Langley let down

It has been pointed out that a lot of misinformation has been put out by opponents to the reopening of Langley Speedway. Like that it was not popular when it closed.

Really it's amazing how well it was still doing considering the one and two year leases it had to operate with after 1979 through to the end of 1984.

Here's a 1984 story on Langley.

The key line, for me anyway, is: The stocks have raced at Action Raceway (former Langley Speedway) in south Langley since 1965. It gets tougher each summer. For several years now, the Greater Vancouver Regional District threatens not to renew Action Raceway's one-year lease on the land in Campbell Valley Park. Track officials talk of an all-purpose racing site to accommodate the doomed sports car drivers (Westwood in Coquitlam closes next year), the homeless dragsters (Mission shut down fives years ago) and the edgy stock car enthusiasts. But politicians ears are deaf on the subject. There's no percentage in special interest groups especially ones as noisy as the stockers. So racing spectators tend to treat each race as the drivers do: as if it were their last.

(So Westwood lasted a bit longer than 1985 and Mission finally reopened as a drag strip along with accommodating the sports cars. But Langley was left swinging in the wind.)