Rockingham Speedway
Address: P. O. box 500 Rockingham North Carolina 28380
34.974166666667 - 79.610277777778Koordinaten: 34 ° 58 ' 27 " N, 79 ° 36' 37 " W
The Rockingham Speedway is a race track in Rockingham, North Carolina. On the Speedway, also known as "The Rock" since 1965 held NASCAR races are. Due to the antitrust lawsuit filed by Francis Ferko, an owner of the Texas Motor Speedway, he lost all of his races at other tracks. Since then, he serves as a base for the Buck Baker Racing School and for tests of NASCAR teams. The North Carolina Speedway is often used for television and movie filming, for example 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story or Ricky Bobby - King of racers.
The race track was opened as North Carolina Motor Speedway in 1965 as a flat oval with a length of a mile. In 1969 it was extensively reconfigured into a D-shaped oval with a strong curve superelevation and a length of just over a mile away. The pad itself is pretty rough compared to other NASCAR tracks due to the high sand content of the materials that were used for the paving work. The tires of the cars are hereby tasked and wear correspondingly high. Due to this characteristic, the tire management in the race is more important than at other circuits.
In 1997, the North Carolina Motor Speedway merged with Penske Motorsports and was renamed North Carolina Speedway. Shortly thereafter, the infield was reconfigured, after which no race on the course in the infield more took place.
History
As part of the buyout of the Penske Speedways in 1999, the track went into the possession of International Speedway Corporation. After the 2003 season, the fall race at the California Speedway was transferred, which is owned by International Speedway Corporation also. This was due to the low number of visitors. Only the race in late February, but it was not particularly popular because of the unpredictable weather conditions remained so. The date has been moved from a later spring date forward, as in 1992, the Richmond International Raceway applied for a later date, after the race had to be there already twice postponed due to snow in the 1980s. Rumors began circulating that the remaining date was also at stake, as several new routes worked to reach the race in warmer regions.
Although there was speculation that the 2004 season could possibly be the last at the North Carolina Speedway, the race this season was not sold out. Around 10,000 seats remained at the last NASCAR race on February 22, 2004 empty. In this last race Matt Kenseth won by a margin of just 0.010 seconds ahead of the newcomer Kasey Kahne. This race, which was one of the scarcest ended in NASCAR history, saw many fans as one of the best races of the season.
As a result of the antitrust lawsuit filed by Francis Ferko and the dwindling number of visitors to the situation of the Speedway changed drastically. International Speedway Corporation sold the North Carolina Speedway to Speedway Motorsports and the remaining races moved to the Texas Motor Speedway. The fans saw the situation somewhat differently by the prestigious Southern 500 was deleted from the Darlington Raceway in favor of a second race in Texas from the calendar and the race from North Carolina Speedway went to the Phoenix International Raceway. Speedway Motorsports agreed the sale to no NASCAR race to hold on the Speedway, as long as it is in their possession.
On 2 October 2007, the North Carolina Speedway was sold in an auction. The former racer Andy Hillenburg auctioned the track for 4.4 million U.S. dollars. At the same time he was renamed Rockingham Speedway. Since lower race racing series will be played there on him.
In 2012, a Nascar race took place for the first time since 2004, the Good Sam Roadside Assistance Carolina 200 of the Camping World Truck Series.
Testing
The North Carolina Speedway was in order to save money on a test track for many teams in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series, after NASCAR has issued new restrictions related to testing. After the route has been deleted from the racing calendar, the teams began the testing of racing cars and engines, in particular the high tire wear to simulate, as it occurs also on certain other routes. After NASCAR banned in 2006 testing on all active routes in the Sprint Cup, with the exception of open tests in the mid-season testing at Rockingham was crucial. In particular, for the Pep Boys Auto 500 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, which belongs to the Chase for the Sprint Cup, the Rockingham Speedway is used for testing.
The track was also used for extensive testing of the new racing car in the Sprint Cup, the Car of Tomorrow. For example, Michael Waltrip Racing tested mid-September 2006 the new Toyota Camry and Elliott Sadler a Dodge Avenger in November 2006.