Lancaster County officials don’t have to worry about recording the sounds of racing dragsters — the first half of a two-pronged approach to understand how noise from a drag strip could affect the community.

It’s already been done.

Dr. Dominique Chéenne, an acoustics expert who has worked with county officials on motor sports issues, collected the sounds privately, said Scott Holmes, who heads the Lincoln-Lancaster County Environmental Health Division.

Officials had originally planned to stage races at the Lincoln airport and record audio with Holmes and others present. The recordings would then be played back over speakers from the site of a proposed drag strip.

Motor sports entrepreneur Greg Sanford has proposed a quarter-mile drag strip just east of Highway 77 between Branched Oak and Davey roads.

Holmes said he learned about the recordings Monday and was told the audio was collected sometime between Thursday and Sunday.

It was Thursday when county officials reported the plans to record at the airport had stalled. Deputy County Attorney Tom Fox told the County Board then the city attorney’s office had raised concerns about the safety of the health department officials present during the staged races.

Noise is just one of the things the County Board must consider with Sanford’s plan, and also for an amendment to the county’s zoning code that would allow for motor sports facilities in the county. A hearing for the amendment is scheduled for Tuesday, and a hearing for Sanford’s project is set for July 31.

Commissioners have said they wanted the testing completed to help them with both decisions, though they haven’t suggested they can’t make a decision without it.

Chéenne confirmed he did the recording Sunday.

He went ahead with collecting the sound of a single car on an open road somewhere in Lancaster County in the interest of keeping the process moving forward, he said. He plans to use that recording to simulate the sounds of two cars racing.

County officials did not know about the test until after the fact, said Chéenne, who isn’t under contract with the county and has been volunteering his time.

Holmes, meanwhile, said though he wasn’t involved, he has no reservations about the recording’s accuracy.

What happens next is up to Sanford, he said. The County Board has decided it won’t cover the costs of conducting tests on Sanford’s property, estimated at $3,000 or $4,000.

Sanford, meanwhile, said he has no intentions to pay for the testing officials have proposed.

He’s not against testing, he said, but it needs to be done correctly.

“I don’t want to fudge this sound testing,” he said. “I want to give people the very worst-case scenario they can imagine.”

His land for now is used for crops — not the typical set-up for a drag strip, Sanford said, adding that could skew the results.

The only way to do it right is to actually go to a real drag strip, he said.

But that’s where computer models come in handy, Chéenne said. He knows how crops, soft dirt and grass can affect sound and can do some calculations to give a more realistic idea and a worst-care scenario of what might be expected from a drag strip on Sanford’s land.

Sanford said he offered last year to pay for a trip to a Topeka drag strip to do sound tests, but county officials declined his request.

Holmes confirmed officials declined the offer, saying they were worried about the perception of bias, particularly in a situation where government officials would be accepting a trip.

As for paying now, Sanford called the issue stupid and childish.

So for now, he’ll focus on his upcoming hearing — a day he has long awaited.

“I’m ready,” he said. “It’s just — I’ll be glad when they let the public know yes they want this or no they don’t.”

Reach Jean Ortiz at 473-7107 or jortiz@journalstar.com.