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EDINBURG — A once-active participant of events at the Edinburg Motorsports Park is raising alarming concerns over driver and spectator safety at the popular track.
Luis Arévalo, whose family has often participated in races at the high octane track since the 1990s, said he’s concerned that officials who operate the track — and with the city of Edinburg — aren’t doing enough to address potentially deadly hazards at the track.
A retired first responder, Arévalo said he felt compelled to pull his sponsorships from the track after bringing his concerns to its operator’s attention to no avail.
“My concern is, basically, personal, and I’m gonna say it’s just safety. They’re not safe,” Arévalo told The Monitor.
Arévalo said his concerns center around allegedly subpar preparations for emergency response at the track.
He pointed to a recent incident where a young driver’s souped-up car flew down the track so fast that air got caught underneath the vehicle, sending it flying. When the car came back down to earth, the high octane fuel it carried erupted into flames which quickly engulfed the entire vehicle.
In a video of the crash posted to social media, spectators can be seen running toward the vehicle while yelling for help. It ultimately fell to those same bystanders to check on the driver and put out the conflagration with a handful of fire extinguishers.
The driver escaped with no injuries thanks to how well retrofitted the vehicle had been with a roll cage and other race gear, Arévalo, who was one of the bystanders who helped put the flames out that night, said.
However, it took half an hour for firefighters to respond to the track, which lies on the same property as the South Texas International Airport, the city-owned airport located 9 miles north of town.
During the same event, Arévalo alleges that another man went into cardiac arrest and, again, was forced to wait at least 30 minutes before receiving emergency transportation to a hospital.
The man survived.
But that incident illustrates another of Arévalo’s concerns. The race track’s operators allegedly do not maintain sufficient equipment or staffing to respond to emergency medical situations, he said.
“That guy collapsed, hit his head on the guardrail,” Arévalo said.
But the one medic on scene had no “backboard, no C-collar” to use during his ministrations on the patient, Arévalo said.
Arévalo also expressed concern over how the facility stores and sells the specialized fuel that racers use to blast down the straightaway at speeds in excess of 200 mph.
While most car owners are accustomed to seeing unleaded fuel come in three octane options — ranging between 87 and 93 — at the average roadside gas station, racers at the Edinburg track often opt for the specialized racing fuel sold there.
Arévalo said it can be as high as 120 octane, making it much more flammable and explosive, and requiring specialized handling.
The retired first responder claims the track may be improperly storing and selling the fuel.
It was the cumulative weight of these concerns that prompted Arévalo to pull a financial sponsorship from the race track and its operators.
Since then, his relationship with the operators, who go by the same name as the track, Edinburg Motorsports Park, has become decidedly frosty.
“We had a little mishap at the track and I got my attorney involved,” Arévalo said, referring to a verbal altercation that occurred between himself, his wife and one of the track operators.
Edinburg Motorsports Park did not return a message seeking comment for this story.
But the city has responded to Arévalo’s allegations.
In a statement issued Friday, July 19, the city clarified that though it owns the race track property, it does not operate the facility. The city also acknowledged that some concerns have been brought to its attention.
“Recently, a private citizen who is in a legal dispute with the operator alleged certain safety concerns regarding the facility,” the statement reads.
“Although the operator and the citizen are in a private legal dispute, the City takes safety allegations seriously and is actively reviewing them. We are committed to proactively ensuring that all valid safety concerns on City-owned property are addressed promptly and effectively,” it further reads.
Speaking after a city council meeting Tuesday night, July 16, Edinburg Mayor Ramiro Garza Jr. at first downplayed questions from The Monitor about a potential investigation into safety concerns at the track.
“I don’t know if I’d call it an investigation, I mean, ‘cause it’s not. It’s really us looking into some of the things that were brought up to city staff and I know they’re looking into it,” Garza said then.
But on Friday, the mayor echoed the city’s official statement regarding a potential legal conflict between Arévalo and the track’s operator.
If a legal dispute exists between Arévalo and the track operators it has not yet risen to the level of a lawsuit being filed. A search of Hidalgo County court records show no litigation between the two sides currently exists.
Regardless of who or why someone is sharing a concern, Garza assured that the city takes safety seriously.
“We’re working with the operator to make sure that if there are any safety issues that they are addressed,” Garza said.
For his part, Arévalo said he only got an attorney involved after what he claims is retaliation for bringing up his concerns in the first place.
Arévalo says one of the track operators, Rey Chavez, banned him from the facility once Arévalo pulled his sponsorship — worth north of $12,000 — unless the operator did something to “fix the track.”
Arévalo said his attorney reached out to “their attorney,” as well as Garza and City Manager Myra Ayala, but only to inform them that he is representing Arévalo, not because Arévalo has any intentions for a lawsuit.
“I’m not coming here to get the track shut down … I’m coming here so you guys know what’s going on. I have merit. I have proof it’s being done,” Arévalo said.
He’s also had several sit down sessions with city leaders over the past several months to explain the nature of his concerns and press Edinburg to address them before someone gets hurt.
“I’ve been in this medical industry for … 25 years, and I’ve seen how fast someone can bleed to death, I’ve seen how someone can burn to death, I’ve seen where burning cars where we can’t extricate the victim and they burn alive,” Arévalo said.
“That’s the attitude of ‘no pasa nada,’ and that’s the attitude that he has,” Arévalo said, referring to the race track operators.
“Haz que no pasa algo, that’s when the city is going to act,” he said, meaning that until something happens, that’s when the city will act.
Editor’s note: This story was originally published Friday, July 19, 2024.
