Scribner race track damaged by fire

Scribner race track damaged by fire
By Lee Enterprises

Two buildings at the closed Nebraska Motorplex in Scribner burned down
Monday under what authorities consider suspicious circumstances.

Two investigators from the Nebraska Fire Marshal's office were
investigating it as possible arson.

Scribner Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ken Thomas said firefighters
were called to the Motorplex at about 12:45 a.m. after a neighbor
reported a large fire.

Owner Greg Sanford closed the raceway after the 2005 season.

When firefighters arrived, the raceway tower was two-thirds involved
in flames, Thomas said. A concessions and bathroom building 400 to 500
yards away was completely engulfed in flames, he said.

"That alone (the distance between the two fires) was suspicious enough
for me to call out the fire marshal," Thomas said.

Both buildings were destroyed and initial estimates put the loss at
about $150,000.

Sanford said he is trying to figure out who would do such a thing.

"We went up there Saturday and somebody had broken in," he said.
"There was a license plate left on the ground."

He had no further comment.

Dodge County Sheriff Dan Weddle said his office had not been called to
investigate a break-in.

Sanford closed the Motorplex after he couldn't get funding for a paved
road to the drag strip.

Sanford has proposed building a drag strip north of Lincoln along U.S.
77. The Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Commission held a hearing on
the application Wednesday but did not vote on it.