Rowan Magazine | The People. The Places. The Way of Life.

     Drivers with a heavy foot and a hot car need a place to stretch their legs. But where can they open up a Porsche 911 Turbo without encountering light poles, pedestrians, cross traffic and speed limits? Beginning next July, the answer is High Rock Raceway in Spencer.
     Technically that’s High Rock Raceway Motorsports Country Club – a place with a fast track, high-performance cars and thundering motorcycles. Forget about verdant fairways and pokey golf carts – it’s not that kind of landscape. High Rock is a private club open to individual and corporate members and their guests. Like the traditional country club, it has an initiation fee, monthly dues, rolling hills, townhomes on the grounds, a fine restaurant and activities for spouses and children.
    Even though the track is now only a foot path, it has attracted enormous attention. Eighteen car clubs want to race there. One Sprint Cup team has discussed moving its entire operation to Spencer. In April, ESPN’s Ryan McGee wrote, “The locale couldn't be more perfect for attracting business from the NASCAR world.”
    No wonder it’s popular. Designed by two-time Daytona champion Elliott Forbes-Robinson, the 2.15-mile track contains everything drivers like. It is 40 feet wide with exceptional spectator visibility almost anywhere on the property. There are 14 turns, 10 elevation changes, a 1,600-foot back straightaway and a rip-snorting 2,400-foot home stretch right in front of enthusiastic fans watching from townhouse balconies.
     The site is easy to find. Travel down Salisbury Avenue in Spencer until I-85 is in sight. The track, Phase I of the $30 million project, is on the right in a 130-acre triangle formed by I-85, Highway 29/70, the Yadkin River and Hackett Street. On the left, where many thought the track was to be built, are the ruins of the former Color-Tex plant. Phase II includes plans to transform the 70-acre ruins into a town center with high-end shops, a gas station, entertainment center, convenience store, warehouse, loft apartments, homes on the Yadkin River and a retreat for family members with interests other than racing.
     But until Phase II is completed, there is no entrance to the track from Salisbury Avenue. The curious created their own way in by crossing the railroad tracks on an old service road between Highway 29/70 and the proposed race track. Southern Railways closed that unsafe access in July. So how do drivers and spectators get to the track?

    High Rock Raceway President and Chief Operating Officer Rich Combs explained that the main entrance to the track is on Hackett Street. To get there from the south, drivers will take exit 81 from I-85 and travel north on the service road that parallels the Interstate. At the end of the road, they turn under the Interstate onto Hackett Street. The entrance is on the right. It is now used only for construction equipment and is closed to the public. The grand main entrance and a members-only entrance are also planned for Hackett Street.
     “The Hackett Street entrance,” said Combs, “keeps traffic out of downtown Spencer and allows tractor-trailers easy and unimpeded access to the track.” Inside is a planned 10-acre paved paddock for 150 tractor-trailer trucks, the transportation method of choice for race organizers. “Autobahn Raceway in Joliet, Illinois, has only four acres for transports,” said Combs; that’s far too few, according to racing professionals.
     Combs visited Autobahn, a flat, 350-acre site in the middle of a corn field, which opened in 2005. His goal was to learn from their mistakes. Besides the too-small paddock, Autobahn made two costly errors: building a small, inexpensive club house that they are now rebuilding, and allowing members to design their own homes. At Autobahn, simple concrete block garage homes stand next to “Garage-Mahal” mansions. It looks like someone forgot to get a subdivision zoned.
     Despite its flaws, Autobahn and eight other private tracks around the country are extremely popular and profitable. They have all sold out their initial membership and are adding new membership categories. High Rock is close, but there’s room for growth.
     Of the 300 initial memberships, 35 have already sold to corporations and 96 went to those who purchased one of the 120 new track-side townhouses. “The majority of townhouse owners are from North Carolina and the Southeast,” said Business Development Director Alan Winninger. “Two are from Rowan County.” An individual membership is included with the price of the townhouse. But most townhouse owners are expected to upgrade to a corporate membership, which allows four guests access to the track. “It’s a better buy,” said Winninger. A social membership is available for those who want to visit the track for business and enjoy racing over dinner rather than behind the wheel of a high performance car or atop a roaring motorcycle.
    Membership requires a hefty disposable income. Individual memberships are $25,000, with $3,000 annual dues. That increases to $35,000 for corporate members and $4,000 per year dues.
      Rowan County will benefit from the track in two substantial ways. First is the “wow” factor. “High Rock is the coolest thing I have heard of in years,” said Extreme Motorcycles Owner Dirk Newsome. “It is a fabulous thing for the county and for racing. Whatever we can do as a company to support them, we will do. We might even buy one of those townhouses.”
    The track earns bragging rights as the first of its kind in North Carolina and the first “green” track in the country. Not only will alternative fuels and renewable energies be available, but all the steel, copper, bricks, and heart of pine salvaged from the old Color-Tex site is being recycled and reused.

