Fairgrounds Petition Delivered to Metro With Almost 75,000 Signatures

Money, time, effort and controversial campaigning have produced almost 75,000 signatures for the anti-racing coalition tied to billionaire John Ingram seeking a ballot referendum in August 2027. Canvassers wheeled boxes of paper signature sheets — three dollies’ worth — in a celebratory procession to the Metro Courthouse Friday morning. Also present were “Decline to Sign” opponents who have fought efforts to ban racing at The Fairgrounds Nashville. 

The petition campaign, which organizes under several names and dispatched a team of green-shirted canvassers across Nashville this summer, needs the signatures of an estimated 41,000 Davidson County voters in order to land on the August ballot. Friday's delivery provides a large margin of error should the clerk disqualify any signatories, all but ensuring another phase of fairgrounds politics. 

“ The whole point of this exercise is to bring Nashvillians to the table, and not everyone's gonna agree with one side or the other,” says Mike Kopp, co-founder of “Restore Our Fairgrounds,” an anti-racing group. “We want to at least give people a chance to have a voice. If people are opposed to what we're doing now, well, if it's put on the ballot, let your voice be heard. Vote your way. That's the phase that we're now shifting into.” 

New Fairgrounds Petition Drive Has Gotten Ugly and Expensive

A clipboard army, judicial magistrate and more have entered the fairgrounds fray, leaving bad blood on all sides

Racing opponents seek an amendment to the Metro Charter that would discontinue auto racing at The Fairgrounds Nashville, foreclosing a push by NASCAR track operators to take over the neglected track from the city. The amendment would add “affordable housing and/or workforce housing” as a charter-mandated fairgrounds activity. 

It’s the latest move in an ongoing racetrack power struggle that sees billionaires on both sides. New Wedgewood-Houston real estate prospects and the ascendant Nashville SC’s home arena, Geodis Park, contrast with the neglected racetrack, which has become a symbol for class and culture battles. A referendum in 2011 enshrined racing in the Metro Charter, and then-Mayor John Cooper was on the precipice of a NASCAR renovation deal during the final stretch of his term. Track noise, environmental pollution and financial concerns motivated local opposition, formalized by consultants tied to Nashville SC owner John Ingram.

“Decline to Sign,” a counter-effort backed by the same NASCAR operator, emerged this summer to contest the petition, particularly instances of confusing and misleading information shared by paid canvassers.

"I expect the Election Commission to take its time and carefully examine each of these signatures to ensure these paid canvassers did not sign names without consent of a registered voter," says Zach Young, a former Metro Councilmember who co-founded "Decline to Sign." "If the Election Commission finds evidence to support this, I look forward to a thorough investigation by the appropriate authorities, because falsifying signatures can constitute a felony under Tennessee law. Not that I expect these out-of-state consultants to be familiar with the laws of our state.”

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Round and Round: A Battle Over the Future of the Fairgrounds Speedway

Neighbors, lobbyists, politicians and corporate interests duke it out over racing at the fairgrounds

Young was targeted with an ethics complaint in August as part of a legal back-and-forth waged by both sides. "Decline to Sign" offers signatories the chance to remove their name from the petition, a service that resulted in more than 2,000 requests and several hundred subtractions. “Decline to Sign” is backed by the Calvert Street Group, another public relations consultancy run by Darden Copeland, who helped run a successful 2011 campaign that enshrined auto racing in the Metro Charter.

Despite the counter-effort, the anti-racing petition campaign met its goal on Friday, the close of a 90-day window mandated by county election rules. Boxes of signatures now go to the Davidson County Election Commission, which will certify names as registered Davidson County voters, bringing the referendum closer to sharing the city’s August 2027 ballot with the next Metro Council and mayoral elections. 

Young canvassers with clipboards collecting signatures were fixtures in the summer heat at places like Centennial Park, Shelby Bottoms and 12South, hoping to cross a mandated threshold of 10 percent of active registered voters in Davidson County. Consultants estimated that number to be around 41,000. At times, they came in direct contact with opponents, producing a slew of legal reports and ethics complaints. The anti-racing campaign even filed orders of protection against a consultant with the Calvert Street Group retained by NASCAR operators Speedway Motorsports Inc.

Election officials now have 30 days to certify signatures. Pending certification, voters can expect even more fairgrounds campaigning throughout 2027.