http://www.showmenews.com/2007/Dec/20071217News004.asp 
Local developers plan to begin work soon on a $45 million project that will bring a paved race-car track, a motocross dirt track, a drag-racing strip, industrial and RV parks and a 7,500-seat coliseum to Mid-Missouri over the next several years.
The project will be headed by the Junction Development Group, which includes partners Carl Edwards Sr. and Dave Babel. Edwards said his son, Carl Edwards Jr., has sent a letter of interest expressing his desire to be involved in promoting the project.
The development will sit on 440 acres along Highway 63 in Randolph County just north of the Boone County line, a site now occupied by the defunct Colliers Junction restaurant and gas station. "It’s really just been a diamond in the rough sitting up there," partner Robert Stone said of the property. The group said it has either purchased or has contracts in motion for all needed tracts.
The project’s aim is to generate jobs and revenue for Boone and Randolph counties, as well as to make Mid-Missouri a destination for racing and horse shows.
The southern tip of the property is at Highway 63 and Highway 22, and the first project will be to clean up the old gas station and build a travel center that includes diesel fueling stations, tire repair, showers, a convenience store and a restaurant.
Although the group does not have a firm timetable for the project, Stone said it would like to start work on the travel center this coming spring or summer and work northward, adding over time the coliseum, racetracks and industrial park.
The developers said they think the project will be successful because the mid-size racing and horse show markets are not being tapped in Mid-Missouri. "I didn’t realize how big Missouri is into the horse industry," Carl Edwards Sr. said. "These horse shows are humongous."
Stone said he expects the coliseum to be wired for audio and video and that the horse events will be large enough to be televised.
Partner Tony Stuart said he thinks the racetracks will also be a big draw. Stone said Mid-Missouri teens and adults who race cars and go-karts now go elsewhere to race. "Carl and I have sons about the same age, and we drive all the way to Illinois to race," Stuart said. "And I’m amazed at all the people who come to this dirt track. … It’s a fun family sport. My son and daughter are involved, and it’s a family-oriented type of thing."
Stuart said multiday racing events encourage people to stay in hotels, eat at restaurants and shop at retail stores, all of which are planned for the project. It also includes an RV park for those traveling to the events.
The coliseum will be a 6-acre building, Stone said, and the floor will be dirt that can be rolled smooth for events like trade shows or concerts, but it also will be suitable for horse events or indoor racing events.
The developers said they’ve already discussed the project with the Randolph County Commission and economic development groups.
"It would be an interesting project, but a lot of things have to fall into place," said Russell Runge, president of the Moberly Area Economic Development Corp. "But it seems like they are wanting to concentrate on bringing folks into the area. That can really help us out with new revenue, tax dollars and jobs. That way we wouldn’t be stealing them from another location, but creating something new and different."
