Immokalee Airport

Bill Beattie, a Naples police officer and president of the Southwest Florida Timing Association, got tentative permission from the Collier County commissioners in July 1976 to race on the airport taxiway. Meeting all the commissioners’ conditions, including FAA approval, took a year. The first race ran on Sunday, June 5, sponsored by the Collier County Fraternal Order of Police and the timing association, with $3 admission for spectators and $5 for racers. About 30 racers and even more spectator cars showed up, with gas, modified and stock classes, but rain stopped it before the final eliminations. The plan was to race every other Sunday, though at first that didn’t happen. Trophies and cash were awarded on June 19, more races ran July 10 and August 7, and the association bought $2,000 of new timing equipment for Labor Day. In ten weeks the track grossed $13,700. Then the FAA said the airport couldn’t be shut three times a month for racing. Someone proposed that the county build a strip north of the airport, but the commissioners balked at the $110,000 cost and said they might lease the land if the timing association wanted to build it. That ended racing at the airport after one year.