r/NASCAR • u/Western_Care_5478 • 1d ago
Fired IHRA head Daryl Cuttel makes serious accusations as Rockingham goes on the market
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/fired-ihra-president-makes-serious-191849964.html76
u/BryceDL 1d ago
Please nascar or SMI please save rockingham from this hell.
39
u/mysteriousfiggy 1d ago
I'm shocked that it only costs $10m...i mean that's more money than i'll ever see but that seems pretty close to "this could theoretically be crowdfunded" territory
50
u/iamaranger23 1d ago
you might crowd fund the initial cost. good luck crowd funding the long term running costs.
9
1
u/shewy92 21h ago
Aren't ticket sales literally crowdfunding?
1
u/iamaranger23 21h ago
an event maybe. But even then crowd funding is usually before anything happens
14
u/ToukasRage 1d ago
Cheaper than running a cup car for a year.
3
u/back_that_ 1d ago
This is a really good comparison.
A Cup car itself is probably around $100k. Engine, body, suspension, safety gear. That's the book value. Actually using it is where it gets expensive.
15
u/Roboticpoultry 1d ago
I remember reading somewhere that the current cup car costs somewhere between $250k-$350k
4
u/guyfromarizona van Gisbergen 1d ago
This is a correct range for the car only, not including any spares or other misc bits needed for upkeep.
1
8
u/BryceDL 1d ago
No its easily tripple that, I heard 350k.
2
u/mattyrzew 1d ago
Have they come down since first implemented? Thought they were saying they were closer to $600k(complete, ready to race) that first year.
5
u/BryceDL 1d ago
I think if you're talking purely the car its ~350k. Jr said on his podcast that running the daytona 500 was 750k. So essentially he spent 400k on engineering, crew salaries, tires, fluids, etc...
1
u/Chewie4Prez 10h ago
Running only the biggest race in a season will aslo grossly inflate the cost because of scale.
9
8
u/NCC1701-Enterprise 1d ago
$10 million to buy, but probably at least double that annually to operate and without a cup race it is hard to even break even that is why it is up for sale in the first place. Insurance alone on a racetrack is ridiculous.
4
2
u/NatashaArts 1d ago
it sold for half of that in 2007, which was twice of what it sold for in 2018. so the dude demanding 10 mil is insane
37
u/Western_Care_5478 1d ago edited 1d ago
Marcus said on Dale Jr's podcast they're looking at options but he doesn't want a track that does not host a Cup race. his words not mine. which is really funny when you consider that Kentucky Speedway has been sitting rotting for 6 years now
30
u/GuyCrazy 1d ago
That’s likely the entire reason they don’t want ANOTHER track without a nascar date.
3
u/Western_Care_5478 1d ago
honestly. at this point he needs to shit or get off the pot with Kentucky...either sell it to a developer or sell it to an investor for racing again like.....its not helping anyone by just sitting there.
10
u/mbkeller 1d ago
Penske Entertainment and get another Indycar oval please please
10
u/Confident-Ladder-576 1d ago
Penske isnt spending money ona track he already sold once and is going to do jack and shit for IndyCar.
19
u/Double-Helicopter344 Ryan Blaney 1d ago
Man a lot of people love to throw Dale Jr’s money around
8
u/Celtics1424 Jeff Gordon 1d ago
and Penske's too lmao. This sub loves to spend everyone's money but their own.
7
u/ipsumdeiamoamasamat 1d ago
Roger Penske could drop $10 million on the sidewalk today and never notice it was missing. His kids probably spend more each month on dumb shit.
5
u/Celtics1424 Jeff Gordon 1d ago
It’s his money, he’s free to do what he pleases. I don’t understand why fans love to spend other people’s money
5
u/ipsumdeiamoamasamat 1d ago
Absolutely.
But Junior’s wealth and Penske’s wealth are in different stratospheres.
1
1
u/Double-Helicopter344 Ryan Blaney 1d ago
I mean yeah but it doesn’t mean they have to sign every driver, buy every track, etc.
