Richmond County citizens may get to see history in motion as part of Saturday’s open house at the Rockingham Speedway.

The open house at Rockingham Speedway will showcase its ongoing renovation of the historic racetrack, which was a NASCAR mainstay for decades and featured in numerous Hollywood films including “Talladega Nights”, “Days of Thunder” and more.

“We are extremely excited. We’ve been working very hard with all of the improvements that we are using the grant money we received to do everything at the track. We are very proud of everything we’ve been able to accomplish and do so far. The reason for the open house is just to show off everything that we’ve done at the track over the last couple of years. We are extremely excited. We are proud to be a part of this community, and we can’t wait to let everybody come check us out,” said Kim O’Sullivan, an administrator at Rockingham Speedway.

Opening in 1965, Rockingham Speedway was originally a flat oval track before renovations four years later gave the Speedway its iconic D shape and high banking turns. Nearly a quarter of a century later, the track hosted its final NASCAR race in 2004, but hosted races associated with the NASCAR Truck Series until 2012. Following a spate of controversial owners in the mid 2010s, the racetrack fell out of use. In 2019, Rockingham Properties, LLC purchased the racetrack promising to bring motorsport racing back to “The Rock”. In 2021, state officials announced the track would receive $9 million of a $45 million state program to renovate North Carolina’s motorsports venues. To draw national racing circuits, Rockingham Properties, LLC repaved the track, replaced the grandstands, adding new stadium lighting and renovated multiple race-related facilities. Two years after the group’s declaration to bring motorsports back to Richmond County, they hosted the Myrtle Beach Drift Series, and continue hosting numerous racing circuits from across the country.

“It’s pretty magical. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. We’ve all worked very, very hard and our entire hearts have been poured into this. Just to see all of the improvements completed, and going forward into the next season or two, we’re very excited about what we’ll be able to bring to the community. We’ve been very fortunate that people reach out to us, car clubs reach out to us and want to do events. It’s been easy for us to book, because people know we’re open and want to put cars on our track,” O’Sullivan said.

One reason for “The Rocks” resurgence may be the community support for racing that remained after NASCAR left. Events such as the annual Spring Jam were originally scheduled to coincide with the annual NASCAR race while multiple murals and historic keepsakes still permeate Rockingham, as well as Richmond County.

“It’s surreal. We’ve received so much support. The support from the community has been overwhelming. They are the nicest people and everybody has some nostalgic story about the track. We love hearing it. It helps educate us on how much the community really is involved, how much they do care and how much they want racing to come back. That’s our goal. Brining racing back and bringing this community back as a racing community with the speedway,” O’Sullivan said.

With racing back at “The Rock” the next goal for Rockingham Speedway is bringing NASCAR back.

“That’s the idea. We’re hoping very hard, and keeping our fingers crossed, but we don’t have anything confirmed,” O’Sullivan said.