Let’s be clear: What Bremerton Motorsports Park envisions building on 200 acres of land belonging to the Port of

Bremerton in no way resembles the NASCAR track with which the region had a brief but ill-fated flirtation a few years ago.

For those of us who supported the track concept, that’s a disappointment. And for those who opposed NASCAR and were successful in orchestrating the former project’s demise, it’s a good reason not to oppose the new proposal on principle alone.

BMP, which already stages drag races on an unused Bremerton National Airport runway owned by the port, last week requested an extension of its lease with an eye toward developing a multi-use facility suitable for Go Karts, motorcycles and BMX racers.

Again, it may not be the sort of thing that could attract hundreds of thousands of free-spending tourists to South Kitsap or spawn a lot of support business, but it would serve as a valuable recreational outlet — if only for those already living here.

More to the point, even if BMP was only paying a modest amount of rent, it’s still more than the port is currently collecting on the property.

Fred Salisbury, the port’s director of airport facilities and a critic of BMP’s proposal, argues that, once the land is turned into a series of race tracks, its value as an airport is gone forever.

If true, that’s a legitimate concern, one the port commissioners should take into account.

But if the port has other — more profitable — plans for the airport, they’re not currently in evidence.

We’ve held out hope for years, for example, that commuter or air cargo service would flourish at the facility, but for one reason or another it’s never happened.

Maybe it still could, but in the meantime how could it hurt to utilize land that isn’t even being used to develop something that’s fun and promises at least a minimal financial reward?