ROCKINGHAM — A Union County-based motorsports team is planning to bring affordable racing back to Rockingham Speedway in 2016.
James Martin of Level 1 Motorsports said his group is creating a new race series, the X-Cup Series, to race at the legendary track, which will “hopefully” start in April.
“They’re all gonna be ran at Rockingham,” he said in a recent telephone interview, adding it would be a 10-race series with eight events on the 1.017-mile track and two on the infield road course. “We’re finalizing the final rules package now.”
According to Martin, 15 drivers have signed up to run, but halfway through the series he expects to be at full capacity with a field of 32 cars.
He said admission to the events will be affordable, where “basically, a person can bring their family out for not a lot of money for a full day of racing.”
As the Daily Journal reported last month, the Super Cup Stock Car Series has listed “The Rock” on its 2016 schedule, with a race and awards banquet slated for Oct. 15.
Joe Schmaling, the series’ director of competition, said organizers plan to “leave the track in October with a confirmed date or two for 2017.”
The National Auto Sports Association also has an event, the Firecracker Run, scheduled for July 2-3.
In the meantime, Level 1 is gearing up for the fourth evaluation at the half-mile track out back, where it has been testing since November. Martin said eventually, Level 1 will be using all three.
Level 1 announced on its Facebook page in late October that it had “been granted exclusive testing rights and is the official driver development program for Rockingham Speedway.”
That was around the same time Jim Blankenbaker was named vice president of operations and development for Vets-Help.org, a group that has been trying to purchase the track for more than a year.
Craig Northacker, executive director of Vets-Help, announced plans last January to purchase the track and turn it into a center to assist veterans with reintegrating into society.
Records show he entered into a commercial lease agreement with speedway co-owner Andy Hillenburg in late 2014.
The term of the lease was for one year, ending Oct. 31, 2015, and set to renew automatically unless terminated with 60 days written notice.
A copy of a check included with the document, filed in October of 2015, shows the rental fee to be $1.
According to the lease, the landlord — Rockingham Raceway Park, LLC — is responsible for all utilities and taxes.
The 2015 taxes in the amount of $56,163.17, which were due Tuesday, had not been paid as of Friday afternoon, according to the Richmond County Tax Office. Two percent interest was added on Wednesday, bringing the total to $57, 286.43, and three quarters of a percent in interest will be added each month the bill is late.
However, records indicate that the $712.02 tax bill on the speedway equipment was paid on Nov. 16. — three days after Farmers and Merchants Bank’s lien on the property was purchased by BK Rock Holdings, a limited liability company whose managing agent, Alan I. Armour, represented speedway co-owner Bill Silas. The address listed for the company is also the same as Palm Beach Grading, a company founded by Silas in Stuart, Florida.
Throughout 2015, Northacker didn’t mince words when it came to his frustration, claiming the bank — which had begun foreclosure proceedings against the speedway owners the previous year — was stonewalling his efforts.
In a letter addressed to Superior Court Judge W. David Lee, who was assigned to the foreclosure case, Northacker accused bank attorney David M. Schilli of holding up his group’s attempt to purchase the track property.
“Taking the bank out of the equation was a positive movement in getting the deal done,” Blankenbaker said. The intention, he added, is for Vets-Help to gain control of the track.
Northacker told the Daily Journal on Friday that he is hoping to close within the next two months.
“We’ve got a lot of things going on and it’s pretty exciting,” he said.
He said he wants to turn Rockingham into a destination for affordable racing — for both the race teams and the fans — in addition to the veterans programs that are planned.
“The only thing we’re trying to do is make sure our programs succeed,” he said.
One tentative name for the track is Rockingham Veterans Speedway, though Northacker said a final designation has yet to be decided. He said he wants to keep Rockingham in the name, but would also like to signify the track’s new life.
“The fact that Mr. Northacker is still here…shows he is committed to this,” Blankenbaker said. “I get his vision and I’m with him all the way.”
Blankenbaker grew up “in the shadow” of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and has “been involved in virtually every form of motorsports” except Formula 1 racing. He also has experience in the promotions and aerospace industries.
“I get how important this track is,” he said. “It has to be brought back to life.”
In the ’90s, Blankenbaker worked for an Indy Car team, and was the owner of a NASCAR truck team in 2006-07, saying he “loved every minute of it.”
“Indianapolis was my Mecca, my church,” he said. “I have the same type of reverence for (Rockingham Speedway). That race surface is sacred to me.”
Martin said Level 1 will periodically offer a veteran a free evaluation, waiving the initial fee of $1,200.
“Anything that we can do to give back,” he said.
Blankenbaker said the veterans aspect was very important, adding that he wrote a paper a decade ago discussing alternative ways to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“That’s one of the reasons I took this job,” he said.
“The previous business model for that facility clearly doesn’t work,” he said, adding he never would have accepted the challenge if that’s the way things would be run. “Failing is not part of my business model philosophy.”
In order to be financially stable, Blakenbaker said there needs to be something going on at the track “365 days a year” to bring in revenue.
The plan, he said, is to turn the property “into a living, breathing campus that has one of the greatest race surfaces ever created,” with many different forms and disciplines of automotive programs.
“At the end of the day, everything that we do out there is for the veterans,” Blankenbaker said. “If this is the last job I do, I’ll be a happy man.”
Reach reporter William R. Toler at 910-817-2675 and follow him on Twitter @William_r_Toler.