Gentlemen, start your clunkers.

ChumpCar World Series racing is bringing a unique brand of racing to the Rockingham Speedway Saturday afternoon for a 14-hour endurance race around the track.

“ChumpCar racing focuses on endurance races and the really classic tracks,” said John Condran, president of ChumpCar racing, or as he says, “Chief Chump.”

“Rockingham is one of those classic tracks,” he said.

In its second year, ChumpCar World Series racing is a North American series of endurance races with events ranging from 14 to 24 hours with production sports cars, touring and sedan vehicles.

The twist?

All cars must be valued at or below $500.

An additional $1,500 is added to the price of the vehicle for safety equipment modification like roll cages.

“What ChumpCar racing is about is developing a race car for $500,” Condran said. “Everybody is a chump.”

Condran said they strive to keep racing as cheap as possible, both in fuel costs and by the initial cost of a race car.

According to Andy Hillenburg, owner of Rockingham Speedway, this is the ninth racing series at the Rockingham Speedway.

“Rockingham is known around the country as a racing hot bed,” Hillenburg said. “We want to make all these things the way they used to be.”

According to Hillenburg, ChumpCar rented out the track for the Saturday race with the majority of the proceeds benefiting a Richmond County charity, in this case, Our Daily Bread.

“Any assistance in these difficult financial times is greatly appreciated,” said Debbie Rohleder, director of Our Daily Bread. “This program appears to put charity and fun all in one family-oriented event. We’re thrilled they are coming to Rockingham.”

In 2009 Our Daily Bread experienced a 16-percent increase in demand. The charity served about 650 families per month.

Each team needs a minimum of four drivers and each will drive for a maximum of two hours at a time. After the two hours, the driver is required to rest for a minimum of 30 minutes, according to Condran.

“This not only keeps the drivers fresh,” Condran said. “It also ensures you don’t have a ringer.”

The racing series focuses on letting everyday people like a novice 18-year-old driver who has never sat behind the wheel of a race car and experienced drivers like Condran drive on the same track. Condran has been racing for 20 years.

“It’s a great event and everyone’s quite excited,” Condran said. “This is our first speedway event of the year.”

After this week, the series will cross into Rockies into Colorado and back into Virginia, Tennessee and Florida in coming weeks.

“We have a full roster this year,” Condran said.

ChumpCar has also been picked up as a reality TV show with the pilot recently filmed at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA in January.

Racing begins Saturday at 9 a.m. and ends around 11 p.m. that night.

Tickets are $5.

Staff writer Bryan Stewart can be reached at 997-3111 ext. 15 or by e-mail at bstewart@yourdailyjournal.com.