ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- He hasn't driven a stock car at the Cup Series level since the Advance Auto Parts 500 at Martinsville in 2004.

In fact, he drove in a total of only 16 Cup races during a seven-year career that also included nine starts in what is now the Nationwide Series and four in what is now the Camping World Truck Series. So even though he also competed in one Indianapolis 500 on the open-wheel side -- finishing 28th in 2000 -- and won the 1995 ARCA points championship, suffice it to say that Andy Hillenburg's professional driving career wasn't quite all that he once hoped it would be.

“

Our business plan -- in the beginning, and it is now -- is how do we survive without NASCAR? And I have to be able to do that. But the welcome mat is out for NASCAR.

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ANDY HILLENBURG

Today, that matters little to him. He now owns and operates Rockingham Speedway Park -- his new name for the place that used to go by the name of North Carolina Speedway and regularly hosted Cup races, including an event right about this time of year. He bought the joint for $4.4 million from Speedway Motorsports Inc., in October 2007, and recently talked about, among other things, the possibility of some day having NASCAR return to the venue.

Q: Do you miss driving?

Hillenburg: Earlier in my life, from a driver standpoint, I thought I would accomplish more. I haven't driven in four years now, going actually on five. I'm only 45 years old, and I would have liked to have accomplished more as a driver. But I'm very proud of what I got to do, and especially how it all came to be. I felt like I made the most out of my opportunities.

Q: What initially went through your mind when you bought this place at auction in '07?

Hillenburg: Probably that night, it was like, 'Wow, I can't believe it.' The first morning of work, I would say shock came into play.

Q: How so?

Hillenburg: There is so much more to owning a race track and trying to bring racing back to it than just getting the track ready. There are the food, beverages, maintenance, electric meters, elevators and safety sides of it.

So many things have come into play. I knew there would be surprises, but I didn't know how many there would be or how big they would be. I would say I've gotten a pretty good education in the last year and a half.

Q: How big is your staff right now?

Hillenburg: We have eight full-time people, plus 15 to 20 part-timers. All of them were pretty much handpicked by me. I'm very proud of all of them. They all believe that this sport deserves your best effort. I love this sport, and this is something I want to do every day.

Q: You've bought ARCA racing and other forms of racing back to the track, and built a smaller track behind the old one that resembles Martinsville. Have NASCAR's rules that prohibit testing at NASCAR-sanctioned tracks resulted in more business for you?

Hillenburg: It's hard to say. I think it's about the same right now as it was last year. ... We already had quite a few days booked (before the testing rules were changed). We've got a lot of dates booked for March, but they were booked last October. (Continued)