Post-Race Concert at Brainerd International Raceway Prompts Noise Complaints

Some Crow Wing County residents have raised complaints about noise levels from recent events at the Brainerd International Raceway.

BIR is a go-to destination for many events in the area, and the last event at the track was MAP Proving Grounds, where a post-race concert was held. The concert started in the late hours of the night and went into the early hours of the next day, leaving some residents living as far as two miles away from the track disturbed by the noise.

Residents requested that a change be made a recent Crow Wing County Board meeting, where Sheriff Scott Goddard discussed the issue.

“This MAP races that was happening this last weekend was one of the bigger races for the younger racing crowd, i.e. why the bass and the big thumping and everything else for the radios and the bands was so loud,” explained Goddard. “My follow-up, that I can do and I will do, is work with Kristi [Copham, BIR owner], I’ll make a phone call yet today, and advise her that our ask is to ensure that the midnight is the time of when the loud music [ends].”

However, state law says that any racetrack built before 1976 is exempted from the state’s noise standards, which leaves the county with very few options on how to resolve the situation.