Rockingham Speedway
| The Rock | |
|---|---|
Track map
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| Location | Marks Creek Township, Richmond County, North Carolina, at 2152 N U.S. Highway 1 Rockingham, North Carolina 28379 |
| Capacity | 34,500 |
| Owner | BK Rock Holdings |
| Opened | October 31, 1965 |
| Former names | North Carolina Motor Speedway (1965–96) North Carolina Speedway (1997–2007) |
| Major events |
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series North Carolina Education Lottery 200 NASCAR K&N Pro Series UARA Late Models |
| D-shaped oval | |
| Surface | Asphalt |
| Length | 1.017 mi (1.636 km) |
| Banking | Turns - 22 and 25 degrees Straights - 8 degrees |
| Lap record | 0:23.167 (Rusty Wallace, Penske Racing, 2000, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series) |
| Little Rock | |
| Surface | Asphalt with concrete in turns |
| Length | 0.526 mi (0.847 km) |
| Banking | 12 degrees Straights - 2 degrees |
| Road Course | |
| Surface | Asphalt |
| Length | 1.6 mi (2.575 km) |
| Banking | Straights 8°, T1 22°, T2 25°, RC 0° |
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 Monster Energy NASCAR 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.
Rockingham Speedway, then known as North Carolina Motor Speedway, was the project of Harold Brasington and Bill Land. Brasington, a land developer, also built NASCAR's first superspeedway, Darlington Speedway, in 1950. Land owned the property, which is settled in the sandhills of North Carolina, and together, they set out to find funding. They went to local lawyer Elsie Webb who assembled a group of backers. The duo also sold shares to the locals for $1 per share, and at one time had about 1,000 shareholders.
The speedway was built as a one-mile oval with flat turns. North Carolina Motor Speedway opened on October 31, 1965, holding its first race on the same day. The American 500 was a 500-lap, 500-mile NASCAR Grand National Series race won by Curtis Turner at an average speed of 101.942 miles per hour. Turner dominated the race, which was attended by 35,000 people, leading 239 laps and winning by 11 seconds. The winner's purse was $13,090 ($88,434.05 adjusted for inflation). The American 500 was the 54th of 55 races in the 1965 season, which included NASCAR legends Cale Yarborough (who finished second), Richard Petty, Ned Jarrett (who would go on to win the championship), Buddy Baker, David Pearson, and Junior Johnson. Only 19 of the 43 cars were running at the end of the race.
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