Race Weekend Central

Rockingham Speedway Will Again Be Sold

After a turbulent decade for one of NASCAR’s legendary tracks built in 1965, ‘Rockingham ‘The Rock’ Speedway is being put on the selling block for a second time.

The current ownership group of the 34,500 seat, 1 mile, D-shaped oval racing facility, headed up by co-owner, Andy Hillenburg ran into some financial issues in recent years, and reportedly owse over $4 million in back taxes and on bank notes. Hillenburg will stage an auction for the track, which he agreed upon last week, in hopes to save the nearly 50 year old facility.

The track, which is 80 miles east of downtown Charlotte, North Carolina, was sold to Hillenburg for $4.4 million back in 2007, after being put up for sale by Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI). The Rock was built by Harold Brasington and Bill Land, who were also behind the construction of Darlington Speedway in 1965. Known then as “North Carolina Motor Speedway”, then “North Carolina Speedway” in 1997 until 2007, and eventually as “Rockingham Speedway” after Hillenburg purchased the track.

Rockingham hosted two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races per year up until the 2004 season, when owners International Speedway Corp. (ISC) moved dates elsewhere on the Sprint Cup Series schedule to tracks like California and later under SMI ownership to Texas Motor Speedway, with ownership claiming that attendance had dropped off.

Most recently in 2012, Rockingham hosted NASCAR after a 10 year hiatus, with the Camping World Truck Series, North Carolina Education Lottery 200. The race only lasted one year, and since then the facility has only hosted NASCAR K&N Pro Series and UARA Late Model races.

Hillenburg has yet to publically comment on the future of the track, or the looming sale.

About the author

Greg has been with Frontstretch since 2014. A life-long NASCAR follower armed with an extensive sport and digital marketing background, Greg assists the marketing team and helps to manage relationships with some of the website's sponsors. From time to time his work appears on Frontstretch, focusing on the business side of racing and how financial partnerships are affecting the sport. He and his family reside in southern Connecticut.

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