Andy Hillenburg threw open the gates for the first time as owner of the "new" Rockingham Speedway last weekend, crowning winners in nine divisions of legends, bandolero and thunder roadster competition. Hillenburg bought the track from Speedway Motorsports Inc. at an auction during October, and since he took possession of the property Nov. 1 he's found himself doing a lot of glamorous work as a track owner. "If you had been here Monday morning you would have found me cleaning bathrooms and taking out the trash," said Hillenburg, who has another round of legends activity scheduled today. "We're going after the niche of being the biggest small track on the block," Hillenburg said. "We're sort of trying to be the country store, sort of mom-and-pop operation." That doesn't mean Hillenburg doesn't have ambitious plans. After today, focus will shift to getting things ready for the signature event of the inaugural season -- a 500-mile race for Automobile Racing Club of America cars set for May 4. Hillenburg said he has taken orders from 14 states for the Carolina 500. "We've had people who always had the same seats for the NASCAR races here come back already and buy those seats" for the May race, Hillenburg said. "We started selling tickets three or four weeks ago, but we didn't really tell anybody. Now we're starting to jump up and down a little bit and say they're on sale."
-- Charlotte Observer That's Racin' | 01/13/2008 | Good racin' in Rockingham
01-14-2008, 06:52 PM
Linear Mode
