Rockingham Speedway Purchased for $4 Million: The owner of a high-performance driving school in Charlotte submitted the winning bid Tuesday -- $4 million -- for the nearly abandoned North Carolina Speedway. Andy Hillenburg, who competed in 16 NASCAR races, finished 28th in Indianaolis 500 in 2000. His bid was one of less than 10 submitted. Hillenburg is trying to bring lower-tier NASCAR races to the track, which was abandoned by NASCAR in 2004. "We'll definitely have racing here," Hillenburg said. "We'll have some driving shcools. We'll have some movies and commericials, and have a few legends races, and hopefully be an important part of the community. And that's the thing. I want to be a part of it. I want to be a part of this community. I love this sport a lot, and I want to make a difference." Hillenburg plans to move his family to Rockingham from Charlotte. The speedway was put up for auction by Speedway Motorsports Inc., whose chairman is Bruton Smith. Speedway Motorsports owns tracks in Concord; Atlanta; Fort Worth, Texas; Bristol, Tenn.; Las Vegas; and Sonoma, Calif. "Today is a win for Rockingham. No question about it," said Rockingham Mayor Gene McLaurin. "It's a win for this community. And I'll tell you what else it's a win for. It's a win for race fans, too.
It's great to know that they won't be tearing this great track down.
With the arrival of 2008, auto racing returns to "The Rock" with the inaugural Carolina 500 ARCA race, Rockingham Speedway President Andy Hillenburg announced Friday.
The ARCA race in North Carolina's Sand Hills Region, which carries the name of the tough, 1-mile track's inaugural NASCAR Grand National (NEXTEL Cup) event in 1965, is scheduled for May 4 at noon. Practice for the 312-lap race will be May 2 with qualifying set for May 3. "The Carolina 500 is going to be a cornerstone event for the ARCA schedule," said Hillenburg, the 1995 ARCA champion who became the speedway's new owner on Oct. 31. "It's going to be the longest race in the series and carry the richest purse. It also will have the largest field with 50 cars."
The May 4 Carolina 500 will be the second-ever ARCA race at the Richmond County track. ARCA's only other race at the speedway occurred in 1973 and was won by Charlie Glotzbach.
"The Rock" hosted 78 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series races in a time span from 1965-2004.
