Jerry Douglas hopes to build a “top end motor course race track” on 300 acres north of Marshfield’s sewer treatment plant on the west side of Interstate 44.

Douglas has professional and personal reasons for developing Mid-Continent Motorsports Park, a project that he calls his field of dreams.

"Me and a lot of other racers in this area travel long distances,” he said. "I recognized the need for a track in this area. Geographically, it's perfect.

"We have Lake of the Ozarks; we have Table Rock Lake; we have Branson; we have Bass Pro Shops -- all these attractions that make this a destination,” he said.

Marshfield City Administrator Dan McMillan beams when he talks about the plan.

"The three rules to what they were looking for is location, location, location, and that particular piece of land has all those three rules," said McMillan.

Tens of thousands of visitors each year would mean big changes. McMillan said the city is in talks with developers and the Missouri Department of Transportation to create a new interchange on Interstate 44 outside the park. City leaders also would like to annex the site. And the days of being a two-hotel town would be no more.

"That equates to jobs, tax base and sales tax, and I'm looking for all of it,” said McMillan.

That means the race to opening day should be just as fun to watch as the competition on the track.

"Several racers in the area I know are not sleeping a whole lot right now because of the enthusiasm and excitement about having a local track,” said Douglas.

The developers, who are all from southwest Missouri, say they expect to close the purchase of the property in the next 30 days. They hope to open sometime in 2009.
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Here's additional information on the plans, which are still in the design and feasibility study stages:

--Developers are Jerry Douglas of Ozark, Tish Dickson of Ozark and Chris Brannon of Mountain Home, Ark.

--The motorsports complex would be on 300+ acres and would have a 2.1-mile paved track that would "follow the natural contour of the land in order to preserve the natural beauty of the Ozarks. The objective is to bring a familiy friendly racing complex with an international flair to southwest Missouri."

--The developers hope to bring in professional road racing, including events such as Speed World Challenge, American Le Mans, Grand Am Cup and AMA motorcycle racing. They also foresee amateur SCCA regional and national races, NASA, vintage sports car racing, and individual maquee club events such as those of the Porsche Club of America, BMW Car Club of America, Corvette and Shelby clubs.