ustxtxb_obs_1983_02_11_50_00001-00000_000.pdf

11111111111,111,1116 Dra w ing by Ke v in Krenec k TETpill SERVER February 11, 1983 A Journal of Free Voices 750 Sponsors riding AFDC idea HORSE-RACING LOBBY BETS A MILLION ON THE 68TH Austin AS YOU READ this, a real estate broker acting as a trustee for a group of investors is quietly negotiating for pieces of undeveloped Tarrant County property in and around the old Greater Southwest International Airport site between Fort Worth and Dallas. Who the broker is, who the investors are, and how far along the project is, Observer sources are unwilling to say, but if all goes as planned, at least a hundred acres will soon be in the group’s hands. And one day maybe one day soon a forty-million-dollar, fifty-thousand-seat horseracing palace will take its proud place on the North By Joe Holley Texas prairie within easy driving distance of some three million potential racetrack customers. It won’t be the only one. Millionaire oilman Jerry Putnam plans to build a $70 million track about two hours north of Dallas alongside Interstate 35, and tracks are planned for Houston and San Antonio as well. A smaller track will be built in the Rio Grande Valley. But first, of course, there is a little business to take care of in Austin. Though rejected in a preference primary five years ago, tabled by the Texas House by a 2-to-1 margin in 1982, and though its only success in 46 years came last