By , the track was extensively reconfigured to a high-banked, D-shaped oval just over one mile in length. The track would eventually be renamed the North Carolina Speedway. Landowner Bill Land and developer Harold Brasington, who also built Darlington Speedway, came together on the initial project. Like many large ventures, funding was a concern. At one time had about 1, shareholders. Interesting fact: by the end of the race, only 19 of the 43 cars were still running! Over time, the race track would host two grand national races each year: the American and the Peach Blossom For many years, the track had a successful run with these two mainstay races.
By the s, sagging attendance and the removal of one of its key races left The Rock with only one race that was run at a suboptimal time of year due to weather. Mail Content copyright held by The Richmond Observer Rate this item 1 2 3 4 5 4 votes. RO file photo. A spokesman for Rockingham Speedway confirmed the date. The Rockingham track was a fan and driver favorite for nearly 40 years. Rockingham was Britain' first full sized oval speedway since Brooklands and also the first ground-up purpose-built circuit in England since its illustrious forefather.
While the circuit has seen oval racing action of the highest standard in its past, hopes of establishing a European base for American-style oval racing quickly faded and it was the infield road course which sees majority of the action.
After 18 year's of successful operation - if not necessarily always profitable - the circuit was sold to a company that plans to convert it into a state-of-the-art specialist automotive logistics and vehicle storage centre, marking the end of its time as a motor racing venue.
The circuit began with more modest ambitions, one man's idea to turn the derelict wastelands of a former steelworks at Corby in Northamptonshire into a test track. Peter Davies was an entrepreneur who had dabbled with racing at an earlier age when, upon seeing the old abandoned industrial land, sensed there was an opportunity.
Purchasing the acres of land in for a nominal fee albeit with strict liabilities Davies set to to work researching what kind of test track to create. Trips to the USA- including talking his way into a meeting with Indianapolis Motor Speedway boss Tony George at the Indy - gradually saw the expansion of his vision.
The test track gave rise to a race circuit and with major earthworks required due the poor quality of the land, using the extracted earth to create a banked outer oval seemed a pragmatic and cost-saving solution. By , a detailed planning application was approved, calling for a multi-configuration road course surrounded by a unique quadrilateral oval. Named Deene Raceway after the former iron ore quarry on which it was to be built, the project seemed to have taken a significant step forward.
The only and major! Various potential American investors came and went and for several years there was no activity at all on the site. Undeterred, in Davies went public with his vision, by now named Rockingham Motor Speedway after the nearby local landmark, Rockingham Castle.
The change of name had a positive side effect, creating psychological affinity with the similarly named facility in North Carolina, no doubt subconsciously helpful when talking to potential investors. There was also activity on the site at long last — though it didn't exactly herald the start of construction proper. Three days before the permission was due to expire, Davies hired a JCB to dig out and then pour with concrete what would become the foundations of the security building that today greets racegoers at the circuit entrance.
Still requiring the finances to begin building proper, a friend suggested Davies should go and see Guy Hands, the financier and investor who would later go on to found venture capital firm Terra Firma Capital Partners. Hands was quickly interested in the project and, after months of detailed proposals, agreed a personal deal to stump up the funds for construction.
Street stock is generally the entry-level class of racing at most short tracks. Dale Earnhardt Jr. The race was moved for the offseason to Thanksgiving weekend, and in November , Kurt Busch drove in the street stock race, debuting his new number This has been the premier event at Rockingham since its reopening. On September 7, , it was announced that Rockingham would hold its inaugural Good Sam Roadside Assistance on April 15, , the first Camping World Truck Series race held at the track since the series inception.
On January 30, , it was announced that the second annual Carolina Rebellion festival would be held at the Rockingham Speedway. In , the Truck Series did not return to the track due to financial struggles.
However, rumors spread of the track possibly getting a date on the Camping World Truck Series schedule. Wayne Auton , the director of the Truck Series, confirmed that teams can still test at Rockingham until December However, testing on the. NASCAR removed the Whelen Southern Modified Tour because of track compatibility issues cars were going too fast on the track even with a restrictor plate, as the track is faster even than the New Hampshire Motor Speedway , the fastest oval used by either Whelen Modified Tour, which results in a restrictor plate being used.
In , Level 1 Motorsports announced the creation of the X-Cup Series , which expressed plans to run a ten-race schedule at the track, two of which would be run on the infield road course. This turned out to be a scam and it ripped off both car owners, Driver and the Veterans Group they claimed to support. New ownership announced four days later that racing would be returning to the track in some form in the near future.
After the track was stripped of its dates, teams began using the circuit to test cars and engines, especially to simulate abrasive wear at certain tracks Darlington and Atlanta most notably. The track surface is more abrasive than other tracks, due to the high sand content of paving compounds made from local materials. This abrasiveness contributes to excessive tire wear. In , Kyle Petty tested his Darlington car at Rockingham days before its race to not waste one of his five assigned tests.
In , new rules banned all testing at active Sprint Cup tracks except at selected NASCAR-approved open tests during the season, thereby making testing at Rockingham crucial. Penske Racing tested at the track in mid-April , and with the abrasiveness of the Atlanta Motor Speedway surface, which has not been repaved since reconstruction in , and Atlanta's participation in the Chase for the Sprint Cup , many teams are considering returning to Rockingham in September or October to test their cars to simulate Atlanta's similar surface.
NASCAR's new Car of Tomorrow or COT has led to a boom in testing at the track, and many teams used the track for testing the new cars when it was announced the car would be used in We wanted to go to a very bumpy racetrack. The car slams down on the banking very hard at Rockingham and make sure we've got all the springs and all the bumps very smooth feeling.
That'll be my first time in the COT. I'm pretty anxious and looking forward to it. We're just skeptical of it, and we've had some really good racing this year, some of the best racing we've had in a while. We're just starting to learn how to get our cars better with the short spoilers. They've done such a good job the past 10 years of growing our sport and making it more fan friendly and appealing to TV and things like that.
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