ROCKINGHAM — After sitting silent for three years, Thunder Alley — the back stretch of Rockingham Speedway — will rumble once again as Level 1 Motorsports and Vets-Help.org kick off the X-Cup series in April.
Level 1 founder James Martin and Vets-Help head Craig Northacker inked the deal on the hood of a test car at the half-mile “Little Rock” on Sunday.
“I had the idea for the series for a couple of years now,” Martin said in Monday email. “The way NASCAR racing is after a year or two, cars are obsolete, so there are tons of quality cars just sitting around with nowhere to race.”
Martin said since the cars aren’t usable for NASCAR anymore, they can be bought cheaply.
“The engines we will allow are ones that probably 90 percent of short-track racers already own, so the whole concept for the X-Cup package is very inexpensive,” he continued. “I know most owners and drivers are tired of the high costs involved to race and I believe the fans are also looking for something different than watching millionaires race every weekend.”
He said the racers in the X-Cup Series are going to be “blue-collar, hardworking people who build these cars in their home garage and bring them out to a fast, historic, 1-mile speedway to see how they stack up.”
The series gets under way April 23, three years after the last event — a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race — was held at “The Rock.”
Martin said the 10-race series will feature eight events on the 1.017-mile oval track and two on the infield road course, which Vets-Help vice president Jim Blankenbaker said has been highly under-utilized in the past.
So far, 28 drivers have announced their intent to run, according to Martin, which is up from 15 last week.
The X-Cup series is part of an effort to bring the legendary track back to life and bring racing that is affordable — for the teams and the fans — back to Richmond County, organizers say.
“I want to make Rockingham a 365-day-a-year destination,” Northacker said.
There have already been two other events scheduled at the track for 2016.
First announced was the season finale and awards banquet for the Super Cup Stock Car series in October.
“SCSCS looks forward to working with everyone involved to work toward supporting their mission and bring back racing to Rockingham Speedway,” said Aaron Creed, the series’ public relations coordinator. “The series simply is a small part of the intended plans for the historic facility, which means that any expanded details regarding the track would be best to come from those putting it all together.”
Independence Day weekend will be bustling, with the National Auto Sports Association set to hold the Firecracker Run July 2-3 and an X-Cup race scheduled for the Fourth.
Vets-Help has a lease a agreement for the speedway and has been trying for the past year to purchase the property.
In November, the lien on the property from Farmers and Merchants Bank against speedway owners Andy Hillenburg and Bill Silas was bought by BK Rock Holdings, a Stuart, Florida-based company that shares an address with one of Silas’ businesses.
Northacker said he expects to close on the property within the next few months and begin implementing programs to help veterans reintegrate into society, some of which will be automotive-based.
Reach reporter William R. Toler at 910-817-2675 and follow him on Twitter @William_r_Toler.
