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A Corvette driver weaves around cones during a 2011 autocross event outside Verizon Amphitheatre in Pelham. (File photo)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Twickenham Auto Club may have held its last race at Huntsville's John Hunt Park.

Tim Brewer, the club's president, said the city recently told the group there would be no more autocross events in the park after Dec. 31.

Twickenham Auto Club and the Sports Car Club of America Tennessee Valley chapter have raced on John Hunt Park's abandoned airport runways since the early 1970s. The 378-acre park south of downtown was the site of Huntsville's first airport.

Huntsville recently launched a multi-year, $100 million project to transform the scruffy property into the Rocket City's version of New York's Central Park. Much of the initial work involves planting trees and yanking up the old runways.

Losing their longtime racing venue is "a little sad" for Twickenham Auto Club's 50 or so members, Brewer told AL.com Thursday. "We've had a lot of great memories there."

Brewer said Huntsville City Schools has agreed to let the club hold a trial event next month in the Milton Frank Stadium parking lot. If the tires don't scuff up the asphalt too much, he said, the Brahan Spring Park facility could become the club's new home track.

"But if we lose Milton Frank, we're kind of in trouble," said Brewer. "We're going to have to hit up the few other sites around Huntsville that we know are big enough. Otherwise, it's going to be a lot of driving to (autocross events in) Birmingham and Chattanooga and Nashville."

City Administrator John Hamilton said Huntsville is aware of the auto club's plight and may be willing to make John Hunt Park available again for a limited time if Milton Frank Stadium is ruled out. It will probably be several months before the city is ready to dig up the section of runway used by the club, he said.

Brewer said Twickenham Auto Club typically hosts 12-14 races a year for auto enthusiasts. Drivers weave through and around gates and cones in a battle against the clock. The average speed is 35-40 miles per hour, he said.