Proper drafting is important on the racetrack and in government documents. That's a lesson learned at a Charter Revision Commission meeting on Friday by NASCAR opponents who fought through another setback in the ongoing effort to write Fairgrounds Nashville racing out of the city charter.
In its place, a proposed charter revision would add affordable housing as a required activity at the complex, which currently includes a newly renovated expo center, Nashville SC's Geodis Park, the mixed-use development 445 Park Commons, and a deteriorating speedway used for weekend auto sports. A court challenge from retired race car driver Neil Chaffin forced petitioners to submit a second draft that more clearly explains the referendum’s purpose. Delayed by the lawfare, NASCAR opponents must now observe another 30-day window for any more appeals. Assuming no further delays, the referendum campaign will then race to gather some 50,000 signatures to qualify the charter amendment for the Nov. 3 ballot.
Former race car driver Neil Chaffin’s partial legal victory delays a looming charter referendum to ban fairgrounds auto racing
“Today, I’m here as a citizen,” said state Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville), who lives nearby and served on the Fair Commissioners Board under former Mayor Karl Dean. “This has been a financial drain on the fairgrounds, and the taxpayers, and a nuisance to surrounding neighborhoods for years. For decades, actually. Wherever you are on this issue, I think we can all agree with the concept of letting voters decide complex issues.”
Before anyone can touch the city’s foundational legal document — basically Nashville’s constitution, but with many more specifics that hardwire the Metro government — proposed alterations must be approved by the seven-member Charter Revision Commission. The body, which met Friday, vets language on criteria like ambiguity, legal compliance or a confusing or misleading title. On Friday, for the second time this spring, the commission approved the anti-racing effort.
Billionaire money, paid consultants and organized neighbors have been locked in an ongoing power struggle for the future of the racetrack for years. The saga briefly crested under former Mayor John Cooper, who came to the Metro Council in 2023 with a deal to lease the track to NASCAR operator Speedway Motorsports — before hitting scheduling and procedural obstacles. No new deal has surfaced during Mayor Freddie O'Connell's administration.
Neighbors, lobbyists, politicians and corporate interests duke it out over racing at the fairgrounds
Fifteen years ago, supporters put auto racing into the charter as a required fairgrounds activity. They mustered a strong show of support in summer 2011 and scored a referendum victory, harnessing widespread local backlash against a rapidly changing city. Campaign strategist Darden Copeland helped legally codify the effort; he returned to the arena Friday to contest opponents’ charter counterpunch.
“This is a very specific land-use decision,” Copeland told commissioners Friday. “These guys are asking you to pick winners and losers in a power struggle over a sandbox.”
Later in the meeting, commissioner Jim Murphy sidetracked to put Copeland’s comment into context.
“Mr. Copeland said, ‘This is a fight in a sandbox,’ and I would agree with that,” said Murphy. “But you admitted, in this meeting, that you started the fight when you passed the amendment to add this stuff in the charter sixteen or seventeen years ago. That’s where it started. The problem when you put something in by petition is that someone else can try to take it out.”