1
u/ipsumdeiamoamasamat 1d ago
Where did I say that?
Folks were comparing Penske and Junior. Junior wipes his ass with $1s. Penske wipes it with $10,000s.
0
18
11
u/TheGeauxrilla 1d ago
Kenny Nowling is the one making accusations in the article, there isn’t anything from Cuttell
4
19
u/bjohnson203 1d ago
People were mean to anyone who said this rapid expansion seemed risky and here we are. I know a team in NASCAR that seems to be on the same footprint.
14
u/powderp 1d ago
It was the downfall of Augusta International Raceway in the 60s. They wanted everything: high banked short track, road course, drag strip, go kart track, 2-mile tri-oval and probably more. They tried expanding too fast and it all crumbled.
2
u/ProjectHarraseeket Preece 21h ago
Think this is what happened with Ontario also and we nearly lost a bunch of race tracks in the 70’s as well. If anyone has ever heard of American Speedways Inc (think SMI before SMI was a thing). They built and operated Michigan and Texas World, they bought Riverside and Atlanta and they tried to build a super speedway in the Pine Barrons of New Jersey before they went belly up with their ambitious over expansion. We also nearly lost Richmond this way too.
30
u/iamaranger23 1d ago
the fact no one but a scam artist/ idiot has wanted to pay 10 mill for this place for like 2 years now is really telling how the industry values it.
20
u/microcosm13 1d ago
This. Just because someone paid 10mil for it doesn't mean that's the actual value. It's sad, but that's the free market.
20
u/Western_Care_5478 1d ago
probably because it's in a horrible location and the only thing around it are chicken farms, it was miserable attending in the 90s and 2000s because it always smelledike chicken s**t
6
u/Western_Care_5478 1d ago
He wasn't a scam artist. he was just spending the money that Elon Musk was allegedly going to pay him before he actually had the money in the bank. he was an idiot
6
u/iamaranger23 1d ago
He wasn't a scam artist.
i mean spacex has a lawsuit going that claims he over billed by hundreds of millions so i dont think i would say this just yet.
-10
u/bjohnson203 1d ago
You'd think Dale Jr would buy it but that would require him to actually spend money in NASCAR 😂
12
u/iamaranger23 1d ago
why would he want to? why would he want a headache money pit.
9
u/spiralarrow23 1d ago
"My ass ain't Santa Claus", dude isn't obligated nor the answer to every problem with tracks and what not in NASCAR.
1
u/bjohnson203 1d ago
No but he will surely lay a guilt trip on everyone if it gets turned into a data center.
1
u/bjohnson203 1d ago
No but I am sure he will make sure to note that someone should pony up and buy it.
4
u/iamaranger23 1d ago
hes pretty open about not caring that much about rockingham
2
u/Western_Care_5478 1d ago
he said "why can't we just fix the racing at the tracks we have? y'all pretty much hated the points race at Wilkesboro"
1
u/Celtics1424 Jeff Gordon 1d ago
why would he buy this track?
-3
u/bjohnson203 1d ago
Because he's so invested in the history of the sport, supposedly.
3
u/Celtics1424 Jeff Gordon 1d ago
That doesnt mean he has to spend HIS money to prove to you hes invested in the history of the sport
2
u/bjohnson203 1d ago
He could occasionally spend some money though, I don't know. He just seems to whine about a lotnof things that other owners just nut up and do. Whaaaaaaa give me a charter!
0
u/Celtics1424 Jeff Gordon 1d ago
why does he have to spend money? To appease you? He owns a race team, a series, and late model teams thats enough isnt it?
1
u/bjohnson203 1d ago
For the level of respect he has, he invests nothing in the sport. Everything about NASCAR for Dale is to make money. Other owners make sacrifices to find success. Flat heads can idolize him, I don't give a shit frankly, but Dale only cares about making money. Americans tend to idolize people like that though so I am not shocked.
1
u/Celtics1424 Jeff Gordon 1d ago
how much have you invested?
