This 440-acre motorsports complex includes a racetrack, go-kart course, meeting space, garages and more. | Putnam County
Published on November 19, 2025 at 5:19 pm
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Putnam County officials have approved zoning changes that would allow a 440-acre motorsports complex to be developed next to the Palatka Municipal Airport.
The first laps could be run in a few years, according to the NASCAR and Trans-Am racing driver who is spearheading the plan with his father, a retired professional racer.
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Putnam County native Scott Lagasse Sr. and his son, Scott Lagasse Jr., plan a multiturn racetrack for cars, a smaller one for go-karts, and meeting facilities and even a hotel.
The Putnam County Commision approved the zoning changes Tuesday. The state approved the final development plan this week. Now the first phase is to design the actual racetrack.
With county and state approval done so quickly, Lagasse says the groundbreaking on the first phase — for what he calls a “world-class” racetrack — should be in the first quarter of next year. Total cost: about $200 million over 10 years, he said.
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“There’s been so much positivity around it, and we have ended up with so many people stepping up and want to help the project that we have expedited it,” Lagasse Jr. said. “We have the team second to none, head down, making everything happen — all the back end stuff. We have got lawyers upon lawyer and all that stuff done as of yesterday.”
Motorsports in Northeast Florida
Northeast Florida does not have many racetrack facilities outside of the Florida International Rally and Motorsport Park in Keystone Heights, which has a paved track and a rally driver’s course next to the Keystone Heights airport.
There is Callahan Speedway’s go-kart and motorcycle track and Jacksonville International Raceway’s dirt oval on U.S. 301 in Maxville. But other private racetracks proposed in recent years, including one in North Jacksonville, never came to fruition.
The Lagasse’s racetrack property comprises 12 parcels of agricultural land just west of Palatka Municipal Airport, bounded by Reid Street and County Road 309C.
The father and son have dreamed of building it for about 15 years. They began aggressively pursuing the plan about two years ago, as Scott Lagasse Jr. wound down his racing career to join his father’s race car driver training program with General Motors,
“He went full force on doing this project. Let’s call it a long-term dream that became more of a reality, the focus becoming more of a priority,” Lagasse Jr. said. “Neither of us wanted to travel anymore, but yet the race program and training all these young kids, and some older gentlemen drivers, has ramped up. It’s the ability for us to stay closer to home and train.”
Along with the racetrack, garages are planned to handle race car storage and maintenance. A clubhouse and a museum also are in the plans, plus office and meeting rooms and an RV campground.
Plans also include specialized storage for car owners, plus that go-kart track in the northwest corner.
The track would be used for driver training, including a defensive driving course for teens as well as high-performance track days for racing drivers and safety courses for police and firefighters. And there would be room to hold music festivals, car shows and other events, plus meeting facilities and the hotel.
The Palatka site
Lagasse’s father picked the Palatka site, saying it seemed perfect for a motorsports complex after they looked at another place. His son said he initially thought his father’s site selection “was crazy,” until he realized that it has a perfect location to be successful. Most importantly, this location will not disturb any neighbors, he said.
“It’s got gun ranges, an airport. It’s got industrial, yet it’s five minutes from anything you would ever want,” he said. “It is extremely unique in that regard. We are putting something that is quieter than everything else around it, which is a very big concern on everybody’s part.”
The Putnam County Planning Commission first heard the rezoning proposals Aug. 13. There was a mix of support and opposition.
Ed Reid lives next to the proposed racetrack site. He said Putnam County residents have the right to determine what they want to do with this property, and he supports the racetrack.
“Nobody in this room is more affected by this project than my family and me,” Reid said. “Our property borders this land. I support our local lifetime resident, and my entire family supports Mr. Lagasse and this project.”
But Denny Branham, a Palatka resident, told the planning commission he opposes the development because he doubts the county will “reap a lot of benefit.”
“I just don’t believe that this is the right step, or thing to do with this property,” Branham said.
Carl Denhard, who lives about a mile away, is worried the track development will lead to urban sprawl.
“We want to avoid that,” he said. “This is what we try to avoid within our comp plan. You are opening up an area to the west of this, all agriculture-related land.”
After planning commission approval, the county commission held its first review Sept. 23. Lagasse attorney Charlie Douglas said the county stands at “a pivotal moment.”
“A chance to embrace a project that will not only bring jobs and investment, but will also shape the future of our community for generations to come,” Douglas told the county commission. “The motorsports complex before you is more than just a racetrack. It is a driver training facility, an economic engine and a community investment all rolled into one.”
