The 141 Speedway in Maribel is fighting back against new rules and regulations imposed by Manitowoc County over parking, camping, hours of operation and more.

Back in 2011, the county gave the speedway a conditional use permit that designated the terms of operation for the business.

“They had a conditional use permit going back to 2011, and they were having trouble living up to it ,” Bob Ziegelbauer, the Manitowoc County Executive, said. “The conflicts are things you would expect: noise, operating how many times a week, the lateness of the races.”

That led the county to update the permit and change some of the rules last month.

Some of the neighbors who live near the track recently complained to the county about the operation’s noise and hours.

The attorney representing the three owners of the 141 Speedway says that the business used to rent land from the neighbors and used it as accessory parking.

Then, the owners bought more land across the street from the track, and stopped leasing from the neighbors.

“They had leased the land from the neighbors, and the neighbors, after we acquired our land, two of the neighbors had complained oddly enough about the activities at the track,” Steve Frassetto, an attorney with Menn Law Firm in Appleton, explained.

The county doesn’t want the speedway to use that land for parking, however.

Fans heading to the track would have to cross over County Road R, and Ziegelbauer doesn’t believe that’s safe.

“We can’t be having people crossing in the dark on that street, that would lead to tragedy,” Ziegelbauer said over the phone to a person calling to complain about the speedway’s new conditional use permit.

Frassetto countered the road-crossing issue by arguing the speedway has a clean record with no incidents of fans getting hurt while walking over.

“Never had issues with any accidents, any injuries from pedestrians crossing,” Frassetto said. “They provided a staff to assist people in crossing the road.”

The 141 Speedway also lost their camping permit for fans to stay on the grounds overnight, and Frassetto said they weren’t given a reason why.

Frassetto says he will file an appeal next week.

The season opener at the 141 Speedway is April 15th.