Check this out folks:
updated by @devin: 08/08/18 02:54:55PM
Well does sound serious but more needs to be said before there is a comfortable feeling
I'll admit I'm skeptical. A RAGING skeptic. While I wish these new owners/promoter well, I really have no basis in which to be confident they'll succeed. In my opinion, we'll see racing again at The Rock when...
If nothing else, The Rock proved that a former 'Cup-style-(super)speedway must be aligned with NASCAR to have any hope of drawing a crowd....ARCA, etc. etc. etc. were all tried at Rockingham....it still wound up in foreclosure. If they could have hung with the Truck series, or if they can get back to the Trucks, might have a chance.
Would or could this series type car run at different tracks within a given radius and live? Im kinda out of touch on the series cars they plan on running.
I mean it could be an addition to track thats running now. I mean like its new meat with different kind of potatoes,, Just thinking out loud,,,,,! Unless Pigs do fly
I was told that the Chump Car series has Rockingham on this years schedule.
Let's see, a 15 car field featuring drivers that most have probably never heard of, in economically strapped Richmond County. Hmmm. They came back to Wilkesboro too, but not for long.
I'll reserve judgement. Don't know these folks. There's a lot more to successfully promoting races than just opening the gates, though.
Well,..........I for one, certainly hope it's true and would love to hear sum thunder at the Rock again.
I do not however, put much stock in the rumor that the extra draw card is going to be Charlotte's f-ball and b-ball pros in a 25 lap feature rental car death match. Cam, of course will drive THE SMARTCAR #1.
Sadly, about as I expected.
http://yourdailyjournal.com/top-stories/27762/track-tussle-cancels-rockingham-speedway-race-lease-in-dispute
Track tussle cancels Rockingham Speedway race; lease in dispute
ROCKINGHAM Plans to bring racing back to Rockingham Speedway have hit a wall.
James Martin, of Level 1 Motorsports in Union County, announced on Facebook Monday night that the inaugural season for the X-Cup Series is at least temporarily on hold.
An open test was planned for this coming Sunday so drivers could get their cars on the track to prepare for the opening race on April 23 the first scheduled at the storied speedway in three years.
Martin said he learned speedway co-owner Bill Silas who holds the lien on the property and is a partner with Andy Hillenburg in Rockingham Raceway Park LLC, which owns the track terminated the lease Vets-Help.org had signed with Hillenburg.
I was kind of as blown away as anybody else, he said. Martin then called the drivers to tell them the news. I did what I felt was best.
However, Craig Northacker says the lease is still valid and a purchase agreement is in negotiation.
As far as Im concerned, were still on track to do what were going to do, said Northacker, executive director of Vets-Help.
Northacker first announced plans early last year to purchase the speedway to use in the rehabilitating of veterans through a variety of programs, including racing and other automotive-related activities.
Im not a racing guy, he said. I just thought it was a good opportunity for our veterans and their families.
Northacker said there are multiple facets to the Team Patriot plan, Were just wanting to make The Rock the crown jewel of what were doing.
Jim Blakenbaker, who was the vice president of operations and development for Vets-Help, said Northacker acknowledged receiving a 60-day written notice of termination of the lease, per the agreement signed in 2014, but was dismissive about it, saying it didnt matter.
I asked for a copy but was not given a copy, he told the Daily Journal.
Blankenbaker said he didnt want any of his $30,000 worth of assets, including vehicles and racing equipment, to be seized, so he made sure they were off the property by March 14, when the lease was allegedly set to end.
He also said he has retained a Charlotte-area lawyer regarding back wages and a bounced check from Northacker.
CAN RACING RESUME?
Despite the caution flags, Blankenbaker said he and Curt Trent who was vice president of motorsports and automotive programs are still trying to move forward and there are conversations going on trying to salvage something in 2016, which could possibly include the X-Cup Series.
If theres a way to do something, were doing it, he said. Theres too much synergy not to be able to pull something off.
Martin developed the X-Cup Series after being approached by Vets-Help representatives about having an event exclusive to Rockingham Speedway. When he presented the idea, he said they loved it, but wanted him to run it.
Its such a great concept, he said. Weve got tons of interest.
The X-Cup Series was scheduled for 10 races, with eight events on the 1.017-mile track and two on the infield road course.
The series could easily continue on, he said, but it depends on the drivers and team owners. We can always take the series to other local short tracks, but the big draw was using the Rockingham mile.
Martin said he spoke with a representative of Silas and asked if there was a possibility of keeping the series at the track, but, He told me right now, theyre not doing anything.
If Silas decides to have racing at the track this year, Martin said he would love to be a part of it.
Level 1 began having evaluations at the Little Rock half-mile track out back and has since brought New Yorker Collin Fern and Canadian Dylan King who test-drove in January on board as drivers.
There was also an American Racer tire test held for the X-Cup series in February and one for the Super Cup Stock Car Series which has a race scheduled for October last month.
TAXES PAID
Records with the Richmond County tax office show a payment of $11,350.61 $9,324.91 for taxes plus $1,965.70 in interest and a $60 lien cost was made March 21. Another payment of $47,189 was made Tuesday, zeroing out the speedway tax bill.
County Tax Administrator Vagas Jackson said the most recent payment was made through the electronic computer system and he doesnt know who actually made it.
Previous records indicated that the $712.02 tax bill on the speedway equipment was paid on Nov. 16. three days after Farmers and Merchants Banks lien on the property was purchased by BK Rock Holdings, a limited liability company whose managing agent, Alan I. Armour, represented Silas. The address listed for the company is also the same as Palm Beach Grading, a company founded by Silas in Stuart, Florida.
On Feb. 16, a substitution of trustee appointing Raleigh attorney Louis E. Wooten as a substitute trustee was filed with the Richmond County Register of Deeds office.
Hillenburg is still listed as the registered agent for Rockingham Raceway Park, LLC, according to the N.C. Secretary of States office. Bryan and Kim Silas are both listed as company officials.
Multiple messages left for Armour and his secretary and messages left at Palm Beach Grading to reach Silas on Tuesday were not returned. Silas has remained silent on his role in the speedways management and possible sale for more than a year.
Not unanticipated unfortunately.
Im not a racing guy, he said. I just thought it was a good opportunity for our veterans and their families.
Mr. Silas is wise to back out of this deal. Unless this Veteran group has some sort of federal funding, how would the cash-flow support this (X-Cup) concept? Who will be the fans? If nothing else, Andy Hillenberg proved that only a NASCAR endeavor has any chance of reviving the Rock. With the best of intentions, ARCA, Polar-Bear-Kimmel Series, and the various late-model events that were tried; none were successful. The Rockingham-Truck event was gaining serious traction, until NASCAR demanded the catch-fence be re-invented.....and this coming on the heels of the SAFER barrier installation.
You know this epic delima couldeasilybeeliminated by the members here on Racers Reunion. Dedication to the cause in a smallmonetary of say $100.00 by each member here on Racers Reunion. True some will notparticipate but at that small figure it could be hadeasily by R/R..
That is how you make dreams come true. THINK ABOUT IT!!!
BB, no prob! LOL! Seriously, I don't understand all I know of this story. If the F&M bank really wants its money back, pulling the plug on Andy Hillenberg and company don't make much sense. If not a race track, what else can the Rock become? Andy was well entrenched in trying to make that happen. Raw, vacant land abounds in that area, and if "land" is the objective ( for some sort of unlikely "factory" etc. etc. ) why would one buy the Rock with the added cost of demolition? Maybe Mr. Silas, or others, are positioning themselves for the new-world order; the post NASCAR era, with ownership of a non-ISC/SMI-owned super-speedway.
