With Florida’s Republican gubernatorial primary entering its final stretch, an issue rarely heard on the campaign trail has found its way into the political conversation: motorsports.
Republican candidate James Fishback has increasingly made protecting Florida’s racetracks and racing culture part of his campaign message. The conversation gained momentum after racer, entrepreneur and content creator Cleetus McFarland hosted Fishback on his Bald Eagles podcast, putting a candidate for Florida’s highest office directly in front of a massive audience of racers and automotive enthusiasts.
But Fishback didn’t stop with McFarland.
He has since tapped into Florida’s broader racing community, including South Florida, where the loss of Palm Beach International Raceway, known for decades as Moroso Motorsports Park, remains deeply personal to racers and fans. Fishback has publicly declared that he is fighting to preserve Florida’s racetracks and racing heritage, saying his goal as governor would include defending tracks and keeping racing alive in Florida.
“Every day I get another message about it, DM after DM, email after email,” Fishback said. “Floridians love their racing heritage and they’re watching it slip away. That matters to me, and it should matter to all of us.”
For Madelyn Zaron, who has spent years leading efforts within the South Florida racing community and advocating for the preservation of the former Moroso Motorsports Park, seeing racing enter a statewide political race is significant.
“I’m not surprised that motorsports has become a talking point in a race as big as the Republican primary for governor,” Zaron said. “Florida is unique. We are incredibly passionate about the things that are part of our identity, and for hundreds of thousands of Floridians, racing is one of them.”
“I fully support candidate James Fishback for being willing to go beyond simply acknowledging our community and actually talk about the devastating loss of an iconic facility like Moroso Motorsports Park and present a vision for preserving racetracks across Florida,” Zaron continued. “No other candidate in this race has mentioned, and then continued to emphasize, the need to preserve South Florida’s motorsports heritage quite like James Fishback has.”
With racetracks disappearing under development pressure across Florida and the country, Fishback has helped move an issue traditionally outside mainstream politics into the gubernatorial conversation.
For Florida’s racing community, that alone represents something significant: motorsports has a seat at the table.
