FIFE LAKE — Stephen Batzer is a hero to some, a villain to others.
The Fife Lake resident recently purchased the Cherry Raceway from Roger Steig and announced he will shut it down.
That brought celebration from some neighbors surrounding the track on M-113 and derision from local race car drivers and fans who populated the venue on Fridays throughout the summer.
"I'm going to close the track to the public and keep it as private property and use it some for my engineering business," said Batzer, a 52-year-old Traverse City native who returned to the area in 2013 when he purchased a parcel of land not far from the speedway.
"None of the neighbors appreciate the noise," he said. "It was loud. People as far away as Buckley have told us how they can hear the track."
Steig is upset the racetrack is being closed. He thought through the sale process that the intention was to keep it open.
Steig said he was approached by Reed City lawyer James Talaske with Batzer's anonymous and unsolicited offer.
"He said a client of his was interested in buying a cash business," said Steig. "We certainly thought the guy's intentions were for going forward with the track."
The final sale of the 40-acre property included a five-year non-compete clause stating Steig couldn't run another racetrack within a 100-mile radius of Fife Lake and a one-year consulting agreement, which Batzer said in part entails helping estimate value of the track's equipment that he plans to sell.
Batzer said keeping the track open was not part of the deal.
"That was never asked," Batzer said. "There was nothing in the agreement except for taking over the business and assets."
Batzer, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and former adjunct professor at the University of Arkansas, bought 14.6 acres just north of the track in 2013 and said he knew the venue was there at that time. His company, Batzer Engineering, does forensic engineering and vehicle testing.
In between Batzer's property and the track — which opened in 1979 — is a 10-acre parcel owned by Karol Kroupa, who lived there prior to the track's opening.
"I'm glad it's gone and I have my peace and quiet back," Kroupa said. "I thank my neighbor.
"I know (the racers) enjoyed it, and I tried to think of it as one night a week I had to put up with it. That's what I did. But I'm not sad (it's gone)."
Cherry Raceway's website has already been taken down and the front gates are chained shut.
Onaway Speedway officials announced on their Facebook page Wednesday that it would not open for the 2016 season while improvements to the track are being completed.
The closures in Fife Lake and Onaway leave Merritt Speedway between Lake City and Houghton Lake and Northern Michigan Speedway in Elmira as the only area tracks for next season. Merritt Speedway is a dirt track like Cherry Raceway, while Northern Michigan Speedway is paved.
"I'm really upset," said Alex Beeman, a Cadillac resident who has raced at Cherry Raceway since 1990. "It's just a bad deal for all the racers, the fans, the local economy."
Beeman stopped racing several years ago, but his daughters Autumn, 17, and Amber, 15, are competitors there. Autumn Beeman became the first female to win a feature race there, taking the Late Model class at age 16.
"I've got 25 years of every Friday night there, basically," Beeman said. "It's what we did as a family — and now that's gone."
Steig won multiple Michigan modified championships at Cherry Raceway, and then purchased it from James Coil in 2010 for $185,000 in order to keep it open. Both Steig and Batzer declined to reveal the purchase price.
Steig said the first time he met Batzer was at the sale closing on Christmas Eve. Steig said he went to the title office the next business day to see if he could contest the purchase — once he learned of the plans to shut it down — but was told it was final once the papers were signed and funds accepted.
"In a nutshell — and I don't care what Batzer or his attorney says — what happened is he built a new home close to the racetrack recently and he didn't want the racetrack running," Steig said.
Steig said Cherry Raceway averaged around 1,200 spectators on Fridays — a number which tripled since 2010 — plus around 300 racers and pit-crew members and 35-40 part-time employees.
"You couldn't talk when you were standing outside," Kroupa said. "I live maybe 100 feet away, and it was awfully noisy. You could hear it on Fife Lake, sitting on the lake. ... And when they run those mini mods, it was terrible. They just scream."
Steig, 62, owns a trucking company in Reed City and coaches varsity softball and wrestling at Reed City High School. He said approaching retirement age and his children graduating from college led to him considering the offer.
"I wasn't opposed to selling it," Steig said. "I just feel bad about the hands it fell into."
