D
Digger
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One more reason to love Rockingham! 
I remember when they used to call this old track "Markingham."
But I never knew Andy Hillenberg had this much money!
Rockingham Raceway Park is showing why NC is the racing capital of the USA!
(by Deb Williams)
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- An addition made to Rockingham Raceway Park during the last 90 days is providing a new twist to an old track, and providing drivers of all ages with the opportunity to compete and train at the historic facility.
A half-mile track, with a quarter-mile speedway inside it, is under construction behind the 1-mile Rockingham Speedway's backstretch. Known as “Little Rock”, the facility will possess 2-degree banked, 800-foot straightaways and 12-degree banked, 588-foot turns. In early October, a NASCAR Sprint Cup team is scheduled to test at the new facility that will sport asphalt straightaways and concrete turns.
Concession stands and restroom facilities that once serviced the backstretch grandstand at the superspeedway will now be used for the short track.
Grandstands will eventually be constructed at the half-mile track, but current plans don't include installing permanent lighting, says Charles Hudson, the facility's public relations director. With construction of the short track, Rockingham Raceway Park now has quarter-mile, half-mile and 1-mile tracks, as well as two road course configurations.
Rockingham Raceway Park owner Andy Hillenburg noted he now has the facilities needed to train children as well as adults via his Fast Track High Performance Driving School.
“We've had Fast Track for 20 years and at some tracks it's cost prohibitive to see how fast a youngster can go and whether or not that person measures up to a possible career in the sport,” Hillenburg said.
“We've designed a track that can measure one's skill level and they can slide off into a sand trap and not a wall. I can now give parents a straight-up answer as to where their kids stack up.”
The quarter-mile track will be used for Legends and Bandolero racing, as well as some other series. Driving schools will be operated on the half-mile and quarter-mile tracks, Hudson said. Late Model cars could race on the half-mile track, but that was a couple of years away, Hudson admitted. He noted the Kimmel Street Stocks could run on the half-mile track in a summer series with the Legends cars.
“The kids need some place where someone can help them advance in their career, and, hopefully, this will help fill that void,” Hillenburg said.
“I'm trying to make Rockingham the kid racing capital of the world. They now have the opportunity to grow up here and progress in their career, from the quarter-mile to the half-mile to the 1-mile speedway.”
Hillenburg said he decided to concrete the turns in order to make the facility more durable since it's located in the state's Sandhill Region where the track surface always takes a beating from the environment.
“Our 1-mile facility is a great race track, but it needs some help as far as testing because tire wear changes throughout a run,” Hillenburg explained.
Hillenburg noted that data obtained during testing on the 1-mile track was limited because a tenth to two-tenths of a second were lost during a run due to the tire wear. That won't be the case on the half-mile track because of the concrete turns.
Hillenburg said he didn't plan to concrete the superspeedway.
“I would rather have a tremendous race facility. The 1-mile track is our centerpiece,” Hillenburg said. “The racing is so great on that track that we don't won't to take a chance of messing it up just to provide a better testing facility.
“It hasn't been a year yet since we took ownership and we've had a major race, the biggest one in ARCA's 56-year history, we've built a new track, and we have a Hooters Pro Cup race scheduled for the anniversary date [Nov. 1] that we took over. When we put together a business plan for the speedway, I tried to map out what we would do with a clean piece of paper and an unlimited budget. I'm trying to plan ahead. My drawing board is very big.”
I remember when they used to call this old track "Markingham."
But I never knew Andy Hillenberg had this much money! Rockingham Raceway Park is showing why NC is the racing capital of the USA!
(by Deb Williams)
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- An addition made to Rockingham Raceway Park during the last 90 days is providing a new twist to an old track, and providing drivers of all ages with the opportunity to compete and train at the historic facility.
A half-mile track, with a quarter-mile speedway inside it, is under construction behind the 1-mile Rockingham Speedway's backstretch. Known as “Little Rock”, the facility will possess 2-degree banked, 800-foot straightaways and 12-degree banked, 588-foot turns. In early October, a NASCAR Sprint Cup team is scheduled to test at the new facility that will sport asphalt straightaways and concrete turns.
Concession stands and restroom facilities that once serviced the backstretch grandstand at the superspeedway will now be used for the short track.
Grandstands will eventually be constructed at the half-mile track, but current plans don't include installing permanent lighting, says Charles Hudson, the facility's public relations director. With construction of the short track, Rockingham Raceway Park now has quarter-mile, half-mile and 1-mile tracks, as well as two road course configurations.
Rockingham Raceway Park owner Andy Hillenburg noted he now has the facilities needed to train children as well as adults via his Fast Track High Performance Driving School.
“We've had Fast Track for 20 years and at some tracks it's cost prohibitive to see how fast a youngster can go and whether or not that person measures up to a possible career in the sport,” Hillenburg said.
“We've designed a track that can measure one's skill level and they can slide off into a sand trap and not a wall. I can now give parents a straight-up answer as to where their kids stack up.”
The quarter-mile track will be used for Legends and Bandolero racing, as well as some other series. Driving schools will be operated on the half-mile and quarter-mile tracks, Hudson said. Late Model cars could race on the half-mile track, but that was a couple of years away, Hudson admitted. He noted the Kimmel Street Stocks could run on the half-mile track in a summer series with the Legends cars.
“The kids need some place where someone can help them advance in their career, and, hopefully, this will help fill that void,” Hillenburg said.
“I'm trying to make Rockingham the kid racing capital of the world. They now have the opportunity to grow up here and progress in their career, from the quarter-mile to the half-mile to the 1-mile speedway.”
Hillenburg said he decided to concrete the turns in order to make the facility more durable since it's located in the state's Sandhill Region where the track surface always takes a beating from the environment.
“Our 1-mile facility is a great race track, but it needs some help as far as testing because tire wear changes throughout a run,” Hillenburg explained.
Hillenburg noted that data obtained during testing on the 1-mile track was limited because a tenth to two-tenths of a second were lost during a run due to the tire wear. That won't be the case on the half-mile track because of the concrete turns.
Hillenburg said he didn't plan to concrete the superspeedway.
“I would rather have a tremendous race facility. The 1-mile track is our centerpiece,” Hillenburg said. “The racing is so great on that track that we don't won't to take a chance of messing it up just to provide a better testing facility.
“It hasn't been a year yet since we took ownership and we've had a major race, the biggest one in ARCA's 56-year history, we've built a new track, and we have a Hooters Pro Cup race scheduled for the anniversary date [Nov. 1] that we took over. When we put together a business plan for the speedway, I tried to map out what we would do with a clean piece of paper and an unlimited budget. I'm trying to plan ahead. My drawing board is very big.”
