There’s a new tenant for the former Hobby Lobby space at Brittany Center at 21st and Woodlawn, and it’s about as opposite from a home and craft store as it can be.
Xtreme Racing & Entertainment is taking the 55,000-square-foot space.
“It really is a true racing experience,” says co-owner Jason Wright. “It’s go-carts on steroids, if you will.”
He already has an Xtreme Racing track – actually a double track – in Broken Arrow, Okla.
Due to structural posts at the Wichita location, it will have a single track, which Wright says probably will take an average of 28 seconds to lap.
The electric carts will be able to go up to 45 miles an hour.
“We’re really geared more towards adults than children,” Wright says.
There will be only 10 junior carts, and there will be no double riders. There’s also not a period where drivers can simply drive around the track. Everything is a race.
“We really want to be a destination environment for high-energy, high-adrenaline … true racing,” Wright says. “It will be a one-of-a-kind experience in Wichita.”
There will be video games, concessions and music at the business as well.
Wright says he chose Wichita in part because it’s close to Broken Arrow but also because the areas are so similar.
“There really is nothing to do outside of eating and drinking and the movies,” he says. “And the racing enthusiasm, I would say, in both areas is pretty high.”
The track will be asphalt, which Wright says sets his business apart from a lot of other indoor tracks.
“Most landlords won’t let you do that,” Wright says.
“We worked out a deal … to allow us to keep our model, which we really believe in,” he says. “You don’t get the fumes, the smells, the noise.”
Don Piros, Scott Harper and David Leyh of Landmark Commercial Real Estate handled the deal.
Wright hopes to open Xtreme Racing in late May.
He says customers will be able to buy single races or various package deals, and they’ll be good for either the Wichita or Broken Arrow locations.
“It’s just a fun place to go to do something different.”