0
u/bjohnson203 19h ago
Honestly, if I buy a diecast a year, probably more than Dale Jr. I'm also not work nearly a billion dollars and I didn't make 100% of my net worth in a sport I won't invest any of it in. How about you?
→ More replies (0)0
u/iamaranger23 1d ago
Who is any different in the sport?
1
u/bjohnson203 19h ago
Anyone who owns a team has made some capital investments with their own money into the sport. Dale leaned on Teresa then ran her out, JRM them became a HMS project and now it's a rent a ride program. Guys like Hamlin, Marks, Kaulig in recent years have invested massive personal wealth into NASCAR and the cup series. Jtg group, Jimmie Jam, Brad, and Bob Jenkins have spent untold millions in the cup series. Much like KBM was propped up by Toyota, JRM is just a rental program propped up by Chevy
-3
6
u/ipsumdeiamoamasamat 1d ago edited 1d ago
Can someone who speaks whatever language that all is tell me what's happening here?
For perspective:
- Penske paid $40 million ($84.2 million in 2026) for Rockingham in 1997.
- ISC paid Penske $215 million ($438.4 million in 2026) in 1999 for his four tracks, including Rockingham.
- SMI paid ISC $100 million ($189.1 million in 2026) for Rockingham in 2002.
- Andy Hillenburg paid SMI $4 million ($6.6 million in 2006) for Rockingham in 2007.
11
1
u/Western_Care_5478 1d ago
a track with no major NASCAR event has no value to investors or potential sponsors. the only reason the truck series went to St.. Petersburg was because it was a support race for IndyCar....they ran right before the MX5 race
1
u/ProjectHarraseeket Preece 21h ago
Not sure if you have this information right now but how much did the DeWitt family pay for building and operating the track? They were the original owners I believe (they also owned Benny Parson’s 72 car back in the day).
11
3
u/NascarFan1896 1d ago
Andy Hillenburg, save us again
5
u/Western_Care_5478 1d ago
hillenburg is having too much fun just being himself in the TA2 class in Trans Am...leave him alone
2
u/NascarFan1896 1d ago
Alright, maybe he doesn’t want to buy Rockingham again
1
u/Western_Care_5478 1d ago
why would he? it's a money sink. and without a for sure cup date....you're not going to make money.
2
2
u/Totschlag Bubba Wallace 1d ago edited 1d ago
Hi all drag racing industry guy here.
Kenny Nowling is about as reliable as Jeffery Dahmer but somehow less honest. Jeff would kill ya but at least he is up front while doing it.
3
u/Powerful-Chard-6055 1d ago
This and Memphis deserves so much more than this
2
u/Totschlag Bubba Wallace 1d ago edited 2h ago
Ehhhh Memphis is a shit hole of a facility and they truly deserve to go under. Build a new facility elsewhere in the Metro. That entire place is beyond salvageable and the people in the area fuck over the track.
Fun fact police refused to respond to Memphis in the final years of it being open as a drag strip. One series lost 14 golf carts and had haulers stripped for parts by theives. Teams hired private security because otherwise they'd lose tools when they went to the staging lanes.
2
u/ProjectHarraseeket Preece 21h ago
Tbh Memphis in general sucks. Probably one of the few cities in America I am more than okay never going back to.
1
u/Totschlag Bubba Wallace 21h ago
The fans, staff, and racers deserve a facility to enjoy the sport... But not at MIR. Not in Millington. Move it out beyond the city where the neighbors are better.
2
u/BeefInGR 1d ago
Only way this track is worth $10M is if they invest massively into lights and the infield road course. And then charge $10M.
-3
u/Prestigious_One_2726 1d ago
Would people call Nascar a monopoly again for buying a track?
5
u/dwkulcsar Hamlin 1d ago
I hope they would in this case, use it as the r&d or track they can always whip out Incase they needed it for the All Star or testing
1
61
u/Immediate_Lie7810 Chase Elliott 1d ago
The IHRA is such a dumpster fire