Life after NASCAR

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. – Bob Dylan sang, "For the times they are a-changin'."

Nowhere on the NASCAR landscape is change more apparent than in Rockingham, home of North Carolina Speedway. This season, for the first time in 40 years, there will be no Nextel Cup event at the legendary racetrack.

Nestled in the picturesque sand hills of eastern North Carolina, Rockingham isn't exactly Mayberry, but it's also far from being a large metropolitan area like Charlotte. Once a thriving textile production area, most of those jobs are gone, and Rockingham has struggled for the past decade to find its identity and build a strong economic base.

But the region does have history.

This is the area of the country where stock car racing was born. In fact, signs boast that it is the home to two nationally-known race tracks: North Carolina Speedway and Rockingham Dragway.

While one of them – the drag strip – continues to thrive, the other has had time pass it by.

North Carolina Speedway – or "The Rock," as it is known in the sport – hosted two top-level NASCAR races per year for nearly 40 years. But for the 2004 season, one of those races was taken away and given to one of the newer tracks (California Speedway) built by International Speedway Corp., a company majority-held by NASCAR's France family.

Then Francis Ferko, a shareholder in the Bruton Smith-led Speedway Motorsports Inc., claimed in a lawsuit that NASCAR had breached agreements by not awarding a second Nextel Cup race to SMI-owned Texas Motor Speedway. As part of the settlement of the lawsuit, North Carolina Speedway was purchased by SMI for $100.4 million and the track's remaining race went to Texas.

The move was "a result of the Ferko settlement, but at the same time, it fits in perfectly with our realignment plans," NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France said last year.

It's been a bitter and tough pill to swallow for folks in Rockingham. Life-long area residents have said they feel like the wife who supported her husband through medical school only to have him leave her once he earned his degree and became a doctor.

But in the Southern tradition, many of those same residents say life goes on.

"The NASCAR races gave this area an identity," said Bennett Deane, president of the Richmond County Chamber of Commerce. "Losing them does have an impact – both economically and psychologically. But it's not going to kill this community."

There are no official numbers documenting the economic impact of NASCAR abandoning the area. (Incidentally, the blow is softened in neighboring Moore County, which has a thriving golf industry and will host the U.S. Open this year.) But the impression from talking to local merchants is that the impact is in the millions of dollars. People at hotels, gas stations – they tell stories of how things would be if there had been race fans in town this past weekend.

A Friday-night visit to Chef Warren's in Southern Pines, a favorite for locals and out-of-towners, finds something less than a full house.

"If NASCAR was here this weekend, we'd be full and turning people away," owner Marianne Lewis said. "This was where the drivers and sponsors would eat."

The story is the same down the street at the Hampton Inn.

"We'll be off about $100,000 this year because of NASCAR pulling out," general manager Tammy Kujawski said. "Eventually, we'll adjust."

When the details of the court settlement were announced, Deane and several local officials met with NASCAR and presented them with a number of different scenarios to keep a race in Rockingham.

They were met with deaf ears.

County officials argued that NASCAR had scheduled Rockingham's race too early in the season when weather was not conducive to attracting the critical walk-up crowd. They had been asking NASCAR for a May or June date for years and had even offered to pay the $3 million cost of installing lighting at the track to accommodate a June night race.

NASCAR offered that the Rockingham track, despite having only 60,000 seats, had not seen a sellout crowd in years for its remaining spring race, despite it being the first event after the season-opening Daytona 500.

"We're disappointed that those events [Rockingham and Darlington, S.C.] didn't work as well and that they've worked in California and other markets," said France, who added that race fans in the Carolinas still had a number of tracks within traveling distance.

Fact: Ten years ago, there were nine Cup races in North and South Carolina. That number is now four.

Although it's been a year since it hosted its last Cup race, North Carolina Speedway still appears ready to stage an event. For that, credit caretaker Ronnie Chavis, who has worked at the track for 24 years and is one of only two remaining employees.

