North Carolina Speedway, which last hosted a NASCAR Nextel Cup race in February 2004, will be put up for auction later this year. The track has been used for movie and commercial shoots, race-car testing and driving schools since its last spectator event was held.
Speedway Motorsports Inc., a Charlotte-based company which also owns tracks in Charlotte; Atlanta; Fort Worth, Texas; Bristol, Tenn.; and Sonoma, Calif., informed Rockingham Mayor Gene McLaurin of its plans by a letter dated June 13, the Richmond Daily Journal reported today.
The 1.017-mile oval opened in 1965. It was sold to SMI in May 2004 as part of a lawsuit settlement involving an SMI stockholder and International Speedway Corporation, which owned the track at the time. ISC is NASCAR’s parent company. When the settlement was announced, SMI and NASCAR announced that the Rockingham track’s only race date would be moved to SMI’s Texas Motor Speedway.
Bookmark to:
- Rockingham track to be auctioned Oct. 2
- Rockingham to hold open test, fans welcome
- Former NASCAR driver Andy Hillenburg buys Rockingham for 4.4 Million
- Richard Petty’s 1983 Rockingham win on ESPN Classic
- Starr to test at Rockingham Speedway
A sad sad day for our sport when racing stopped there…Rockingham was/is one of the best tracks with some of the richest history. Its ashame that we traded good ol racing for a half full grandstand in California
You are so right Andrew ! I hope that someone who has the money will buy it and open it up to the the REAL racers and not tear it down . Most of the drivers think they’re movie stars now a days so California fits , it doesn’t matter if the stands are half full of not….how sad !
Very sad. I don’t like how they throw the TMS thing in there at the end of the article, like its the reason.
Whoever purchases it needs to do some renovations. Then they could attract some national touring series including getting IRL to run there.
Its a sad thing that the sport left Rockingham…but I hate that everyone sits here and rags on California saying it isn’t worth the dates it has when it is….Rockingham lost its date because of poor ticket sales if i remember right…California isn’t the only track that can’t sell out..I’ve seen alot of races this season with stanfds that weren’t full
I rag on California because its a boring track and falls in the “cookie cutter” mold of a lot of the newer tracks. I can catch the first 10 laps of Cali-borin-ya, fall asleep for two hours and not miss a thing. Rockingham at least had exciting racing and history. That track was all about the best driver and strategy, California brings nothing to the table in terms of excitement. The only thing it brings is west coast dollars.
I hope the new owners try and get racing to come back. IRL there would be brilliant.
bring back the rock!
or listen to stewart and test and see what it’ll do covered in dirt… THAT would be sweet.
hellz yeh i say bring back the rock. but i saw this so i wanted to see wut was on the nascar page and that just gave it away that its the “rings” iron fist just trying to get away from the good racing and the history just for the money and that land is gunna get sold to some houseing shit. trust me i want that place to stay there being its the last place my fav. driver won at :’(
srry i didnt see ur comment ripper but that would be fing sick if tony buys it and turns it into a dirt track