PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRIS SIMMONS AND VAN ABERNETHY |
North Carolina ’ s Rockingham Dragway has been in a perpetual state of improvement ever since new owners Dan VanHorn and Al Gennarelli bought the fabled facility in late 2022 . After completing a total renovation of the racing surface months after taking over , VanHorn and Gennarelli went to work on pretty much everything in sight , juggling the projects simultaneously since they didn ’ t feel they had enough time to complete one project , then move on to the next . “ Back when we first began all these renovations , everything was going on |
at once , and that ’ s pretty much how we still do things !” says VanHorn .
Fast-forward one year after the overhaul to the racing surface , it was discovered that some settling and shifting had occurred in the 800 feet of new concrete poured the previous year , causing some wavy areas in places . VanHorn and Gennarelli immediately commissioned Southeast Grinding to come out and profile the track . “ We had them smooth the entire 1,320 , then continue the process 400 feet into the shutdown area to make it smooth as well , and they did a great job ,” says Gennarelli .
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Next , the aging blacktop in the pits was replaced with brand-new asphalt where needed . “ Another legacy problem we tackled during the offseason was fixing the drainage problem that caused ‘ Lake Rockingham ,’” laughs VanHorn , referring to infamous area in the pits where a body of water would form after a hard rain , sometimes lingering for weeks before eventually disappearing .
Gennarelli headed up the effort to cut a trench and install new drains , which pretty much eliminated the problem . The area still represents a low place in the pits , but now after a torrential
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May / June 2024 |
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