Since racing has ceased, the track has become the home to several driving schools while also serving as a test track for NASCAR teams. Roush Racing is scheduled to test there next week, and the track also is seeing overflow rental business from Lowe's Motor Speedway outside Charlotte. There is also activity on the track's infield road course as well as on a go-kart track in the infield.

For Chavis, this speedway was his home away from home. In fact, he claims he probably has spent more hours at The Rock than his real home.

"Sure it hurts that it happened," he said with an Andy Griffith-like southern accent. "But it's a business deal, plain and simple."

Pointing to a calendar on the wall, he offers that he'll be plenty busy this year with track rental days – but there is still something missing.

"I do miss the drivers and the crew members," he said. "And the fans. This was one of those places where I'd see a lot of the same people come back year after year."

During a tour of the empty facility and a ride on its high banks, Chavis tells stories about Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Harry Gant and their exploits on the famed 1.017-mile oval.

"The racing was always close here – two and three wide. This track separated the good drivers from the bad," he said. "You knew you were good if you could win one here."

Many of the best did. Drivers with names like Petty, Earnhardt, Gordon and Kenseth.

Richard Childress Racing driver Jeff Burton has fond memories of racing at The Rock.

"Rockingham was the first big race track I ever ran on," Burton said. "I can remember riding through the tunnel and thinking: 'Oh, my God. Look how big this place is.' It was a thrill to go there.

"It's one of my favorite tracks, as well as one of the garage's favorite tracks, so it's disappointing to lose Rockingham, but those things happen."

For drivers, another benefit of racing at The Rock was its proximity to the greater Charlotte area where many of them live. It was like having a weekend at home after spending a couple of weeks in Florida.

"We knew that the decision wouldn't be a popular one," said Jerry Gappens, spokesperson for SMI and an executive at Lowe's Motor Speedway. "The area is certainly capable of transitioning into a participant-based racing economy rather than a spectator-based one."

At the center of that participant-based racing economy is Rockingham Dragway, located directly across the street from North Carolina Speedway. It is a modern facility that hosts two International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) national events every year.

From February to November, there are events on a weekly basis – 120 in total. Although many of the participants at these events live within 100 miles of the track, the majority come from out of town. Some camp at the track, some stay in hotels. But their presence is a huge boost to the local economy.

Drag strip track owner Steve Earwood felt the impact of losing the NASCAR race. His location across the highway from the oval track made his track's parking lots prime real estate during NASCAR weekends.

"I'll lose $250,000 this year in parking and RV space rental," Earwood said. "But to be honest, we were prepared for it and it's made us work harder. Our calendar is full this year. Our two national events draw huge crowds. We'll do just fine."

Bloddie McClanathan of the Comfort Suites in Rockingham believes Earwood's track is critical to her bottom line.

"Losing the NASCAR races hurts us, but to be honest, it would be more devastating if we lost the drag strip," she said. "When you look at it, we'd rather be full for 15 weekends a year [with the drag racers] than just two. The drag racing folks are much more family oriented. We like them a lot."

While drag racing does go on at Rockingham, NASCAR is gone. But might it ever return to race again at the Rock?

It's not likely.

Although there has been some talk about NASCAR staging a Craftsman Truck Series race at Rockingham, it's been just that – talk. Some have suggested that in the future, Rockingham and Darlington might flip-flop the latter track's one remaining race.

Despite the fun that drivers had racing at Rockingham and the many years of history that the track represents, major league racing here appears to be over.

Any event run at this or any other race track must be profitable for the facility to continue, and stand-alone events like a Craftsman Truck race or a combination truck and Busch Series weekend are only marginally profitable.

NASCAR believes that its facilities have to stand up against other major sports arenas. That means ample and accessible parking, clean restrooms, modern concessions and suites for VIP and sponsor use. Although Rockingham has many of those things, compared to the newer tracks on NASCAR's Nextel Cup circuit – especially those built in the past decade – Rockingham is obsolete.

Perhaps if the track had that June date instead of one in February for the past few years – and maybe if there had been no lawsuit – this chapter of NASCAR's history would not have been written.

But those events did happen. And NASCAR has left Rockingham behind.

For the times they are a-changin'.