ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — Andy Hillenburg felt like he was in victory lane Tuesday afternoon at North Carolina Speedway. The only problem is that it cost him $4.4 million to get there.
The former racer, who operates the Harrisburg, N.C.-based Fast Track Driving School, purchased the 1.017-mile speedway at an absolute auction for $4 million including a 10-percent surcharge.
And in the process, the one-time ARCA stock-car champion saved the facility, which remains in immaculate shape, from possible demolition.
“I will make a promise that within 13 months there will be a race here,” said Hillenburg, who plans to move his wife, Michelle, and four children to Richmond County before Christmas.
The track was sold by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which along with International Speedway Corporation, purchased the track several years ago for $100.4 million. SMI was awarded sole ownership of the facility in the settlement of the now infamous Ferko lawsuit. Ironically, the track sold for about $1 million less than the purse for the upcoming Nextel Cup Series race at SMI’s Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Hillenburg, who drove in the 2000 Indianapolis 500, made his first stock-car start at Rockingham in 1991, and will rename the facility Rockingham Raceway Park.
“This is a big investment for Michelle and I and we have a lot of people pulling for us,” Hillenburg said. “If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have gotten as far as we did.
“I’m concerned, obviously. The white horse, it showed up, but it’s still a long ride to the other side. I am just the first knucklehead to jump on the horse.”
Hillenburg did plenty of research on what it will take to make the track a success story, and has the support and pledges of help from the Rockingham and Richmond County community leaders.
“They want it. They need it,” Hillenburg said. “I didn’t just walk in today to buy the track. I have been over here visiting the town and the town people and this is a big decision. We have four children. You want them to have a chance to grow up in a great place. If this hadn’t been a place that I would want to bring my family to, I wouldn’t have been here to buy the speedway.”
While he believes the track could be ready for operation within six months, Hillenburg is setting a November 2008 target for holding his first event. He says he will fill in the gaps with the types of events offered after the closing of the sale, which will happen in about 30 days. Hillenburg knows it will take more than a couple of races to keep the track alive.
“It is a piece of the puzzle. One thing will not work here and that is what a lot of people are missing,” he explained. “One thing will not work here. You cannot open the gates and have a race and expect to make the payments and keep the upkeep. You can’t run a driving school here and just run a driving school. There has to be many things that bring people and business to the community. I want to be a part of that.”
While he wouldn’t say how much he was willing to pay for the track, the former sprint-car racer eluded to the fact he may have been pleased with the outcome.
“I had an A plan and I had a B plan and I had a C plan and it fell within the A plan,” he said. “I’d rather not discuss the B and C at the moment, but there were three lines of defense.”
When the gavel struck and Hillenburg had the winning bid, he was quickly surrounded with well wishers and greeted with applause from the many industry insiders and race fans who had gathered for the event.
“I thought I was coming to a funeral today,” said one smiling race fan, who greeted Hillenburg. “But today turned into something different.”
Hillenburg thinks he can make a difference.
“There has to be people stepping up to make this sport better and today I have volunteered to be one of them,” he explained. “Whether or not I can, I don’t know, but I have volunteered to be one of those people.”
Only time will tell.