Cordele Motor Speedway is a storied asphalt short track nestled in the plains of South Georgia. The facility has undergone a lot of changes in its history, continually adding more chapters into its proverbial notebook with each passing year.
However, the most recent chapter of Cordele’s story in particular has seen a lot of changes come to the facility in a short amount of time. These changes include new ownership, refurbished facilities, and some particularly notable events including Ricky Brooks’ tenure as general manager, a new Super Late Model track division and a visit from the CARS Tour.
Despite these promising additions to Cordele’s portfolio, a lot is destined to change in the coming weeks, months and beyond.
The aforementioned Brooks is set to depart from the facility after April 21st, taking his UARA Super Late Model sanctioning body with him. Notable individuals in the CARS Tour have briefly discussed the possibility of not returning to Cordele next year, leaving the future of that series/track relationship in question.
It’s clear that with a turbulent age of changes at the facility currently ensuing, there are a lot of moving pieces to keep track of. With that said, let’s look at some recent happenings at Cordele and what they could entail for the track’s future.
Ownership Changes
I suppose we should start with the new ownership. Greg and Nori Noland purchased the facility from previous owners—Wayne and Flo Lyle—at the beginning of 2024, ushering in the latest era of the track’s history. The Nolands are no strangers to the short track world, with their son Jett regularly competing in Pro Late Model and Super Late Model competition.
The Noland family’s familiarity with the discipline meant that they knew exactly who to hire as their new general manager, veteran tech official and series promoter Ricky Brooks. The short track stalwart’s addition to the track staff brought along a presence from the United Auto Racing Alliance (UARA), a Super Late Model series which Brooks helps operate.
In addition to the managerial changes, the Nolands ushered in a plethora of new changes and renovations to the facility. New VIP suites, a jumbotron, a new PA system and a general fresh coat of paint have elevated Cordele into a top-notch facility over the past year.
In the regard of facility improvements, the future looks promising. But let’s take a deeper look at some of the managerial and sanctioning body changes currently taking place at Cordele.
Ricky Brooks & UARA
Brooks and the attached UARA presence at Cordele helped to bring about the rebirth of the World Crown 300, a marquee Super Late Model event in the Georgia racing scene. This year also saw the addition of SuperFest, a track championship for Super Late Models that coincided with the UARA National schedule.
But Brooks recently shared that he’ll be leaving the facility as of April 21st, with the intention of focusing on his UARA efforts. With this news, it was announced that former Operations Manager Ben Sumner would return to fill the vacancy left by Brooks. Sumner previously served in the role during the Lyle family’s stint as track owners.
It’s also been shared that with Brooks’ departure, the UARA sanctioning body will no longer oversee Super Late Model races at the track, including SuperFest and the World Crown 300. This raises questions as to who will step in to fill that void.
The ASA Southern Super Series – and by extension, Track Enterprises – are no strangers to the facility, holding an annual marquee event in January known as SpeedFest (not to be confused with the previously mentioned SuperFest track championship). SpeedFest has been a mainstay of Cordele’s calendar, even running in 2025 despite the Brooks/UARA presence at the track.
Considering there is really no other asphalt Super Late Model tour in this region of the country, ASA and Track Enterprises seem like an obvious candidate to run future Super Late Model shows at Cordele. Of course, the track could possibly attempt to sanction its own Super Late Model events, too.
CARS Tour Concerns
The choice to bring Late Model Stocks to South Georgia was a bold one for the CARS Tour, with the Carolina-based series having to greatly increase the purse for the Cordele event to compensate for the increased travel distance that teams faced.
While the event was an overall success, high testing fees from earlier in the weekend ushered in the event on the wrong foot and drew the ire of several competitors. As was noted by Doug Barnes Jr., teams were charged a testing rate of $125 per hour as opposed to what he called a standard of $150-200 a day.
The testing fees and other financial hurdles drew the attention of series co-owner and NASCAR Hall-of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr.
“I don’t know if we come back to Cordele next year,” remarked Earnhardt Jr. post-race. “I don’t know how we can make this deal work again if I can’t somehow sweeten the pot for the track. And they’re going to have to change their testing fees. I didn’t see that on the radar until it was too late.”
Despite the setbacks, Earnhardt Jr. made sure to compliment the facility on the care that went into the weekend.
“[Cordele’s] a great facility. You go in the bathrooms and look around at the buildings and realize why they charge what they charge. It takes a lot to keep a place like this going. I want to commend them on that. I think the teams enjoyed their trip.”
There was no question that Cordele provided excellent facilities and amenities for the CARS Tour’s visit, as well as drawing a nearly sellout crowd. Logistically, however, things could be refined for any potential future visits from the series.
All in all, Cordele Motor Speedway is without a doubt one of the nicest racing venues to venture to on a Saturday evening, producing a lot of positives despite the occasional hiccups it may face. There’s no question that it’s a facility that short track fans should keep an eye on throughout the future months and years.
