Corporate clients using the track for taxing, such as Bridgestone and small businesses, are apt a profitable venture for Chouest-owned NOLA Motorsports Park.
In print: Saturday, Possibly will 31, 2014 at 6:16 p.m. Last Modified: Saturday, Possibly will 31, 2014 at 6:16 p.m.
In its following year of operations, Laney Chouests $70 million dash track is starting to beckon state attention.
With the announcement last month of a 2015 Indy Car dash, NOLA Motorsports Park in Avondale took hold of ambitions not simply of profitability nevertheless of apt an economic driver for the region.
Just above a year ago, Houma tenant Kirsten Engeron took the reigns of the fledgling speedway. A former financial consultant, Engeron was brought on enter to bring financial viability to Chouests dream undertaking.
It was subsequently a spontaneous encounter at Jazz Fest that Chouest, an owner of Graze Off based-Edison Chouest Offshore, recruited Orgeron to take control at the park.
I mulled it above for all but two months. It was a big stair for me, Engeron said. When Laney painted the vision that he had for the park to me and the type of impact that he wanted to render for the state, I said when am I going to have a chance like that in my existence.
With fresh eyes and a financial insight that transcends skid marks and open straightaways, Engeron has gone all but opening up up-to-the-minute avenues for the park. She said that one of her first big moves was reconfiguring the advertising budget to render further of a regional impact, bringing Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes into the fold.
Utilizing the booming assets at the park has been Engerons answer focus in her first year. Last fall the park hosted the Rotax GoKart World Finals.
In addition to portion as a playground for GoKart enthusiasts and the rich and illustrious with high performance cars thirsting for sanitary, flatten pavement the motorsports park has evolved into a destination for business procedures and corporate demonstrations.
Last month Bridgestone Tires on loan the facility for a four-day show of a newly released run-flat weary. In October Lexus used the track to divulge two up-to-the-minute prototypes to the world.
If the sound and feel of different tires is washed outmoded on the shattered and pockmarked trails of south Louisiana, it is crystal clear on NOLAs thick black tarmac.
Not simply are we a dash track, nevertheless we are an procedures facility, and thats where we comprehend all but 50 percent of our business, Engeron said.
The centerpiece of the complex is a 32,000-square-foot clubhouse.
A dash modified Ferrari sits on the carpeted bewilder. Glass windows facing the main track stand opposite to two rotund examine bars.
As we have that facility and as its located unequivocally on the track, it makes that corporate outcome client a bigger part of our business, Engeron said.
Movie location scouts have in addition graced the park in recent months and diplomacy for a in close proximity housing development are in the workings.
Between now and 2015, Engeron is focused on preparing for the Indy Car outcome. She said the track is 90 percent up to Indy Car standards, nevertheless toil is planned to enhance the difficulty of the dash course and set up spectator areas for a projected 50,000 attendees.
It is simply the then in a series of steps Engeron hopes preference create incredible that the Up-to-the-minute Orleans region has long yearned for, a world-class racing and automotive sports facility.
Everybody told Dr. Chouest that you cant erect a racetrack in a swamp and he did, Engeron said. For us, we refer to it as long term as there is this amazing facility that changes the game for Up-to-the-minute Orleans and the state.
