the old track in March. It first opened in 1948 and closed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The demolition was paid for with $85,000 in federal COVID-19 relief funds from the American Rescue Plan. Another $16.35 million in relief funds was allocated to purchase the Belle-Clair Fairgrounds from private ownership and renovate the expo center.
