ROCKINGHAM — The future of Rockingham Speedway may be on pit road, but its current condition was made evident in September when a fan posted photos that shocked the racing world.
Kevin Simpkins was eating with his mother at the Rockingham Biscuitville on Labor Day when he asked if she wanted to make a stop by the track on their way back to Charleston, West Virginia. They had been to the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at nearby Darlington Raceway as a birthday trip for her.
“Neither one of us had ever been there before,” he said Thursday about “The Rock.” In fact, they had also just been to Darlington for the first time.
Simpkins, who will turn 30 on Thanksgiving, has been a NASCAR fan since he was 8 years old.
“My parents always watched it, then I started,” he said, which was around the time Jeff Gordon started making it big.
He said they’ve been to Charlotte and Bristol, Indianapolis and Martinsville, “but never got a chance to go to Rockingham.”
PHOTOS GO VIRAL
When they drove up U.S. 1 to the legendary track, they had only intended to see it from the outside.
“There was one gate that was open and we just kinda walked in,” he said. “Definitely didn’t force our way in, no fence-climbing or anything like that.”
According to Simpkins, there were two other small groups of people already there.
He said it was “very surprising” to see the condition the track was in, since the final race was in April of 2013.
“I expected it to be overgrown a little bit, but the infield was full bushes,” he said. “For two years, I was very astonished at how overgrown it really was.”
Simpkins took several photos with his cellphone from the stands and walked down to the fence to get closer snapshots, which show grass growing up through cracks in the track. He said in some places, the grass was 4 feet high.
“We didn’t expect to take the pictures we got,” he said.
Simpkins posted the pics showing the dilapidation to his Twitter account that afternoon.
“It’s kinda nice,” he said, mentioning how several big names in NASCAR retweeted him, including Brad Kesolowski and former driver Mark Martin.
Martin tweeted “This is sad,” and “I can close my eyes and run a lap in my mind at Rockingham and still feel all the bumps and transitions better than any other track.”
Jeff Gluck, NASCAR writer for USA Today, also retweeted Simpkins’ photos saying, “Wow, Rockingham looks like it’s not in good shape. Makes me super sad. Covered my first race there.”
The following day, Jay Pennell posted the photos to the “Shake and Bake” blog at FoxSports.com.
He didn’t receive many phone calls, but Simpkins said, “My Twitter feed was blowing up, that’s for sure.”
Although he was only 18 years old when the last Sprint Cup race was held at “The Rock” in 2004, with Matt Kenseth taking the checkered flag, Simpkins said he wishes he could have actually seen a race there.
“If there was one old track that they don’t race on anymore, I wish it would be that one,” he said. “If somebody does end up buying it, I hope they come and turn it in to what it used to be.”
SPEEDWAY SALE
Several commentators, in response to Kesolowski’s tweet, suggested the he, Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart purchase the 244.24 acre property, valued at $6.85 million.
Last September, retired Charlotte Motor Speedway president and general manager Humpy Wheeler opined on his Facebook page that the track could turn a profit with an amateur stock car series that could “revolutionize racing” and bring drivers and spectators back to the historic Richmond County speedway.
Former driver Andy Hillenburg bought the track in 2007, and began hosting lower-tiered races — including the ARCA Carolina 500 and the USAR American 200 — the following year. NASCAR returned to Rockingham when the Camping World Truck Series trucks thundered to life in 2012 and again in 2013, when track’s final race was held.
Rockingham Speedway was scheduled to host the K&N East Series season-ending race in the fall of 2013, but NASCAR officials announced the event was canceled because “the track failed to meet its obligations and we were forced to terminate the sanctioning agreement.” A month later, “The Rock” was left off the 2014 truck series schedule.
Craig Northacker, executive director of the nonprofit organization Vets-Help, announced in late January plans to purchase the property and convert the track into a reintegration center for veterans and to launch a disabled veterans racing series.
DEAL OR NO DEAL?
Nearly seven months have passed since a court-ordered deadline to sell or auction off Rockingham Speedway.
A consent order signed Oct. 8, 2014 by Superior Court Judge W. David Lee stated the property must be sold or auctioned off by March 15. The agreement to sell or auction the property was made to stave off foreclosure proceedings against speedway owners Hillenburg and Bill Silas by Farmers and Merchants Bank, based in Salisbury.
Last year, the bank shelled out more than a quarter-million dollars within six months, paying four years worth of taxes and interest, according to the Richmond County tax office. This year’s tax bill, $56,875.19, has yet to be paid and is due by Jan. 5.
In the meantime, the historic racetrack continues to deteriorate.
Northacker had planned to kick things off the weekend of July 4, but that never happened.
“There has been a lot of delay for a number of factors beyond our control,” he said in an email this week. “We are committed to our projects, and we are launching a number of them at the same time. We were fortunate to be able to expand our core team which has already enumerated a number of events for the track in 2016.”
On multiple occasions, Northacker has blamed the bank for the holdup.
“I attempted in vain to meet with the bank as it made sense for us to work together that would create a win-win-win for all parties involved,” he wrote in a May letter to the judge. “David Schilli (the bank’s attorney) has consistently blocked us from speaking with the bank, thereby incurring substantial unnecessary expenses to the detriment of a nonprofit and delaying the unfolding of the project for the community.”
He also told the Daily Journal this week that an announcement will be made at the 2015 Performance Racing Industry Trade Show next month in Indianapolis, and plans to soon meet with local leaders “to update them and put a schedule in front of them.”
County Manager Rick Sago told the Daily Journal on Wednesday that he hasn’t heard from Hillenburg, the bank or Northacker, adding that he has emailed and called the bank, but never received a response.
The Daily Journal has had no better results.
Multiple attempts to contact the bank and its attorney to verify Northacker’s statements since January have been unsuccessful.
Just within the past week, five telephone messages left for Tim Proper — including on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday — have gone unreturned. Proper is named in court documents as a vice president and senior commercial banking manager for Farmers and Merchants Bank.
Reach reporter William R. Toler at 910-817-2675 and follow him on Twitter @William_r_Toler.
