When Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit the US Virgin Islands in September 2017, leaving all kinds of damage in their wake, Arthur Hector Jr. feared the storms would deal a fatal blow to drag racing in the territory.
Fast-forward five years, and Hector is now counting down the minutes until the planned “soft opening” of the St. Croix Motorsports Complex takes place this weekend.
The St. Croix Motorsports Complex, a quarter-mile race track located near the Rohlsen Airport, will be available today to local racers for a “test and tune-up” session from 12:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. :00 pm On Sunday, the first paid races in more than five years will take place at the track.
“Yes, it has been a long, long road,” said Hector, president of the Caribbean Drag Racing Association since 2018 and a drag racer himself. “I didn’t think it would take so long; I was hoping that we could have done things faster. But with the processes we were going through and everything that was going on at the time, things didn’t materialize the way we hoped.”
Most of the damage suffered on St. Croix was due to Hurricane Maria, which was a Category 5 storm when it passed through the island on September 20. The Motorsports Complex was one of those, with its concession stands, grandstands, restrooms, control tower and offices all losing roofs and suffering structural damage.
To add insult to injury, the Motorsports Complex had two generators stolen after the storms, according to Hector. “They broke into the concession area and stole the generator the first time,” Hector said. “We relocated the other generator and they came in and stole that one. It had been donated to us by a local business owner.”
With all the damage and little to no resources available at the time of the rebuild, that left St. Croix racers wondering what to do next.
“I’m telling you, some people had taken their cars off the island,” Hector said. “There were some who moved their cars to Puerto Rico, some individuals had even gone to the mainland. [United States]. Some of them are still there on the mainland.
“People had pretty much stopped working on their cars because they probably thought we would never fix the track. But I thought that once we were allowed to rebuild, people would come back. I figured that would happen once they could see something happening.”
It took a little time, and a lot of funding, to see anything happen at the St. Croix Motorsports Complex.
Donations from private companies, for example, VIGL Operations pledged $100,000 and Home Depot provided materials to rebuild several buildings, according to Hector, got things started.
“That made us move forward,” Hector said. “And we’ve had some volunteers help us along the way, donating their time to help us get through some of the things we had to do.”
But it was the funding from the Virgin Islands government that really got the ball rolling.
In late February 2020, the 6th Legislature and Governor Albert Bryan Jr. approved $500,000 in funding for the first round of repairs to the Motorsports Complex; An additional $675,500 was approved in October 2021 for the second round of work.
The first round of work covered the resurfacing of the racetrack and runoff area, construction of Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant bleachers, and a new control tower with VIP seating. The second round funded the addition of a security wall, paving the road back from the race track, grading the race tracks, internal fencing, and repairs to restrooms and concession stands.
Now that the Motorsports Complex is almost back in action, team owners who have been waiting for racing to return are ready to hit the track again.
Due to the time that has elapsed since the last race, this weekend’s races will restrict drivers and teams to slower races, according to Hector.
“That will give them a chance to get their feet wet and get used to the new surface,” said Hector, who expects nearly two dozen teams, split evenly between cars and bikes, to take part in this weekend’s races.
“Everyone is excited about getting their vehicles out again so they can race. I have a race car myself, but I haven’t had time to work on my car because I was busy dealing with the track and getting it going.