Rockingham Speedway

Rockingham Speedway, formerly North Carolina Motor Speedway and later North Carolina Speedway is a closed racetrack (but still used for some events) located near Rockingham, North Carolina. It is affectionately known as "The Rock" and has hosted NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Camping World Truck Series races, Automobile Racing Club of America and CARS Pro Cup Series. The final NASCAR Cup Series race at Rockingham was held on February 22, 2004 with Matt Kenseth winning the event.

The track opened as a flat, one-mile oval on October 31, 1965. In 1969, the track was extensively reconfigured to a high-banked, D-shaped oval just over one mile in length. In 1997, North Carolina Motor Speedway merged with Penske Motorsports, and was renamed North Carolina Speedway. Shortly thereafter, the infield was reconfigured, and competition on the infield road course, mostly by the SCCA, was discontinued. Currently, the track is home to the Fast Track High Performance Driving School, The track has also been used often for television and movie filming.

Subject ID: 35039

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Rockingham Speedway, formerly North Carolina Motor Speedway and later North Carolina Speedway is a closed racetrack (but still used for some events) located near Rockingham, North Carolina. It is affectionately known as "The Rock" and has hosted NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Camping World Truck Series races, Automobile Racing Club of America and CARS Pro Cup Series. The final NASCAR Cup Series race at Rockingham was held on February 22, 2004 with Matt Kenseth winning the event.

The track opened as a flat, one-mile oval on October 31, 1965. In 1969, the track was extensively reconfigured to a high-banked, D-shaped oval just over one mile in length. In 1997, North Carolina Motor Speedway merged with Penske Motorsports, and was renamed North Carolina Speedway. Shortly thereafter, the infield was reconfigured, and competition on the infield road course, mostly by the SCCA, was discontinued. Currently, the track is home to the Fast Track High Performance Driving School, The track has also been used often for television and movie filming.

As part of the acquisition of the Penske Speedways in 1999, the Speedway was sold to International Speedway Corporation (ISC) and in 2004, one of its two Sprint Cup races (the crucial fall race, often the penultimate date on the schedule) was transferred to ISC's California Speedway. The change was made after sagging attendance at Rockingham Speedway. It left the track with only one date, in late February, a highly unpopular date for spectators due to the commonly unpredictable weather. That date was moved up from the traditional early spring date in 1992 when Richmond International Raceway wanted a later date than the traditional post-Daytona date because of two postponements in the late 1980s caused by snow. Rumors persisted that the track's lone remaining date was also in jeopardy, as several new tracks in larger, warm-weather markets coveted the date, which was the first race following the Daytona 500, and in 2002 and 2004, Fox's first race of the season.

Despite wide speculation that the race was in its final year, it failed to sell out, falling nearly 10,000 short of the 60,000 capacity. The track indeed hosted its final race, the Subway 400, on February 22, 2004. In that last race, Matt Kenseth held off then rookie Kasey Kahne on the last lap to win by only 0.010 seconds. This finish was one of the closest in NASCAR history, and viewed by many fans as one of the best finishes that season. It is also known for a wild crash early in the race in which Carl Long flipped wildly down the backstretch.  In the wake of the Ferko lawsuit (in which a shareholder sued NASCAR, alleging a failed promise to schedule a race to a competing track), and the sagging attendance, the track's state of affairs was sharply altered. In the settlement, ISC sold Rockingham Speedway to Speedway Motorsports (SMI), and the track's lone remaining race was "transferred". Some NASCAR fans saw things differently, however, because it was Darlington Raceway's prestigious Southern 500 removed from the schedule for the second race and the date for The Rock was sent to Phoenix International Raceway. SMI agreed to host no NASCAR events at the track while it was under their ownership. Upon its exit from the NASCAR circuit, The Rock joined such facilities as Ontario Motor Speedway, Riverside International Raceway, North Wilkesboro Speedway, and Music City Motorplex as tracks removed from the circuit.

Some suggest that the lack of any other tourist attractions in the area (the nearest major attraction is the legendary golf venue Pinehurst Resort, where a NASCAR on Fox promotion had a sweepstakes winner winning a trip there as part of race tickets), and the relatively small size of the city hurt ticket sales. In addition, other tracks nearby such as Charlotte Motor Speedway and Darlington Raceway (in the Florence-Myrtle Beach region) had a tendency to lure away fans looking to catch a race.

The Rockingham track was often praised for good racing (though it never reached 40 official lead changes in a race, it saw 37 official lead changes in one race in 1981) and for having great sightlines for spectators. However, the facility made limited infrastructure reinvestments over the years while being owned by the DeWitt family, and seemed to lag behind other facilities which continually modernized and updated their business plans, especially after it was sold to pay off estate taxes owed by the DeWitt and Wilson families which had owned the track.

Subject ID: 35039

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