    Second is jobs, with 184 directly related to the track, according to Combs. “We want as many jobs as we can to come from the community,” said Combs. Spencer Mayor Jody Everhart envisions small racing-related shops, motels and high-end chain restaurants filling vacant storefronts in the north end of the county. “Land along Highway 29 that you couldn’t give away is now on the market for $100,000 an acre,” said Everhart. When car clubs rent the track and come to town, the mayor sees drivers’ spouses and families going shopping in Concord or Greensboro. “Or they could stay in Rowan County. I’m looking for new tourist money to come in,” said the mayor. “People with $100,000 cars have more money than we have, and they spend more.”
     There may be more jobs in the wings. Combs has fielded calls from high rollers who want to build a practice track, go-kart track or radio-controlled car track. These could be located on an additional 110-acre tract along Hackett Street that is currently under contract. There is also a client who is interested in giving those without a Corvette or Porsche a behind-the-wheel or ride-along experience.
     The project will continue to pump money into Spencer for years. In Phase II, a few of the old Color-Tex buildings, some dating back to 1905 and others from the 1960s, will be adapted and reused as loft apartments, a retreat center and an automotive warehouse. At the back of the Color-Tex site is 5,000 feet of waterfront property, perfect for luxury homes with a river view and glorious sunsets.
     With all this potential, why hasn’t the track been built sooner? Three delays slowed construction and raised concerns among the non-racing public that the track would ever be built.
    The debate over whether the track would be built on a Civil War battle site got much public attention and halted progress for nearly two years by prolonging the conditional use permit approval. Representatives from the Trading Ford Historic District Preservation Association contended that officials were planning to construct the track near the site of the last Confederate victory in the Carolinas. High Rock officials held that no significant Civil War events occurred on the property where the track will be built. At the conditional use permit hearing for the track in August 2007, the zoning board of the Town of Spencer decided that there was not adequate evidence presented that any specific Civil War activity of significance took place on or near the site and unanimously voted for the approval of the permit.
    Then there were delays in obtaining venture capital funds to build the track. “That doesn’t happen overnight,” said Combs. Funds were finally approved in July 2008. Related to the $30 million are claims from former employees for back pay and retirement funds owed to them after Color-Tex went bankrupt. When High Rock Raceway CEO David Risdon purchased the property, he promised to make good on both issues. “He has already restored the 401k funds, and will pay the two-week back wages prior to starting construction, as promised,” said Combs. The last delay was from Rowan County, which required wetlands protection for the site. To control erosion into the Yadkin River and trackside creeks, the raceway needed to install 28 swimming pool-size silt basins. The basins had to be in place before track construction began.
     With $30 million in hand and the silt basins working properly, bulldozers are scheduled to roll October 1. Grading is expected to take two months, with paving on deck for March 2009. “We plan to let the track sit unused until July,” said Combs. Opening day is July 4, 2009.
     No need to start your engines yet, but you might want to change the oil, check the tires and reload your bank account. High Rock Raceway is on track.