Lewis County community members have watched a local racetrack sit dormant for the past two years, hurting race fans and local businesses alike. But as our Amanda Kelley tells us, talks to re-open the Adirondack International Speedway are underway and many are hopeful racing will return to the small town of New Bremen once again.

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NEW BREMEN, N.Y. – It’s been two years since this track has seen a checkered flag or fans cheering on their favorite drivers. The Adirondack International Speedway shut down its operations after the 2009 season as they faced financial strains.

Adirondack International Speedway Owner Paul Lyndaker said, "Really the attendance and the excitement was always great. It was just hard to deal with the other. I was going to go broke actually."

Town of New Bremen Supervisor Peter Keys said, "There was a lot of people that were there on a regular basis watching that. It was a draw for Saturday night. During the campaign season, that was a hot topic in the Town of New Bremen."

Community members packed the New Bremen Fire Hall Monday night hoping to revive the track and began talking about its future in Lewis County.

Keys said, "Some of the things we're trying to deal with here is can we come to some sort of an agreement, taxes, assessment, profitability, making this an economically viable environment for him to function."

Taxes on the speedway were the highest across the state, higher than the track at Saratoga or even nearby Can-Am and Thunder Alley Speedway. Something many business owners in the community would support lowering.

"If you value it a little lower, so be it. It is an asset, it is an asset to the community," one business owner said.

NASCAR has also expressed interest in writing to bring racing back to AIS as soon as this year. But getting the right economic environment will require the county, town and school boards to all reach agreements with the speedway.

Keys said, "You make a trade off. Do you want a little bit or do you want nothing. That's the other option I guess"

But race fans and owners alike say these meetings are the beginnings of a brighter future.

Lyndaker said, "Communication is always great. Lack of communication is detrimental, so we're putting it out there, talking about it, we're looking towards opening up again. The county could use it, the North Country could use it. It's a positive any way you look at it."

Speedway owners are also hopeful that the speedway would be able to host other community events if re-opened. Several more community meetings will be held to discuss the speedways future, those dates have yet to be announced.