Earnhardt skeptical of Rockingham viability ahead of auction

According to the Richmond County Journal, Rockingham Speedway “will be sold to the highest bidder for cash at a public auction May 5.”

Based on his evaluation of the facility's potential, however, Dale Earnhardt Jr. isn't likely to be among the prospective buyers, despite his deep appreciation for the history of NASCAR racing.

While many fans wax nostalgic over what was dubbed North Carolina Motor Speedway when it opened on October 31, 1965, those same fans failed to support the 1.017-mile track sufficiently to keep it afloat.

I don’t know if you’ve got enough people coming out, because there’s so much of the sport already in that area

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

For the last seven years, the most recent owners, Andy Hillenburg and Bill Silas, invested time, effort and money into turning the track around. However, just over a year after the track was purchased for $4.4 million in October 2007, NASCAR instituted a testing ban starting with the 2009 season. Unable to rent the track to NASCAR teams, Hillenburg and Silas lost an important source of revenue.

Although a variety of smaller touring series competed at the Rock, it wasn’t until 2012 that a NASCAR series would return to the track. The Camping World Truck Series raced at Rockingham in 2012, but attendance was disappointing. The following season’s truck race would be its last, as the track owners were unable to cover the necessary sanctioning fees.

But with NASCAR transitioning into a made-for-TV sport, could the upcoming auction be an opportunity for someone to bring the beloved track out of the cobwebs and back to relevancy again?

Dale Jr. doubts Rockingham could survive, if given another chance

On Wednesday, Motorsport.com asked Earnhardt to put on his team owner’s cap and assess the Rock’s viability. Certainly, with the close proximity to Charlotte — and the majority of race teams — wouldn’t a one-day show be feasible?

“It’s hard to say,” Earnhardt said, measuring his words. “I don’t know. They put a real good effort to do that already, and I don’t know exactly why that didn’t work. They were probably pretty strapped financially from the very beginning to make that work in the first place.

“It would take a lot of money to get the facility up to speed. The asphalt itself is probably not in great shape. It’s pretty busted up in Turn 1 and 2. It would just take a lot to put that place back in gear, and I don’t know if a one-day show’s going to make you enough money.”

It would be difficult to find a driver who shares Earnhardt’s passion — and knowledge — of the history of NASCAR — including Rockingham, where Curtis Turner won the first race and Matt Kenseth won the final event in what was then known as the Nextel Cup Series.

But an over-saturation of racing in the area — with Charlotte Motor Speedway 90 minutes west of Rockingham and Darlington Raceway an hour south — might be too much for the track to compete against.

“I don’t know if you’ve got enough people coming out, because there’s so much of the sport already in that area,” Earnhardt said. “We’re already having trouble putting people in the seats of these race tracks we’re going to now. I don’t know if you’d be willing to take that gamble that people might show up or night not. You could lose your butt pretty bad.”