By alley - Apr 12, 2016, 2:29 PM ET

INDYCAR: Hope dimmed for Nazareth

While Nazareth native Sage Karam and race fans have pleaded for the reopening of Nazareth Speedway, the track's sale to developer and turkey farmer David Jaindl has dimmed hopes for the return of a raceway that was the springboard to greatness for generations of Andrettis.

Jaindl, who confirmed on April 7 that he purchased the 157-acre property late last year, said that while he has no solid plans for the property, at least some of it will be used for farming. Northampton County assessment records show the speedway was officially purchased Nov. 13 by Raceway Properties LLC - the address for Jaindl Farms - from International Speedway Corp.'s subsidiary Pennsylvania International Raceway Inc.

When news of the sale broke, Karam made a plea on Twitter, saying "To the fellas who just bought Nazareth speedway can you please do the right thing and reopen the track. It's what Nazareth is known for."

IndyCar last raced at Nazareth in 2004.

"[Bringing the speedway back is] wishful thinking and I would support it 300 percent," Mario Andretti told the Lehigh Valley Express-Times in 2012. "People are passionate about it. There's an effort to try to get people energized through a lobby for it and maybe people want it, but that's a stretch. I wish it could be meaningful to some degree, where it would get some results. But, it takes more than that."

In the past year, Jaindl has announced plans to buy a former seminary in Lehigh Township and bought and restored Allentown soda company A-Treat. He

recently presented plans

for a land swap with nearby Upper Macungie Township that would allow development of a warehouse and apartment complex but could compromise 59 acres of open space preservation land owned by the township.