WRAL Sports Fan

WRALSportsFan

NASCAR Makes It Official: No More Racing At Rockingham

May 14, 2004

RICHMOND, Va. — North Carolina Speedway is one of two tracks in Southern states that will lose Nextel Cup races as part of a lawsuit settlement and sweeping NASCAR realignment in 2005.

NASCAR officials announced Friday that the track in Rockingham, N.C., and Darlington Raceway in South Carolina will lose races to venues in Texas and Arizona.

The decision leaves

North Carolina Speedway

without any races for the first time since 1965. It also sparks a series of track sales and wrangling that NASCAR hopes will solve a number of nagging problems it faces.

Among the changes, North Carolina Speedway will be purchased by Bruton Smith-led

Speedway Motorsports Inc.

for $100.4 million as part of a settlement of a lawsuit that has dragged on for about two years.

Francis Ferko, a shareholder in SMI, claimed in the suit that NASCAR had breached agreements by not awarding a second Cup race to Texas Motor Speedway. Texas will get a second date next November in the settlement.

The date "is a result of the Ferko settlement, but at the same time, it fits in perfectly with our realignment plans," NASCAR chairman Brian France said during a news conference at Richmond International Raceway.

He said the settlement effectively makes the lawsuit moot.

Veteran driver Ricky Rudd said he was going to miss racing at Rockingham.

"Rockingham was a fun race track," said Rudd, driver of the No. 21 Ford Taurus. "I wish there were more tracks on the circuit like Rockingham.

"It was sort of a driver's track. The cars never handled perfect there the whole race. They would slip and slide, and you'd have to go to the top of the race track in (turns) three and four and run on the bottom in (turns) one and two, and you could pass each other without getting an aero-push."

Phoenix International Raceway also will gain a second race weekend under the realignment, adding a spring race to the one it has Nov. 13.

"This is another example of us increasing our visibility in an area of the country that is truly a hotbed for NASCAR fans," France said.

In addition, Martinsville Speedway, half-owned by the France family, will be purchased outright by

International Speedway Corp.

for $192 million with money from the Rockingham sale and another $91.6 million.

ISC is about 60 percent owned and controlled by the France family.

Martinsville will retain both of its race dates in the 2005 season.

The schedule also answers other questions that had caused speculation. California Speedway will replace North Carolina as the second stop of the season, and the Nextel Cup all-star race will return to

Lowe's Motor Speedway

in Concord, N.C., now host to the only races in North Carolina.

Ten years ago, there were nine races in North and South Carolina. That number is down to four.

The Nextel Cup All-Star Challenge will be run May 21 at LMS, a week before the Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR's longest race of the season.

France defended the moves Friday as in the best interest of the sport. He said he regrets that racing at North Carolina Speedway and Darlington struggled to sell out in spite of some of the smallest seating capacities.

"We're disappointed that the events didn't work as well and, they've worked in California and other markets," he said, adding that race fans in the Carolinas still have a number of tracks within traveling distance.

Driver Jeff Burton echoed France's sentiments about the realignment.

"It's disappointing to lose Rockingham, for sure," said Burton, driver of the No. 99 Taurus. "Rockingham is one of the most fun places for drivers, but what's in the best interest of the sport isn't necessarily in the best interests of the driver at times, and I think this is one of those occasions.

"I also hate to see North Carolina lose another race. But, again, we go back to long-term benefit for the sport, and it's best served by being in as many regions around the country as possible."

Burton said he always will hold a special memory of Rockingham.

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

"I've raced an awful lot 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."

Matt Kenseth, the 2003 Winston Cup champion, won the last race at North Carolina Speedway. He said it was a shame that the track could not sell more tickets to races.

"It was great racing; they just couldn't get the people in the stands," said Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Taurus. "Being in the southeast and with the time of year that we raced there, the weather had chances of not being good, and we just couldn't get the people in there to make the sponsors happy and make everybody happy to be able to pay the bills.

"The racing was great. It's too bad they couldn't have picked that race track up and moved it to a market where they could have gotten 100,000 people in there because racing there is definitely great."

France said he does not expect the lawsuit that sparked the changes to inspire other lawsuits as tracks look to add additional races.

"We have a history of being very aggressive in defending NASCAR's business practices," he said. "We were aggressive in this case, and we'll continue to be aggressive. There was a solution in this case that was unique. We were able to find that it would work for everyone."

The changes mean North Carolina Speedway will have lost both of its Nextel Cup weekends in the span of a year. The struggling track's other date was given to California Speedway at the start of this season.

Darlington, the original NASCAR superspeedway and host through this year of the prestigious Southern 500, would be left with only one race -- on Mother's Day weekend -- for the first time since the 1960 season.

The Southern 500 Labor Day date moved this year to California from Darlington, which had its second race pushed back to Nov. 14.