CARS Tour race date finally set after successful tire tests

ROCKINGHAM — Despite a few initial hiccups, stock car racing is officially returning to the Rockingham Speedway in November.

After multiple rounds of tire testing, the CARS Tour announced Friday that it conducted successful tests Thursday at The Rock. With a new Hoosier tire compound that meets safety standards, the CARS Tour confirmed the new race date for its late-model stock car race on Nov. 6.

“We would hope that we have a good event and a good car count,” said CARS Tour owner Jack McNelly on Friday. “We would also hope that the general public would come out and support it with fans in the stands to make it a successful event.”

In early November 2020, the CARS Tour announced the season opener of its annual racing series would be held at Rockingham Speedway on March 6 — about eight years since the last competitive stock car racing event at the track in 2013.

In preparation for the race, several CARS Tour racing teams took turns making test runs around the track at Rockingham Speedway on Dec. 15 to test the track’s surface and see how their tires faired.

After initial results proved inconclusive, the racing crews returned to the Speedway for additional tire testing in January.

But, those tests showed that the track was too abrasive for the current tires that were planned to be used, so the CARS Tour series race was pushed back to the fall.

Then, at the third round of tests Thursday, McNelly said they finally found a tire compound that all the drivers and the Hoosier engineers were satisfied would get the job done.

“After the first two [tests], [the Hoosier engineers] were able to go back with the data they needed to come up with a rubber compound and tire,” McNelly said. “Our biggest problem in the first two tests were the fact that none of the tires were able to withstand the extreme abrasiveness of the track and we were wearing them out within a short period of time. So it was quite obvious we had to come up with a specific compound for that racetrack. And that’s what [the engineers] went back to Indiana and did. They produced a tire that we are very comfortable will be able to perform.”

Practice dates will be available for racing teams on Sept. 18, Oct. 30 and Nov. 5 ahead of the race. Information about ticket sales and other details will be released this summer.

In anticipation of hosting the CARS Tour race and other events, Rockingham Speedway has been conducting aesthetic maintenance and has worked to restore parts of the facility in recent months.

McNelly previously told the Daily Journal that the track itself is still “remarkably” in great shape, along with the aluminum grandstands with the exception of the grandstands on turns one and two. Co-promoter Mike Stodder said at the time that the grandstand on turns one and two currently have structural problems, so they plan to open the main front grandstand for the race.

“If [the race] is successful from a financial standpoint, I see no reason why someone else wouldn’t bring another series in and promoters get behind it and bring in a show to get [the Speedway] rolling,” McNelly said. “It’s a darn shame that a facility like that has been idle for so long. My people commented [Thursday] when we left that the people in charge have already done a pretty nice job getting things fixed back up with a little TLC. Now there’s a long way to go, don’t get me wrong, but there’s a pretty big difference between when we were there before and now.”