Answered Prayers
Dusty Roller brings fresh ideas, renewed vision to 710 Dragway
By Van Abernethy
For veteran racer Dusty Roller, the opportunity to reopen 710 Dragway in Rowland, North Carolina, seemed to be an act of pure fate after the track lay dormant for most of 2025. Late last year, Roller placed a call to track owner Dean Oxendine to see what could be done about reopening the track, and Oxendine’ s reply was shocking to say the least.
“ When I called Dean to ask about reopening the track, he says to me,‘ Brother, me and my wife were sitting at the table last night praying that someone trustworthy would come along that we could lease the track to, and then you call us this morning!’”
All involved believed the timing could be categorized as“ answered prayer,” and Oxendine promptly gave Roller a three-year lease to operate the track.“ This place holds a lot of sentimental value for me,” says Roller, who’ s been racing at 710 Dragway since he was a teenager in the 1980s. Decades later, Roller’ s son began racing a Mustang here, following in his father’ s footsteps.
Roller’ s plans for 710 Dragway are ambitious, and include year-round operation, regardless of temperature. Ever since racing from the back-end of the track became a growing trend in recent years, the opportunity to hold events has expanded greatly, especially since the temperature is hardly a factor.
“ We’ ve been out here when it was 30 degrees and people were huddled around fires in a barrel to keep warm! We’ ve seen cars rip off 5.30s and 5.40s at around 150 mph from the back-end,” says
PHOTOGRAPHS BY VAN ABERNETHY
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